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 had twin girls but one of them died soon after birth, since then you have been raising both girls, one alive, the other a ghost	[ "\"Daddy!\" She looked so cute in her school outfit and a clearly oversized backpack strapped to her shoulders.\n\n\"Hi sweetheart! Did you have fun at school?\"\n\n\"Mmmhmm.\" She nodded happily. \"Did Jess go to school today?\"\n\n\"Of course. Wanna go ask her how it was?\"\n\n\"Yeah!\" She yelled nodding frantically. We dashed off to their room. Beside the bed at the farside side of the room on the dresser was a pictureframe. On the bed an outfit was laid out neatly. \"Ah, her clothes are still here.\"\n\n\"Yep.\" Smiled and she kneeled before her sisters picture.\n\n\"What did she go to school naked?\" She cocked an eyebrow at me.\n\n\"No, silly she can't take the clothes. Dad just lays them out for her. You gonna play with Jess while I make dinner?\"\n\n\"Uhh huh.\"\n\n\"Okay, have fun you two.\" I moved quickly down the hall wiping my wetted face. I could hear Tess talking to her sister, not fazed by the lack of response.\n\n...\n\n\"Tess, Jess! Dinner's ready!\" I could hear the door shut upstairs and feet slowly clomping down the stairs. Tess rounded the corner into the kitchen and I handed her three plates. I smiled remembering how cute she was when she was little.\n\n\"What?\" She asked, taking the plates.\n\n\"Nothing, just remembering when you had those pinchable cheeks.\" She sighed and began setting the table.\n\nI met her out in the dining room staring at the third plate. \"What's wrong?\"\n\n\"Dad, why do you do it? Act like nothings wrong raising a ghost.\"\n\nI gave her a moment before I answered. \"I had two daughters and I am raising two daughters.\" I wrapped my arms around her shoulders. \"Remember, she is always here with us. Now you wanna tell me what's wrong?\"\n\n\"I dunno, I think Jess is upset today. I'm gonna go apologize to her.\" She ran to the stairs sticking her face into the stairwell. She was silent for a moment,\n her eyes closed, and saw her mouth \"I love you\". \"Jess, get down here already or I'm eating your share.\"\n\nShe sat happily at the table and we had dinner. That night I found her sleeping in her sister's room curled up on the floor. The blankets were ruffled raised from the mattress. I lost track of how long I stood on the doorway watching them, only when my eyes began to droop did I remember I should head to bed.\n\n\"Goodnight girls.\" I said softly, leaving their door just slightly open, like I had when they were little." ]	1
	[WP] Everyday you go into the same coffeeshop with the same Barista woeking and order the same thing. Usually she gets your name right, but something is wrong.	[ "Richard plopped his soaking rain coat over the wooden chair, his hair dangling loosely across his face. Wiping the water away from his eyes, he scanned the coffee shop for his barista. Apart of his daily ritual, Richard sat for a few hours and did some writing with sipping his favorite caramel coffee. But today, with the heavy rains already beginning to start, Richard was preparing for a long haul here, maybe he would grab some lunch as well. As long as he stayed focused on his writing, Richard would be content. Content while his trusty barista served him and kept him company throughout her shift. \n\nAs he scanned the bustling coffee shop, he pinpointed his barista. A cute girl with curly blonde locks dangling in her shoulders. Her button face with dimples high on her cheeks. To Richard, she was elegant, an inspiration. Yet, Richard had not grown the confidence to ask her out. Soon, he promised himself, he had to focus on his writing. Soon, they'll be together and life would finally seem not so bleak. But that day would never come.\n\nSarah brought over a cup of joe to a older man reading the newspaper, her red smock dangling at her shins.\n\n\"Sarah! Good morning, hope you stayed dry with all this rain coming down\". Richard calling out, sitting at his table he always claimed. \n\nSarah turned and walked back towards the counter. Richard waited patiently for Sarah to answer back. Yet, she continued back towards the register, ringing up the old mans order and dumping the remaining change in the tip jar. Richard's patience soon turned embarrassment. He was never particularly good with the ladies, yet he developed a certain relationship with Sarah, a first name basis. All this nightmares were coming to the surface as Sarah went about her normal routine, ignoring Sarah. Thinking she may not of heard, Richard cleared the frog in his throat and gave out another call, this time without so much confidence as the shroud of embarrassment was already setting in. \"Good morning Sarah, how have you been?\" He called. Nothing, Sarah continued counting her tips, waiting for the next customer. \"Sarah?\" Richard called out \"Sarahhh?\" He called out a little more playfully. Nothing, she had put her tips away and was scrolling through her phone. Richard could already feel the eyes of the other patrons stare and mock him as he failed to talk to the pretty girl. \"Sarah\" He suddenly said a little louder, snapping his fingers at her. Sarah's eyes diverted towards Richard \"Excuse me sir, if you would like a drink you can come up and ask me, you don't need to snap your fingers at me like a dog\". \n\nConfused, Richard replied \"Sarah, i've been calling you for a few minutes and you've been ignoring me, are you okay?\" \n\n\"Sir I really don't know what you mean?\" Sarah cocking her head sideways confused. \n\n\"Your really starting to bug me out, and why do you keep calling me sir, its not like i'm that old\" Richard joked nervously\n\n\"I'm calling you sir because that is the polite thing to call a new customer, now, what can I get you today?\" She replied in her bubbly tone.\n\n\"New customer? Sarah i've been in her everyday since you started working here in May, don't you remember me?\" \n\nSarah stood staring at Richard, her eyes meeting his gaze with a lifeless tone to them. \"Sarah?\" Richard snapped his fingers in front of her face. Her eyes wide and staring into the distance. The uneasy feeling in Richards stomach was now growing stronger, he felt a primal urge that something was wrong. The creepiness of Sarah forgetting him and her now odd behavior, Richard took a step back. \n\nBreaking her dead silence, Sarah sprang to life \"Coffee! Coffee! Croissant! Large Decaf!\" Shouting towards the heavens. \n\nRichard stumbled backwards, giggling a nervous, frightful laugh. Large decaf! Large decaf! L..Laa....LARGE DECAF!\" Sarah was screaming, her body twisting in an unnatural movement. \n\n\"My god, Sarah relax, whats going on?\" Richard asked, he was now grabbing his coat and bag, ready to leave.\n\n\"Large decaf! Large decaf! L....Laa...L....LARG....L.........\" Sarah stopped shouting, her head drooped to the floor, motionless. Richard walked hesitnatly towards her, other customers sat quietly to the side, watching the ordeal unfold. \"Sarah?\" Richard reached nervously towards her.\n\nHer head shot up, her crystal clue eyes peeled wide. Her arm raced towards her face, her nails digging deep into the side of her cheek. \"Jesus Sarah stop!\" Richard cried as she dug deeper, streams of blood racing down her face pooling onto the counter. A patron nervously dialed 911. Richard tired wrestling Sarah's arm away from her face, her other arm swatted hard at Richard, he flew several feet to the side, crashing into a set of chairs. Sarah continued to peel, her skin dropping to the floor, onlookers cried out and ran out the building. Crimson blood soaked her clothes and apron, her skin piling on the counter. Through her gaping cuts, shiny, reflective metals were coming through. Under the cuts, Richard noticed circuitry. First wires were exposed, followed by a fireworks display of sparks emitting from the gash on her face. When the sparks ceased, and Richard snapped himself back to reality, half her face was melted, revealing a sinister android skull. Sarah leapt onto the counter, crushing the cash register sending cash and coins flying. As the last of the patrons ran out, Sarah met the eyes of Richard. She pulled the sleeve of skin off her arm revealing a robotic skeleton underneath. She studied it carefully before meeting his gaze once again. She looked at him menacingly, and with a deeper, static like voice she said Richard!\" before leaping towards him. \n\n\n\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] Hell ran pretty smoothly for over two millennia...until an OSHA representative walked through its gates.	[ "It was an ordinary day in hell. \n\nSinners were being tormented in my punishment realm, their screams and the laughs of the demons echoed in my dark obsidian halls, foolish humans were selling their souls to eternal damnation for just a little more money or time… all in all, the usual. \n\nNot to brag but I AM the winner of the Infernal Eternal Damnation award for the 2000th year in a row. FOR A GOOD REASON! I run the most efficient eternal punishment realm in all 7 hells. I even took over Satan’s corner in order to teach him how to extract the most out of his demon servants when it came to tormenting the souls of the damned but, as it turns out: he’s more of a field man than a manager! So, after our hellish merger, he runs one of my eternal punishment departments where he gets to field test new “creative” ways to punish souls and I run the entire operation at management level. This boosted our occupancy and employee numbers funnily enough. Demons, humans and even some angels are terrified of being sent to my doorstep but boy oh boy when they do; my minions and I get a field day. We analyze the persons fears, desires, actions when alive in order to custom tailor the punishment to the soul and we make sure the demon in charge of that soul is an expert in that type of torture.\n\nNeedless to say, when you run a punishment realm, Health and Safety are NOT any priority WHATSOEVER. Now answer me this: Who … THE FUCK… thought it would be a GOOD IDEA to send an OSHA rep… TO HELL? I swear someone up there is screwing with me big time. 2000 years not a single problem and then suddenly THIS asshole shows up! Yeah, those feathered assholes flying up on cloud nine are going to have a serious come to Lucifer at the next Angelic-Demonic Summit.\n\nLet me give you the run-down of what happened that day and how my ass is still chafing over it.\n\nI was in my office looking over some standard “sell your soul” contracts, finalizing the paperwork when in came Azrael, my Incubus PA, looking rather grim.\n\n“Yo boss Lou, you get a good lay last night?” That comment resulted in my arching one eyebrow but not looking up from the files.\n\n“Want to try that again Azra? It’s too damn early in eternity for you to spout that crap and I don’t like you nearly enough to not feed you to the hellhounds.”\n\nCool as you please, he ignored my biting remark and sat in the chair opposite my desk and leaned back, arms crossed, acting rather amused than afraid.\n\n“What I meant was, I hope you are in a good mood today…”\n\n“I am never in a good mood, comes with my job, now spit it out, what do you want?” \n\nNo sooner had I said that than in barged my Feathered Aneurism-waiting-to-happen, in a nice clean suit, complete with clip board, pen and a MASSIVE stick up her ass. She pushed past Azrael who rolled the chair back in amusement and planted herself right in front of me. \nTo her irritation, I continued to flip though my paperwork, not really paying attention to that little power display, and didn’t look at her.\n\n“Lucifer, I am…”\n\n“Azrael, what the fuck just walked in my office without an appointment? And apparently without manners either.”\n\n“I was about to tell you boss, the higherups thought it would be funny to send us miss manners here to “rubber stamp” Hell as a safe place to be in.” I chuckled as he exploded in laughter. I couldn’t help but swivel my chair to look through my window at the fire, blood and brimstone work décor that I put in place (per employee request). As we laughed at what obviously had to be a joke, the angel in question started puffing her chest like a ridiculous overfed bird and slammed her hands, board and pen on my mahogany desk.\n\n“AS I WAS SAYING, I am Gabrielle from the Inter-Realm Health and Safety Administration and your Punishment realm is an administrative nightmare!”\n\n “Thank you we try. Realizing all kinds of nightmares are kind of the job description around here. Now, I am very busy and I have a department meeting to get to so thank you for your visit, there is the door, don’t let it hit you on the way out… on second thought please let it.” I rose from my chair, collected my laptop and documents and was about to sidestep her when she NOT ONLY blocked my path, BUT ALSO tried to STEP UP to me. Now I started to feel my usual short fuse burning very quickly.\n\nJust for visualization’s sake, I am a tall as fuck motherfucker and this overfed chicken barely made it to my stomach. It may be petty but I felt inwardly proud that I was that tall and she that short, but I have a reputation to protect and a façade to maintain. Azrael caught himself from laughing even more at the sight as my glare quelled him. I finally looked at the thing in front of me and gave my best condescending smirk. \n\n“Excuse me chicken wings, but back the hell up before I rip those off and shove them up your ass. You are getting your fleas over my new suit. It is genuine virgin skin and I don’t know where you have been.” I made a point to brush off non-existing lint from my shoulder and make a face as though a particularly foul smell was emanating from her. \n\n“You are NOT going anywhere Lucifer, I have strict instructions from my superiors that this place must be brought up to scratch, per heavenly guidelines, and that you must reform your management infrastructure. How you get any work done here is BEYOND me.” She sneered as she looked up to me and jabbed a pointy finger in my gut. Wrong move. From the corner of my eyes I could see Azrael standing at attention, reaching for his blade as I made the room temperature drop to below freezing and my eyes burn blood red.\n\nGrabbing her throat, I pulled her up to my eye level and in a tight, frozen voice I enunciated carefully to her; \n\n“Listen to me VERY clearly, you only have one chance to get out of here alive. You are going to crawl back to whatever hole you came out from and tell the heavenly powers that be that Hell is not changing, not now not ever and if they have ANY problem with the way I run things down here, they get off their high clouds, grow some balls and come down here to tell me TO MY FACE that they have a problem. I guarantee last time a Bullshit Health and Safety rep came here I sent him back in pieces and I’m still not done mailing him back to you lot. Now get the FUCK out of my way before I send you to Satan’s Research and Development office and make you his new guinea pig for his punishment experiments.”\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] You're a normal farmer, except for the fact you have the same name as the fated Hero, the fans have already been really annoying, but now the dark lord is in your village.	[ "Dylan was laying back on his chair, his feet on the oaken table of his rundown house, bringing his old cedar pipe to his lips, when a loud banging on his door shook him to the point of dropping his precious pipe. \n - Who fucking dares!, he says as he opens the frail door, almost killing the mind behind it, You better have a good fucking reason of coming here or my pitchfork here is going somewhere the light doesn’t shine!\n - Dylan, you’re the Hero, even if you say you aren’t, we know it’s you! We need your help, the Dark Lord is already marching on our lands he will be here soon!\n - Oh my God Jerry for the last time I’m not your fucking hero! So get your ass of the ground and leave me alone. As for the Dark Lord, he can trample on all of us for all I care, I’m old and tired, what could I even do?\n - That’s not the last time you hear of me Dylan, you gotta fight for us!\nAnd so the little frail twerp that was Jerry ran to the town plaza as Dylan slammed his door shut. \n - Bloody Idiots, he muttered. \nAs he leaned down to pick up his cedar pipe, he heard an ever so faint sound. He thought nothing of it, till it became louder. And louder. And louder. \nHe stumbled outside and not far from his doorstep was the infamous Dark Lord, and to his side Jerry, pointing a trembling and scared finger to Dylan’s face. \nThe Dark Lord opened his cursed mouth, black froth emanating from both corners of his twisted smile, and let out in a spectral yet almost tangible voice :\n - Dylan! The Fated Hero! Challenge me at once, or I’m destroying this village!\nThe old man yawned :\n - What do I care? I’m childless, don’t have a single person I treat as a friend. The single thing I own is my cattle and all the bastards have been all over my head with this Hero crap. You’d almost be doing me a favor!\n - I don’t care! My lust for battle has gone unextinguished for decades! You will fight me now Hero, or I shall curse you to remain forever alive in this village!\n - Oh no anything but that, these people are awful! Fine I’ll fight you ya bastard!\nDylan extended his hand towards his front porch, and grabbed his pitchfork. He extended the used tool towards the foul demon, and said in a overly excited voice :\n - I unleash the ultimate fireball of death and destruction! With my cloak of wisdom and bracelets of destruction, as well as the natural 20 I just rolled this guy is toast!\nA giant hand landed on the map of the small town, toppling over the figurines, that of the farmer and the Dark Lord. \n - Jesus Christ Dylan you’re the worst player I’ve ever seen! If mom hadn’t threatened me of grounding me, I would have never let you play!\n - This game sucks anyways, you never let me have fun!\n - That’s just not how the campaign is supposed to sta-\nAnd Dylan left the table running, looked back at all the players, with their neat little character sheets and let out in his best farmer voice :\n - Yar all cunts!\nAnd he darted to his room, still swearing profusely, laughing very hard across the house. \n\nEDIT: Phone formatting I’m sorry :(", "Every one hundred years, a page in the Book of Knowledge appears with vague predictions of what may happen in the next century. Written in the page are a few descriptions of the next hero who'll protect the world for the next one hundred years and the year that their strongest enemy will appear. I know it's quite stupid for the Keepers of the Book to announce to the world these things, because the dark forces can attack an unprepared hero and possibly plunge the world into chaos for the next century, but the Keepers pledged to neutrality. They don't stand for the light nor to the dark. \"We are the keeper of balance\" are the words of their order.\n\n3 years ago was the end of the century. The Keepers made all the contents of the page known. The page says,\n\n\"Born on the day the Frozen King had perished, the hero shall hail from the Kingdom of Illa. His name is Elric, son of the soil.\"\n\nI panicked. The Book has given a name, MY name. this is the first time it did that. Illa? I am an Illan. He? I'm a man. Son of the soil? I am a fucking farmer! The only thing that doesn't point towards me, was the birth of the hero. I was born 5 years after the death of the Frozen King.\n\nThe page continues,\n\n\"The enemy of the light appears now.\"\n\nThat line sent the whole world into panic. How can we prepare the hero, when his enemy is already out there?\n\nThe king of Illa ordered an all-out search for everyone who fits all the descriptions. Three people who fit were found. After that, their whole families were brought to the castle to live there while the three Elrics were being trained. The castle was on total lock down, with every security measures imaginable in place. Despite all that, in a matter of months, the three heroes were assassinated. Us Illans wept, while the rest of the world hated our kingdom. I don’t blame them. The death of the hero means that the world is utterly defenceless to the dark forces for the next one hundred years.\n\nAt the aftermath of their deaths, us common citizens tried our best to live our normal lives, but the leaders of the countries in the world didn’t. Taxes were raised and the armies were bulked up in preparation for the coming doom.\n\nMost people blame the Keepers, I among them. If they truly were the Keepers of Balance, they should have known that telling the world who the hero is while the dark forces already exist will tip the scale in favour of evil.\n\nThere are people who don’t believe that the hero was among the three who were assassinated. Some believe that the king is hiding the real hero while he prepares. Some believe that we interpreted the book wrong. Some says the “son of soil” is actually “son of soul”. I do agree that the font of the book is quite horrendous, but I don’t think the Keepers could make such a mistake with their lives basically revolving around the thing. Some say that the hero is actually a she, not a he, but even though if we disregard the “he” and “son” in the text, I don’t think there are many female Elrics out there, much less those who fit the rest of the descriptions. The one theory that I can get behind is that the hero was born in Illa or has Illan blood, but now lives in another land.\n\nOne theory, the one that sent these fans to visit me in my farm, is the theory that we got the birthdate of the hero wrong. How we can get that wrong is beyond me.\n\n“Can you bless my child, please? My lord?” says one mother to me while I pick some tomatoes.\n\n“I am a farmer, not your lord.”\n\n“You are! Son of the soil!”\n\n“No. Please move.” I said, as I walked around her to pick more tomatoes.\n\n“Please. We’ll leave after you do.”\n\n“No.” if I bless this child, word of it will spread and more mothers like her will come.\n\n“Hey! Don’t step on my spinach!” I said to the dozens of people who came to see me. “Karia, help me.” I said under my breath. This farm is all I have. The army now takes half of my harvests to feed the soldiers and now these people are stepping on the last thing I own as if it’s nothing.\n\nI picked up my baskets and walked to the next row of tomatoes. The herd followed me, destroying more of my plants. This is the last straw.\n\n“When will you accept that the hero is dead?!” I screamed at them. They went silent. “I am not the hero! The Keepers do not make mistakes much less does the Book! It is absolute! Why won’t you see that?”\n\nAfter a few seconds a man spoke,\n\n“We… we see that.” I looked at of them, truly looked at all of them for the first time.\n\n“Then why are you all here?”\n\n“What are we supposed to tell the children?” I didn’t know what to answer. What will a child grow into, if he believes that we are doomed? What world will they live in, if they do not hope at all?\n\n“…You… You tell them the truth.” I told them. I turned to the child whose mother wanted me to bless.\n\n“Son.” I said as I fall to one knee, “One hero died, but someone else can take his place. The future seems dark, but as long as one of us stands, there will always be light.”\n\nI stood and looked at the people around me, “The hero is gone, but we are still here. Humanity has been dependent on the heroes throughout history, as if we do not matter to the grand scheme of things. We were just the casualties of the battle between good and evil. Maybe the Keepers meant for this to happen. We have always been at the mercy of the forces around us. Quivering in the dark, while we wait silently wait for the light. Maybe this time, we are meant not to wait but to seek. Maybe this time we are meant to matter.”\n\n\n-------\nI have a completely different story in mind, but I felt like it's getting too long and I gotta sleep now. I'm probably gonna change it tomorrow. Cheers, guys :)", "DARIUS LIFEBRINGER!\n\nA crash of thunder sounds outside, and black clouds roll across the sky. The well-wishers camping outside my door scream and scatter in various directions. I sigh, setting down my coffee. I knew this day would come.\n\nI put on my farmer's cap, my gloves I use to pull out thorny weeds, and meander towards the door. The raw hum of power in the air increases with every step I take. Pulling open the door stands Yygterran, Lord of Darkness. He stands about a metre from the door, an aura of pure darkness surrounding him. He has raised one of his hands, pointing it at the door, ready to obliterate me as soon as the door was opened. Luckily, he had decided to pause a second. \"OH\". The dark aura dissipates. \"HANG ON A MINUTE.\" He pulls out a notebook in which some notes have been scribbled in blood, and flips through the pages. Frowning, he looks up from the notebook.\n\n\"YOU ARE DARIUS LIFEBRNGER, YES? YOU DO NOT LOOK LIKE WHAT I EXPECTED YOU TO.\"\n\nI sigh, dramatically. \"Okay, good, maybe you'll be the first to actually listen to me. While yes, that is my name, no, I am not the Darius Lifebringer. I'm called Lifebringer because I'm a farmer, my dad was a farmer, my dad's dad was a farmer, my dad's dad's dad... you get the idea. We've owned this land for generations.\"\n\nYygterran, Lord of Darkness, looks rather confused now. He drops the hand pointing right at my face. \"YOU MEAN I HAVE TRAVELLED MILLIONS OF MILES ACROSS DOZENS OF WORLDS ONLY TO GET THE WRONG FUCKING ADDRESS?\"\n\n\"Hey, hey, no need to swear. Look, you're probably tired. God knows I am. I wake up at 3am every morning to admirers screaming outside my window, thinking that I'm that Darius. Chasing them away with a pitchfork only works so many times. Now some of the more determined ones think I have treasure back here or something bloody stupid.\n\n\"WELL, DO YOU?\"\n\n\"I have coffee. That's my treasure. Proper single-origin stuff right here. Speaking of which. Would you like some? You're tired and annoyed because you have the wrong house. I'm tired and annoyed because I get two hours' sleep a night because other people get the wrong house.\"\n\n\"SURE. WHAT IS SINGLE-ORIGIN COFFEE?\"\n\n\"Oh my god, you have not lived, Yygterran.\"\n\n\"IT'S PROUNCED YYGTERRAN.\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\nAnd that is the story of how Darius Lightbringer, local farmer and Yygterran, Lord of Darkness, became best friends over some good coffee and chasing away terrified local villagers with the help of some dark magic from the 87th Dimension. Truly, a friendship meant to last through the ages.", "Grim Dunndragon. It's a striking name that makes you want to deepen your voice as you say it. A name that could cause lightning to strike from the sky as the sound rolls off your lips. One with such a mighty name must be destined to do great things. But Grim Jeffrey Dunndragon and Grim Ivellious Dunndragon were two very different men.\n\nGrim's expression turned from hardened to contempt as he planted and covered the last yam of this batch. He was relieved to get back to his house and catch some rest after a hard day's work. The last month had been a nightmare, but he managed to sound out the screaming and waving from the swarms of fans that showed up outside his property. Plus, ever since he moved his fence further foward, Thomas had been doing a great job of seeing that people stayed back. An 85 pound German Shepherd tended to make people want to keep a cool distance. As Grim meandered back to his humble, yet comfortable abode, the sky began to darken. This was strange to Grim, as in the summertime it didn't usually get dark until about 8:30 around these parts. He looked up to see a swarm of black clouds spiraling and merging above him as his heart skipped a beat. He stared, open-mouthed and speechless, as, with a crack of thunder, a bolt of lightning slammed into the ground. Grim was knocked off his feet as he fell to the ground, temporarily deaf from the roaring sound of mighty thunder. Grim was completely frozen in shock as he saw a figure descend into his field. He couldn't even move his lips to profess one final prayer before what seemed like his impending doom. The figure blared with a gust of wind, \"GRRRIIMM DUNNDRAGOOON!\"\n\nThis is it, Grim thought. After 64 hard years my age has taken it's toll, and it doesn't look like I'm going to heaven.\n\nAs Grim tried to think of where he went wrong, the figure glided rapidly towards him.\n\n\"Your hero... shaking in his boots? COWARD!\" the figure once again bellowed.\n\nHero? Grim thought. I'm no hero.\n\nGrim began to realize what was going on as the figure pointed a pointed obsidian staff towards him. The tip began to crack with lightning before Grim gathered up all the courage he had and shouted, \"WAIT!\"\n\n\"Wait? For what?\"\n\nYo I'd be down to write a part 2 but I gotta get some sleep. If anyone is interested I'll add on to this tomorrow." ]	4
	[WP] Fantasy Football has changed in the age of Cloning, Genetic Engineering and Quantum Computing. Now entire teams of Orcs, Ninjas, Pirates, cloned celebrities or anything in the imagination of their creators battle weekly for Football Supremacy	[ "\n\n\"I know what you're thinking.\" \n\nThe be-suited tour guide smiled broadly, his teeth glowing extra white in his mouth, as if they just been freshly spray painted. \"How can you be so cruel?\"\n\nThe small group, maybe a dozen tourists in shorts and flip flops, some wearing \"Rumble Dome!\" hats and t-shirts, all looked at each other nervously. In truth none of them had been thinking that, but now they all were and the thought was disconcerting.\n\nThe tour guide smiled broader and nodded as he spoke. \"Well, put that thought out of your mind. You see, here at Dome enterprises, we take morality into consideration at every step of our process.\"\n\nWith the press of a button a seemingly opaque wall behind the guide became perfectly transparent and, behind it was the all white clean room of a laboratory. White clad lab assistants in full rebreathers bent over at their work, manipulating invisible contents in and out of myriad test tubes.\n\n\"From the very start, Dome scientists take donated organic materials and make in vitro genetic changes intended to eliminate unwanted traits from future Dome warriors - fear, empathy, pain reception.\"\n\nWith another press of a button a particular work station lit up a little brighter. The scientist there paused briefly, looked at the tourists, gave a little wave, and then went back to work, peering at something under a giant microscope.\n\nThe tour guide started up again with his well rehearsed script. \"By removing select genetic material in both the egg and sperm, our scientists are able to preselect for certain traits with almost 95% accuracy. For example, Jose here is currently removing the genetic material responsible for the fear response from a female egg.\"\n\nOne of the tourists raised a hand and the guide became a bit frustrated. \"Please, reserve all questions for the end of the tour.\" The tourist lowered his hand unhappily to his side and the guide ushered everyone down the long hallway to another opaque wall.\n\n\"The spirit of the Rumble Dome is one of conquest and excitement, and, of course, violence is part of that. But we knew, from the beginning, that there was a difference between violence and trauma.\"\n\nAnother button press and a much longer window appeared opening a view into an expansive factory floor. Hundreds of workers roamed the grounds in white cleansuits and masks, weaving between countless tanks filled with a translucent orange liquid and a wide variety of organic looking shapes. In some the tanks floated minuscule masses of cells, in others larger fleshy objects, the grotesquely bared image of half developed adult human bodies. Further in the distance full grown human figures could be seen floating, their musculature twitching here and there.\n\nThe guide stopped in front of the window and gave the tourists a judicious thirty seconds of silence to take in the sight. Then he began, \"Here at Dome we grow only the best combatants, soldiers and warriors of every shape and size, every culture and discipline. As they are developing, genetic and physiological tests are carried out to be 100% certain that the pre-fertilization genetic changes are doing their jobs. About 5 of every 100 combatants develops the nueral framework for pain or fear receptors, or levels of higher emotional intelligence or empathy responses, and of course these specimens are painlessly and efficiently eliminated before consciousness is allowed to develop.\"\n\nAgain the same tourist raised his hand and the guide sucked his teeth in frustration. \"Sir, please, I know you have pressing questions, I'm certain others do to, but for the sake of fluidity, please refrain from asking them until the end of the tour.\"\n\nThe other tourists gave the man a disdainful look and, unhappy but cowed, the fat tourist lowered his hand again, looking in both directions down the hallway.\n\nThe tour guide led them to a third window. Behind the opaque glass there could be heard muffled yells and the soft padded impacts of bodies on ground. The guide allowed the tension to build for a few seconds before making the glass transparent and revealing two dozen ninjas, new combatants, training in a dojo-like setting.\n\nAs the ninjas took turns charging at one another or sparring with training weapons, the guide spoke. \"Each of our combatants comes into the world with a custom implanted genetic muscle memory of their particular defined warrior discipline. Here you see our newest batch of \"ninja.\" Although each combatant's body theoretically leaves the vat at 100% combat efficiency, we have found over the years that a brief period of intensive training and post \"birth\" brings with it better overall results.\"\n\nThe group lingered there for a while, the three children especially excitable, their faces up against the glass, watching as the ninjas swung swords on chains at one another, or threw shurikens into a nearby wood target.\n\nThe guide smiled at how well the tour was going and brought everyone out of the hallway into a final room where a curtained stage awaited with thirty seats set up in front of it. \"If everyone would please have a seat.\" The guide said, gesturing to the chairs, and everyone found a seat.\n\nThe guide walked up to the stage and faced everyone. \"The end result of our development process is combatants who look human, fight like humans, but, I assure you, are not human in exactly the ways that matter.\" The curtain rose behind him and a Vikin style warrior stood in the middle of the stage wearing a disinterested look.\n\nThe guide walked over to the side, took off his suit jacket, rolled up his sleeves and picked up an axe. All the while he spoke calmly. \"By eliminating the emotional trappings of the human being, including and most importantly the fear and empathy response, pain reception, as well as the inclination toward self preservation, our combatants are the perfect gladiators without any of the empathetic trauma viewers used to experience watching others commit violence against each other.\"\n\nWithout a word of warning the guide swiped the axe down into the viking's arm. The blade embedded in his bicep, with a splurt of blood. The small crowd recoiled and exclaimed lightly in surprise, but the guide just smiled again and raised his hands calmly.\n\n\"Nothing to worry about folks. As you can see the combatant can no more feel the wound then the fear it might elicit in the rest of us.\"\n\nThe viking's face did not even change. He looked impassively at the axe in his arm the same way one might look at a small fly which landed on one's hand.\n\nThe guide kept speaking. \"The extent of the combatants changed nature is absolute. Viking, cut off your own hand.\"\n\nWith abject disregard the viking reached over with his unaffected hand, grabbed the hilt of the axe, tore it free with a wet sound and then swung it down hard on his left wrist, severing it completely. Blood splurted out in fine drops, hitting the front audience members who blinked and smiled at one another. The viking's face barely changed, his lip upturned at the edge, as if slightly annoyed at the inconvenience of having to cut off his own appendage.\n\nThe guide smiled again as he was putting his jacket back on, and walked to the end of the stage as the curtain came down behind him. \"And that, friends, is the promise of Dome Enterprises, entertainment without moral quandary, so you can enjoy without worry! Now, are there any questions?\"\n\nThe tourists looked at each other dumbly, without any idea what they were supposed to ask. Only one raised his hand, the same from before, now very eager.\n\nThe guide rolled his eyes and pointed at him. \"Alright, sir. What is your question?\"\n\nLike a little kid, the middle aged, overweight man in a Rumble Dome baseball cap whimpered his response. \"Is there a bathroom I can use?\"\n\nThe guide sighed and pointed him to a doorway in the back of the room. \"First door on the left.\"\n\nThe foolish man ran out, his legs uncomfortably twisted as he waddled out. The guide watched him disdainfully. When the man had left the guide turned back to the tourists and raised a hand. \"If there are no further questions, then please exit at the back toward the gift store.\"\n\nThe tourists made their way out of the room as the guide peaked between the curtains at the wounder viking. The strange creature had torn its ragged clothes and fashioned a simple tourniquet on the wound. It sat there in the dark, seeping blood, with a look of dull disinterest.\n\n******\n#### For More Legends From The Multiverse\n\n## r/LFTM" ]	1
	[WP] The problem with being immortal is you can't nap. They tend to last a lot longer than expected...	[ "Sleep for me lasts fifty years at a time. \n\nI suppose it's the downside of not sleeping for every two hundred. If you ask me, I would reckon it's fair. Most humans sleep for a third of their normal day, so I must have struck a good bargain. Nonetheless, being the only immortal in a sea of transient humans has its disadvantages.\n\nI was born in the 4th century BC. Due to my obvious differences, most notably not sleeping and dying, I was worshiped as a god in my East African tribe. A few generations later, I felt a strange urge to rest for the first time in my life. I isolated myself in a cave and sleep embraced me for the first time. When I awoke, my tribe had been nonexistent for decades, decimated by the Egyptians. \n\nI decided to journey from then on, tribe to tribe, city to city, empire to empire, wandering almost every day, hiding my real nature. I became an expert at feigning slumber by closing my eyes and reflecting for a few hours, which was usually enough to convince the average human.\n\nI have had my share of heartbreaks as well. In the 17th century I was in Paris, France, and it was impossible not to fall in love with the spirit of the time. I met a beautiful young woman and fathered a child with her. I never told her my secret, though. She may have suspected, but we were too happy to care. One day, I felt the sudden urge for peace and quiet once again, and I endeavored to find a new cave to conceal my hibernating self in. I knew what it would cause my now family, but the urge to sleep was unbearable and I succumbed. I awoke fifty years later and scampered to seek my woman and babe. Alas, I found her, an old lady, blind and deaf, alone in her front yard. I walked to her and gave her a final kiss on the forehead and said my goodbye. I thought I saw her shed a tear as I left, calling out my name in whispers. I never found my son. \n\nNow the year is 2018. On the television last night, it was announced that North Korea has banded with China and Russia and declared war against the United States. This morning, the cities of Seattle, New York, London, Quebec, Tokyo, and Seoul were hit with atomic bombs. Fifty million people died. They threaten to bomb two dozen more cities starting tomorrow. The United States and its allies follow suit without delay, and bombed the cities of Moscow, Beijing, Shanghai, and Pyongyang an hour ago.\n\nI feel the urge again, and I cannot help it. It is time. My body needs slumber.\n\nI descend the basement of my house in Washington DC and enter my nuclear bunker. It should serve my body well over the next fifty years. What awaits me afterward, I am not certain, but right now all I can think of is the urge to rest and the need to satisfy it.\n\nSo I sleep. Deeply, for fifty years... \n\n---------------------------------\nIf you liked this, enjoy my other short stories:\nhttps://www.reddit.com/r/TheSexyNun/" ]	1
	[WP] You finally get around to cleaning your house. As you do you discover a mouse. Instead of scurrying away, the mouse offers to entertain you while you clean.	[ "Lute music\n\nThey charged out on the prowl. Another Thursday. The bars were lenient tonight, a school ID or three ladies could anyone get past the bouncer. \n\n“Why are you in Mid?! Our short is undefended! Fuck!”\n\nBefore their fanfare plays, his headphones were in pieces. Heaving. Heaving, then wheezing. He gropes over the pee bottles, the soda cans, the take out boxes. Bright red, the inhaler teeters, he grabs it, presses the plunger and inhales the soothing medicine. \n\nHe scans his room, seeing the piles of pizza boxes soda cans and whole liter bottles brimming with urine. “Is it Thursday?” He opens his closet, finding pristine care packages. With a garbage bag in hand, he sweeps trash into it in armfuls. As the trash clatters, it has a rhythm. A lilting folksy tune. Not from his speakers, or the trash, but a mouse. On its hind legs, it strums and dances. \n\n‘I think I’ve finally snapped.’ His phone lay on his bed, dying, dying, dead in a muzak tune. \n\nHe steps forward as the mouse plays on. It scowls as a pinch makes him grab his neck. A toothpick, buried in his neck, has a little bit of cellophane tied around its tail. He spins, finding a hooded mouse, readying another sandwich toothpick in a paperclip bow. \n\nThe music stops. \n\nA third mouse, runs towards his feet and leans into the arch of his foot. A matchstick, sharpened to a point, comes out red. He jumps, grabbing his foot and howling. An arrow whizzes by. The mouse below raises it tiny shield and tinier heraldry facing up. \n\nThe Lutist mouse draws its matchstick sword. In a three-legged scamper, it scales up his pajama pants. Up his graphic tee and dives for his neck. A triumphant nick with its blade spills blood in a trickle. \n\nHe falls.\n\nLater, crime scene tape criss-crosses the door\n\n“Really?”\n\n“Yeah, see the tiny mouse prints and a toothpick in his neck. Case closed.”\n\n“Go Home, Mikey.” " ]	1
	[wp]Your entire life you have thought that you are blind. One day, you realize that you had never opened your eyes.	[ "My cane tapped side to side rhythmically, like a windshield washer, guarding me. Guiding me.\n\nI poked forward once I had heard the familiar barking of my dog emitting from my house like the rabid protector the mutt was. I slowly made forward towards my front door, patting about through my pockets to find my keys. My hand grazed over the door to find the lock and I soon, methodically, inserted the key and turned.\n\nAs the door opened, my dog's barking ceased at his recognition of me. He jumped up and down, pawing and clawing at me. I chuckled and carefully commanded him to calm down.\n\nThe TV was still on. CNN played, making report of a new international crisis. Of course, tensions escalating between countries. Nothing new. It'd cool down. It was just macho-men flexing their muscles, after all, right?\n\nI wandered over to my window, or, where I thought it was. Friends and family had always told me that maybe if my house was just a bit to the right of the hill beyond my house, it'd oversee more than just the tips of the Boston city-scape. Not like I cared, I couldn't see shit anyways.\n\nIronically, I had never fallen really ill. I had never been too tired or too clumsy. Yet, despite this, I was blind. Very fucking blind. \n\nAs I turned from the window, I grabbed the remote and turned off the TV just after the news had suddenly been interrupted by whatever.\n\nTurning back to walk over to my window and feel the sun again, I tripped over my dog, hitting my cheek against the window seal as I fell.\n\n\"Fuck!\" I exclaimed in an instance of pain.\n\nIn my pain and frustration, something miraculous happened. My eyes OPENED. I could SEE. Blocks of color and geometrical shapes floated around before everything cleared.\n\nMy realization set in. I looked out my window in wonder and amazement.\n\nSomething fell from the sky. A bright light over the Boston skyline struck my vision. I couldn't fucking see.\n\nI couldn't fucking see.", "\"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.\"\n\nI chuckled, lifting my hand from the book. Past relics contained so much irony.\n\nAges ago, man had sight. They waxed poetic about landscapes, about the beauty of the body, about ancient architecture.\n\nNot anymore. Not since the thousand suns. The suns that rose in the sky, searing the eyes of the human race. Now, all we could do was hide from the oppressive heat, save the few of us that dared to walk the drylands.\n\nThe Nomads we were. Few of us remained, and fewer of us trudge on. Our ancestors taught us the ancient language of Braille, hoping that we could find a way out of our predicament. Searching unknown lands for clues, and salvage what knowledge we can.\n\nI sat down in the abode, wrinkling my nose at the musty air, a distinct combination of books and dust. I heard rustling, the shuffling of footsteps. Sweeping robes accompanied the light footsteps, slightly heavier on one foot.\n\nSedna.\n\nShe came over, her hand touching me, gently easing herself down beside me.\n\n\"Read this, Xion.\"\n\nHer soft hands deposited a book into mine. Flipping and tracing, I laughed.\n\n\"What heresy is this? This sounds like a ramblings of a madman.\"\n\n\"But, what if it's true? The man does have a point. Remembered what our elders said? Of a world filled with things called tech, a world of peace and prosperity?\" Her voice gradually grew urgent, the ramblings of a mad woman filling my ears.\n\n\"I mean, really? 'Try to open your eyes and see the truth'? How do you propose we do that?\"\n\n\"You've never tried, have you? Have any of us ever?\" Carrying a tone or desperation, trying to ease my obvious skepticism. \"What harm could there be?\"\n\nI sighed, taking her hand into mine.\n\n\"Sedna, you are a mad woman. But I will try. For your sake.\"\n\nMy hand slid up the arm, cradling her face, bringing her in for a kiss.\n\nShe responded enthusiastically, our hands entwined tightly.\n\n\"Let's try.\"\n\nI opened my eyes.\n\nIt was black. But not the kind of black you see when you've been blind your whole life.\n\nA transparent black. A black where I saw a face staring back.\n\nAnd then, a shrill, wailing sound, a sound that made me jump.\n\nRed blocks appeared in front of my eyes.\n\nI swung my head around. I saw the red blocks move.\n\nI heard footsteps. Many of them. Quick, rythmic, unfeeling.\n\nI heard Sedna. Screams, guttural, viscereal.\n\nI felt something pulled off my head.\n\nWhite, bright.\n\nI screamed." ]	2
	[WP] Once you turn 21 you are able to change one trait.	[ "She nervously crossed her arms and chuckled. \"I'm pretty much depressed all the time. Got a cure for that?\" She made sure to quirk a brow playfully and keep her tone light as she said this. \n\nWhenever she had brought up her depression in the past, people had always thought she was kidding. No one took her seriously, until she stopped taking herself seriously as well. Her coping mechanism now - in the rare, rare instances that she mentioned her depression - was to joke about it first before they did.\n\nAfter making sure that her sly joke hadn't set off any warning signs or red flags, she tapped her finger against her chin thoughtfully, pretending to think of something that she wanted gone more than her depression.\n\nAfter a few moments of staring at the ceiling, she couldn't deny the truth to herself any longer. What she wanted gone more than her depression? The answer: Nothing. She wanted nothing more than to wake up and look forward to the rest of her day; to smile or laugh and mean it; to feel like there was a point to her existence. She wanted...to be happy.\n\nBut was depression even a trait?\n\nNoticing that she had been quiet too long, she brought her eyes down to find the doctor staring at her intensely.\n\n\"I, uh...I...\" She looked away, and in a quiet voice, said, \"Can I come back some other day?\"\n\nHe shook his head. \"I can't allow that.\"\n\nShe looked up sharply, suddenly noticing how far away she was from the office door. What the hell was this guy talking about?\n\n\"You remind me of my daughter,\" he continued, his voice low and soft. Almost sad, even.\n\n\"Uhm..\" Creepy she thought to herself. Maybe if I throw my shoe at him and make a run for it...\n\n\"She used to joke all the time about being depressed. But it wasn't a joke. It never was. And it never is.\"\n\nTheir eyes locked. Her breathing became shallow.\n\nHe took off his glasses, looked down, and lifted up his shirt to wipe the lenses which had suddenly become fogged up. A tear trailed and dripped off the end of his nose.\n\n\"Unfortunately, I kept laughing until it was too late.\" His next words got lost as he choked back a sob, and her heart went out to him as she watched him struggle to swallow his grief. \n\nShe wanted to do something; say something. But nothing she could do or say would bring his daughter back. And from experience, sometimes it was best to just be there and let your presence be a source of comfort and support and not do or say anything at all. \n\nAt last, he recovered. Wiping the remaining tears away with a napkin, he put his glasses back on and fixed her with a serious gaze.\n\n\"Depression is not a trait,\" he said. \"It's a disorder. \n\nHer heart fell. So he wouldn't be able to help her then...\n\n\"But...\" he said.\n\nShe looked up, too weary to be hopeful.\n\n\"...I've been working on a cure. It's in its final stages and...and I want you to be my first volunteer.\"\n\n\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] You've been captured by a kidnapper! But they're so innocent and harmless, even though you easily could escape, you can't bring yourself to, because it would hurt their feelings.	[ "\"Release me! Rel-\" I closed my eyes and looked downwards, trying to think of death and depression. I didn't want to start laughing, because that would hurt their feelings. I also knew that escaping would hurt their feelings, and doing pretty much anything would hurt their feelings.\n\nIt seemed my kidnapper was a sensitive being.\n\n\"Give me all your money.\" The voice wasn't particularly menacing and they were obviously inexperienced- if the point of knocking me out and bringing me to a secret warehouse was to steal my money, why would you not just steal it and leave? A lot of risks come with kidnappings.\n\n\"Oh, please don't hurt me, you fiend! I'll give you all my money. Untie me quickly and I'll get out my wallet.\"\n\nTruthfully, I was already untied. Scotch tape wasn't a particularly good bond.\n\n\"Okay, but no funny business.\"\n\nIt seemed that my kidnapper was actually the manager and CEO of a funny business, but I can't judge them for their life decisions. If poorly kidnapping expert stunt doubles is your thing, go for it. Knock yourself out.\n\nWhich, surprisingly to me, was exactly what my captor did.\n\nThey had evidently walked backwards while aiming a gun at my head and hit their own head against a metal pipe. My kidnapper lay, defeated, on the floor.\n\n\"Oh, that's not good. Sweetie, can you get some bandages?\" I yelled out.\n\n\"Coming!\" My wife's voice replied from the bathroom, just outside of my daughter's room and down the hallway. Several seconds later, she was there.\n\n\"It's alright, Rose. Lay down for a little while. Daddy is going to put a band-aid on.\"\n\nMy very threatening captor nodded, her gun still in her hand.\n\nWell, a water gun, but a gun nonetheless when it comes to six year old girls threatening their father's life via a poorly executed kidnapping.\n\nCheck out my subreddit, r/storiesfromaguy, if you're interested in reading more of my original stories!" ]	1
	[WP] You lay there on your death bed after getting into a car accident. Not long after Death appears and you await the infamous 'kiss of Death'. However there was a translation issue, to say 'thumb wrestle of Death' would be more accurate.	[ "The hiss-click from the hospital machinery was only interrupted by the occasional beep from the monitors. Charles Micheal Montgomery's vitals were steady, and steadily slowing down. The wreck had proven too much for a frail mortal form, they said, and the gathered family prayed for his pain to end soon.\n\nDeath took a long pull off the Lucky Strike and flicked it away. It bounced off the open bathroom door and with a fssh hit the toilet. \"Two points!\" Charles opened his eyes. Death grinned. Okay, Death didn't grin, but if he could grin he would have grinned. \"Hiya kid. Ready to play?\"\n\nCharles sat up ad out of his body. \"Is that... is that me?\" He asked. Charles looked down at his physical bits. Crumpled, pale. Tubes and wires and plugs and lines ran in and out like some sort of lazy knock off from that baby scene in the Matrix. Death clapped a bony hand on a shoulder and nodded. \"Shit man, that blows. I was going to ask Gina to marry me next week...\"\n\nDeath cleared his throat. \"Four months ago.\", he muttered.\n\nCharles blinked. \"What did you say?\"\n\nDeath sighed. \"I said 'four months ago'. You've been plugged in for a whopping third of a year, kid, and honestly it'd take a miracle for you not to die. Which is why I'm here.\" Death tugged a Lucky Strike from the soft pack and lit the end with his smoldering eye. \"Bottom line, I've got a schedule I'm way behind on so I'm trying to catch up. I could come back when you finally up and die, but let's be honest. All you are doing is laying here, right?\" Charles' face scrunched up, but he couldn't argue the point. \"So here's the deal. We play a game. Winner takes all, so to speak.\" Death took a drag and ejected a cloud of acrid smoke through the sides of his jawbone. \"Okay, to be honest, if you somehow win you make a full recovery and get to go along until something else kill you. Another car, cancer, old age, what ever. If I win, Well, I'm going to win one way or the other. Eventually. But anyway, if I win right now, I get you right now! Ready? Let's do this.\"\n\nDeath stuck the cigarette to the side between his teeth and pulled the sleeve up on one arm. The bones were a dull white, exactly what one would expect of ancient, well, bone. Charles sighed, nodded, and said. \"Okay, so what are we doing? Arm wrestling?\"\n\nDeath chuckled. \"Nah man, we're thumb wrestling.\" The hand clacked and clattered as Death clenched a fist of the multitude of bones. Charles cocked his head, but extended his own. The two grasped, and the dance started. \"One, two, three, four,\" intoned Death. \"I declare a Thumb War, go!\" \n\nThe next few moments were full of intensity, as much could be generated by a thumb wrestling match. If he were capable of such, Death would have been sweating. Charles was good. Real good. He had managed to snag Death's thumb a couple of times already, and it was only a matter of time before he'd make the pin.\n\nAnd then it happened. Charles made the pin, and began the count.\n\n\"One.\" Death struggled in vain to break free.\n\n\"Two.\" An odd whine began at the back of Death's throat, a desperate animal bleating of fear and defeat.\n\n\"Thr- Ow! Son of a bitch!\" Death had snatch the still smoldering butt from his mouth at the last possible second and pressed into Charles' hand. In another deft motion, Death's bony thumb pressed down on the fleshy one.\n\n\"Onetwothree, I win!\" Death cackled with malicious glee.\n\nCharles clutched his singed hand in the other. \"That's not fair!\" But he could already feel his connection to the flesh, his flesh, slipping. It was all just so much meat laying there, and it wasn't even really doing anything now, was it?\n\nDeath draped an arm around Charles' shoulder as they headed out the door. The monitors were no longer merely beeping away the time, instead they rang out loud and shrill. One could say loud enough to wake the dead, but all Charles felt was relief really. Maybe a bit sleepy. It had been exhausting, trying to hang on. Everything began to fade as they walked out. Death laughed again. \"No hard feelings, kid. Like I said, I always win, one way or another. Here, let me make it up to you. You can trick the next poor bastard.\"\n\nDeath waggled the pack of Lucky Strikes in front of Charles, by way of offering a peace treaty. Charles fished one out, lit it off the cherry of the one still in Death's teeth and nodded. \"Sure, okay. Sounds like a deal.\" \n\nAnd around the first smile he'd had in months, \"Sounds like fun.\"" ]	1
	[WP] As you grew older you’ve seen strange messages, such as a fortune cookie saying “YOU’RE IN A COMA” and the Channel 5 News saying “WAKE UP” but you’ve shrugged it off until one fateful day..	[ "I'd been noticing it for years, a message every so often telling me to wake up, that I was in a coma, or that it was time for me to snap out of it. I had spent some time moving in new age circles when I was younger, and seeing this message often inpired thoughts of synchronicty within me, was I asleep spiritually? Was the world telling me that it was indeed time for me to 'wake up', and shed some layer of fog that I was seeing my life through? I would ponder the idea, perhaps I would yet again start a daily routine of yoga and meditation, and a few weeks later the idea would be lost in amongst the other short lived inspirations I thought could change my life for the better.\n\nIt was around Christmas, I had just turned 27 and myself and a few friends were going to camp and go mushroom hunting in a forest just outside of town, a beautiful place with a river nestled amongst the trees, somewhere we had visited a number of times before. Retrospectively, I should have noticed that my friend was acting a little unusual, but for him unusual was quite normal and so nobody saw the need to bring it up. A few hours later, he was screaming that he couldnt wake up, he was stuck, and the only way out he could see to snap out was to die in this world, and thus he would wake up in the real world. We all thought that he was having a hard time with the mushrooms, and would be fine after some sleep. I kept an eye on him late into the night, but eventually I fell asleep. When we woke in the morning, our friend was gone. When his body washed up down river later in the day, the police let us know there were no signs of struggle. It looked like he had gone for a swim and drowned.\n\nThe weeks after were difficult. None of our small group had had to deal with tragedy, and the death of our friend hit us hard. We stayed awake a number of nights talking about what he had been screaming, about needing to wake up, but I never made the connection between his death and the subtle pattern of messages I had sometimes noticed. We blamed the mushrooms, and with no alternative explanation accepted it was a bad trip, one so awful it drove him over the edge.\n\nAbout 6 years later I was catching up with some family I hadnt seen for a number of years. We were at the city waterfront, and decided to stop for a coffee at a cafe a little back from the beach. We ordered our drinks and sat down, and within a few minutes the waitress dropped them off with a small plate of fortune cookies. My cousin, although only a couple of years younger than me, was so excited, and she exclaimed as much as she cracked open one of the fortune cookies. I'll never forget the way the light in her eyes dulled, and her face sagged, before she let out a strangled moan. She began to scream the words that took me back to the forest with my friend. I froze, and watched as her boyfriend moved to console her. She pushed him away and leapt to her feet, sprinting straight through the glass window at the side of the store, cutting herself terribly in the process. By the time an ambulance arrived she had bled out on the footpath.\n\nThere was so much noise, people were talking, the wail of a siren came and went, and the sick moans of my family who hadnt gone to the hospital cut through it all. I sat in shock at the table with our untouched coffee, reeling from what had just happened. The cookie, I thought. I reached over and picked up the fortune cookie my cousin had been holding, a small slip of paper hangin out of one half. Frowning, I drew it closer to my eyes so I could read it clearly. It said \"Wake up. You are in a coma.\"\n\nOver time the instances drew closer together, at first it was years, but by the time I was 40 years old it had almost reached pandemic levels. It seemed I wasnt the only one who had been recieving the messages, but I was one of the few who hadnt taken it to heart. Millions of people were trying to \"wake\" themselves from the dream, oftentimes taking their loved ones with them. At first the news covered it, then there was talk of whether it was only exacerbating the problem. A few years later there was no news, those of us who were left had no intention of watching, reading or listening to any source of media again. Books were burned by the million, all information destroyed so that our minds would be safe from contamination.\n\nAlmost we have returned to the dark ages, so much knowledge has been lost. Nobody could tell us where the messages were coming from, before all communication went offline. Was it all coincidence? Yet such a strong message that our minds could not let it go. None of us believe that of course. Those responsible for what is essentially our peoples extinction are still out there, and watching us. We are left with no option now but to accept our lot. Perhaps the ruins of our people will rise again to reclaim their ancestors greatness. Perhaps they will be buried in the sands of time.\n\ne: wasnt happy with the end so I changed it.", "My earliest memory is at 10 years old. Everyone always said, \"Your earliest memories should be older, from when you were a toddler,\" but I guess I'm just weird.\n\nI woke up on the ground, gravel stuck into my skin like thousands of pimples ready to pop. Before I could get up, I felt the need to bring my legs up closer and felt wind rushing over me. Turns out a huge truck managed to just barely miss hitting me, and I would have been run over if I hadn't moved my legs. When I looked back, the license plate read \"W4KEUP\" which is sort of ironic for a truck with a sleeping driver.\n\nI was so scared that I just laid there for a little while, picking the pebbles out of my skin and rubbing at their indents left behind. It took a few minutes, but I managed to convince myself to get up, and a nurse, in her scrubs on the street for some reason, gave me a quick once-over. On the street, I recognized the road and after a brief check of the still dirty skin on my face and arm, she let me run away.\n\nI saw therapist after therapist, all of them feeling familiar to the point I had to stop going. I could never put my finger on what was wrong, but I did call one \"Colin\" when he'd never told me his first name, so that scared me enough that I stopped going.\n\nOn my first date, me being just 15 and her being 16, I spent my first paycheck on some greasy orange chicken and lo mein, but she still laughed at my jokes. I stuffed the fortune cookie in my pocket, and forgot all about it until a couple days later when I was doing laundry.\n\nFiguring it was probably still safe to eat, I hooked one end around my teeth, breaking it in the middle then pulling the paper out.\n\nWhen I unfolded it, I couldn't help but say \"What the fuuuuuu--\" out loud. Some sick bastard at the factory must have gotten bored, wanting to shake up the normal \"You will have a great life\" or \"Life is a highway, and we must all find our own paces.\" or whatever nonsense.\n\nThis one, though? In a twisted joke, it only said, \"You're in a coma.\" No \"Learn Chinese! Boat is 小船, (xiǎo chuán)” on the back or the little navy squares in the corner. Just, it claimed I was in a coma.\n\nIt got weirder, though, when I walked out to the living room to head upstairs to start getting ready for school, and the 5 o'clock news was only murmering, nothing I could recognize from the other side of the room, but when I stepped on the first step, clear as day, someone yelled \"WAKE UP!\" Honestly, it scared the hell out of me and I ran, hands on the steps in front of me, up the stairs and spent extra long showering. It felt like I was trying to scrub away the weird messages, and the timing had scared the hell out of me.\n\nMore weird things have happened, like my mom randomly dyeing her hair from blonde to bright red, her face aging a decade and her outfits changing wildly, all in the time it took me to have a little nap. When I fell asleep, I dreamed of her looking like that, then it scared me so much I woke up.\n\nIt took some reflection, but that brief dream was strange and I could remember more.\n\nIt started with blackness and beeping. A constant, rhythmic beeping that seemed to be getting faster. It felt like my whole body was covered in mud caked on thick, only able to move with the greatest of efforts. After what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes, I managed to see light on the horizon, and I felt my body sliding forward rapidly, the light coming up more and more, blinding in its intensity. I stared straight ahead, the lights suddenly going out and plunging me into darkness. I felt something force its way into my throat, a burning sensation in one arm, and my eyes hurt. They felt like someone had blown an ocean's worth of salty sand into them, then shut and reopened them to force the sand around.\n\nAnother light turned on behind me, and I could see a little. Moving my head was impossible, but that wasn't on my mind when I saw the huge tube leading up to my mouth. My arms had little marks in some places, and I felt something in my right arm, but I couldn't lift it.\n\nMy eyes rolled around, and I saw a bracelet on my wrist, a white paper one, next to an IV. The bed had rails up, and a thin blanket covered the gown I was wearing. The floor was tiled, and there was a machine next to me drawing spikes that started becoming larger as I got more scared. On the other side, though, was my mom. Instead of looking like a church wife, blonde hair immaculately curled and kept long, makeup caked on her face and a floor length, shapeless dress, she had a bob, dyed a deep red, with only a little lipstick and raccoon rings from her mascara. Her top looked like a tanktop, hard to see from her position slumped on the side rail of my bed, and she was wearing some tight jeans that my mom would kill me if she ever saw me wearing them.\n\nEven in sleep, I could see the lines on her face, making her look 47 instead of 37. Before I had realized, I slid my hand up, the one with the IV, and I stroked her face, only to have her jump back and start screaming out of shock and what seemed like horror.\n\nThat was when I woke up, and rushed out of my room to the kitchen, expecting my mom to be there. She was, but... not the blonde Sunday school teacher.\n\nShe was rolling out dough, making bread like it's a normal day, a flower apron over the tanktop and jeans. She turned when I jumped, red hair spinning in front of her face for a second before it moved back to the right place.\n\nI started babbling, then. I kept repeating that she looked so different yesterday, but she only brushed me off. The thing was, every night I dreamed I was back in that hospital bed, and every morning, I would see whoever was in that dream. If it was a nurse, she might be on the TV that morning, or jogging outside the house. A doctor might be the actor on a new magazine. Some kid who said we were in third grade together might be the way too young looking electrician fixing the porch light.\n\n\nToday, all the emails in my inbox were from \"WAKEUP@Coma.coma,\" so I've been poking around online to see how to rouse yourself if you think you're in a coma.\n\nSitting cross legged on my bed,I laid the huge, thick photo album on my lap. \"So, long term memory access can stimulate the first sparks of consciousness, huh?\" I mumbled, reading the webpage on my tablet as I struggled to flip the huge book open to an early page. It felt like they were glued together, as strange as that sounds.\n\nI grabbed the first loose page, a picture of me with black wires glued onto my face, my nose painted light pink, and huge mousey ears stuck in my hair. It was two months after when I almost got run over... that sentence feels odd. Like, wrong, almost, but I remember not being run over. I remember the nurse, and I remember the feel of gravel pressed into my skin.\n\nWhen I tugged at the page before, I managed to pry it loose. The previous pages, pictures stuck upside down, seemed to show very little until one picture came up. I was 9, in fourth grade, dressed up in my pajamas with super heroes all over them, but a mop head as hair and my face made up in pinks, blues, greens and reds. I couldn't help but laugh, remembering my sister smearing mom's makeup on both of us late one night in the playroom.\n\nWhen I put the picture down, intending to start prying up the next one, I heard two clicks and got up to investigate. Two rooms were unlocked, ones I'd never noticed before, but the left was a studio, with paint covering a quarter of the floor in random speckles, an easel set up over in the corner, and a desk tucked into the opposite corner, with a huge microphone perched on a huge boom to the side of it.\n\nI heard foot steps, and turned my head from the doorway, catching sight of a girl... my sister? I hadn't seen her in what felt like years, so I had to hug her, feeling warmth and comfort flood my body even if hugging her felt like nothing.\n\nShe came with me, sitting next to me on my bed and helping me flip through and rearrange the pictures. There was one of us, naked as the day we were born, sitting in a big bucket in the front lawn, our bathing suits tossed aside.\n\n\"Remember that summer?\" she asked me, pointing to my five year old butt and arms raised to the sky. \"It was so hot that mom grabbed the christmas box and emptied it on the hallway floor, dad yelling at her the whole time, and she filled it with water and cracked an ice tray in it.\"\n\nI laughed a little, pointing to her black eye in the picture that'd turned a yellow green color. \"Yeah, and your black eye from when we tried to be ninjas and I did a spinning kick, only to catch your face?\"\n\nWe must have spent hours reminiscing, because I was becoming exhausted. She let me lay my head in her lap, though, and she stroked my hair as we went over every detail in every picture. Between her smooth breathing, the feel of her nails raking through my hair, and her soothing voice reminding me of being a baby, she must have lulled me to sleep.\n\nI just started feeling the tube again, this time with a nurse moving it for some reason. She tells me to relax, but I can barely breathe. It feels like the tube is being pulled straight from my toes, but eventually she manages to get it all out.\n\nI open my mouth, but she cuts me off before I can croak out anything. \"Damien Jeremiah Smith, you have been in a coma for 5 years, 7 months and 12 days. Welcome back to the land of the living, kiddo.\" she whispers in my ear before stepping into the hall to wait for more nurses and doctors.\n\nMy family floods in with the professionals, kept back by the crush of bodies around my bed jockeying for my attention. I don't let my brain engage to ask questions, just my mouth, spitting out answers to any question posed to me. The sting of the IV being removed is welcome, although strange as it reminds me, in the back of my mind, that you don't feel pain in dreams like that. Something painful like that should wake me up, right?", "It was more than I could believe.\n\nSmall little messages, flashes. Watching TV, perhaps I see occasional words.\n\n“Awaken.”\n\n“Arise.”\n\nI shrugged them off as figments of an overactive imagination, and moved on. They started appearing elsewhere too, maybe in a mirror, an alarm clock.\n\n“Slumber’s end.”\n\n“High time to rise.”\n\nAs I grew older, they became a natural part of me, and I disregarded them. It wasn’t to jarring, too terrible by any means. Small little hints, little reminders. Yet I couldn’t shake the fact that maybe there was something awry, something wrong in my mind.\n\n“You have lost your shoe.”\n\n“I know you are there.”\n\nBy the age of 15, I knew that something was off, this wasn’t normal. Within the static of the television I saw small numbers, in commercials I saw subtitles that were entirely inaccurate. All revolves around awakening, around waking up from something, something big.\n\nPerhaps I needed a shrink?\n\nIt started to give me anxiety, and I had no choice but to tell my parents about this odd phenomena. We headed straight for a top behavioral specialist and psychiatrist, who decided to put me on a regiment of meds. No such luck, no such effect. It was futile, only succeeding to make me more paranoid.\n\nI saw it on the clocks.\n\nI saw it in the screens, in books.\n\n“Don’t take the pills.”\n\n“Remove the old generation.”", "“Wait!” A voice calls behind me. “I think you may have dropped this!” \n\nThe words sound strange to my ears. I stop, mid-step— my right foot hovering over the brightly lit sidewalk, and pivot on my left heel to face a man waving my brown leather wallet in the air. My eyes follow the wallet before trailing along the man’s arm and up to his concerned expression.\n\nAs I walk over the man tosses the wallet back to me. I catch it in my arms as it thumps against my chest. “Thanks,” I say but the man is gone. I look around the crowded street and somehow only see the back of people’s heads; even though they are all around me, walking in different directions.\n\nA sense of vertigo turns my stomach and I have to lean against a nearby storefront. I take a look inside to see what I think is a clothing store. Manikins wearing hospital garb— a couple nurses, and a few doctors. I see light glinting off of stethoscopes and the metal tops of pens poking out from pockets. The manikins come to life as I look over them. They mouth words to me, but I can’t hear them. They bang on the glass of the storefront. My heart beats along as if in concert to their rapid strikes. In an instant the glass becomes a great patchwork of cracks, and then shatters. I close my eyes expecting to feel a torrent of sharp shards pierce my body. \n\nNothing happens. When I open my eyes the glass is intact. The manikins have become still— silent.\n\nAs I stare into the shop I realize that I was wrong about it being a clothing store. The oddly dressed manikins had led me to that conclusion, but it is in fact a floral shop. The store is brightly lit which allows me to see that the flower arrangements that decorate the interior are aged and wilted. I get a heavy sense of déjà vu at the staff, who stand gathered together in the back. Several of them are crying and those that aren’t have deep frowns. They must be upset about their spoiling merchandise, I think.\n\nIt’s at this point I remember my wallet. I look down and see it already opened in my left hand. I read the words ‘California Driver’s License Cardholder’. Below is a picture of a badly bruised man— his face a mash of red, black, and purple. Is that supposed to be me? No, it can’t be— the address reads ‘Alameda, Room 237’. \n\nI feel a cold shiver roll over my spine. Invisible hands grab at my arms. I can see the skin on my forearms indent from the pressure of their grips. A growing sense of panic ignites the nerves from head to foot.\n\nI break out into a run, but I can still feel them holding me back. The world rushes all around me but I feel like I’m not moving at all. \n\nThe hands are gone. I stop. It’s then I realize that I’m no longer in the city. I’m in a room but the floor is a vegetable garden. I look down and see the orange tops of carrots, leafy green heads of lettuce. As I gaze upon each of them I hear the word ‘*Vegetable’ as if some unseen narrator wants to classify each one of them for me.\n\nAt the opposite side of the room is a door. I walk over and try to open it, but it won’t budge. There’s a white placard with black letters at the top of the door. It reads:\n\nWhen we locked up the house at night,\n\nWe always locked the vegetables outside\n\nAnd cut them off from window light.\n\nThe time I dreamed the door was tried.\n\n\nI frown, not understanding the words, and wanting desperately to get through the door. The door has a lock, but I have no key. In my frustration I pick up a carrot from the loose soil. I throw it at the door and hear the thwack of vegetable hitting wood. That’s when I notice something odd at the end of the carrot. Instead of ending in a tiny orange tendril as I had known carrots to have— instead, it’s carved to look like a key.\n\nI rush to the door and stick the end in the waiting lock. I begin to feel foolish. What am I doing sticking a carrot into a door?* Then I hear a crunch followed by a tremor in my hand as the keyhole chews away at the vegetable in my hands. I try the doorknob, but it doesn’t open.\n\nI pick up another carrot and find a differently carved key. When I look away from the carrot I then begin to notice the true size of the room. It isn’t a garden that I’m standing in but a vast field with no visible horizon— just the infinite.\n\nCould it be that somewhere along the rows of plowed earth lies the key to the door? That’s when I realize that I’ve been here before, and that my time in this room is finite. Above me on the blue ceiling-sky hangs a yellow sun with minute and hour hands in its center— counting down my time before I’m once again sent out. \n\n----------\n\n[my thoughts when I saw this prompt](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/SaneHatefulAstrangiacoral-size_restricted.gif)\n\nPoem excerpt by Robert Frost (slightly edited)" ]	4
	[WP] You, a handsome knight errant, have arrived at a dragon’s keep to rescue a fair maiden, but the sight that greets you is... strange: a slain dragon corpse, and a princess covered in blood and guts.	[ "Jason stared in confusion at the scene before him. Things were not adding up. \n\n\nLet's see. Armor, check. tall lightning struct tower. All good. Kidnapped Princess, so far so standard. So why was the BLOODY DRAGON DEAD! \n\n\nPrincess Elizabeth futilely tried to wipe some of the gore from her hands and smiled sheepishly. \"Hi.\" She waved. \n\n\nJason looked at the dragon. Torn apart. Piece by piece. With whatever the attacker could find. A bit of chain there, a few bones broken into spikes here. He stared at the young woman. \n\n\n\"Did.....did you do this? You took out a fully grown Fire Drake with no backup?\" \n\n\n\"Yes.\" She admitted. \"I just.....I got angry. And the guards have been teaching me fighting since I could walk....and -\" \n\n\nJason stopped her with five words. Five completely unexpected words given the situation. \"I think I'm in love!", "_ Princess! Are you... here........ \n \nOpening the door with a bang, I'm greeted with a horrible sight: a girl is standing quietly inside the castle ground all covered in blood. Her white hair which she is famously known of is soiled with blood, her dress can hardly be called a dress at this point but more like a rag. She has bruises and cuts all over her body, but still, her dazzling green eyes shone lightly, as if radiating a sense of peace. \n \nI'm lost for words at her sight. Even amiss this scene, somehow she's still radiating a scene of beauty that can charm any men around her. However, I snap out of it after a minute or two. My mission here is to recover the princess from Loptus, the dragon who terrorized this land. Fighting a dragon is something a normal person can never think of, not in a million year if they value their life. Even for a trained veteran like me, it usually takes about a few dozen of experienced knights or warriors to take down a dragon, so rushing here alone is already a stupid idea. I was ready to put my life on the line to buy time for the princess to escape, but in my mind, I breath a sigh of relief when I don't see the dragon flying above its lair. That's why I should take the princess and leave as fast as possible, treat her wounds and avoid facing the dragon.... wait, \"wounds\"?!\n \n\"ARE YOU ALRIGHT, PRINCESS?!\", I yell loudly, running toward her. The girl turns to me with a surprised expression, as if she only realize just now that there's a person standing at the door. \n \nYelling inside a dragon lair is another stupid mistake, as dragon tend to have a sharp hearing. However, that's not important right now. I rush to her side, grab her shoulder and stare into her eyes, saying: \"What happened?! Why is there so much blood on you?! Are you bleeding? Where's the wound? Hang on, I'll bring you back ....home ....\" \nMy voice once again trails off as I look behind the princess. I was baffled by her sight when I opened the door so I looked over the surrounding, but behind her a couple of foots is a dragon corpse. And not just any dragon corpse, it's the famous one-eye dragon Loptus, now with a hole on his chest as big as a boulder. \n \nI'm stunned. A dragon, the symbol of absolute power, is in front of me, dead. In my mind I'm trying to process the whole situation and how did it let to this point. As my mind is spinning around, a small voice enters my ear: \n_ Ah... you saw it .... \nA child-like voice fills with a bit of regret, acceptance, and most importantly, mischief. \n_ ........uuuuuu....... \n_ What happened? Why are you shaking so much? \n_ uuuuuuuu......... \n_ Ehm... can you let go of me now? \n_ JUST WHEN WILL YOU STOPPING WANDERING AROUND AND KILLING DANGEROUS BEASTS LIKE IT'S A DAILY EXCERISE!!!? WHO DO YOU THINK HAVE TO RUNNING AROUND TO CLEAN UP YOUR AFTERMATH, HUH?! JUST HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT ME TO FAIL MY JOB?! \n_ Wait, there's something wrong with that statement you know!? Aren't you hired to protect me? \n_ MORE LIKE I GOT HIRED TO \"PROTECT OTHER BEASTS FROM YOU\", YOU VIOLENCE BLOODTHIRSTY PRINCESS!! JUST HOW MANY DRAGON DO YOU THINK YOU'VE KILLED THIS MONTH HUH? \n_ I think it's- \n_ ELEVEN! ELEVEN FRICKING DRAGON! AND THIS TIME YOU EVEN GO EXTRA HARD AND FIGHT IT BARE-HANDED!! \n_ Just let me explain- \n_ NO! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!! I QUIT! YOU CAN GO FIND ANOTHER \"PRINCESS'S BABYSITTER\" BY YOURSELF!!! \n \nResigned to my anger, I walks away as fast as possible. \n \n----------------------------------------------- \n \n(Princess's view) \nAfter a lot of begging and promises, I finally convinced him to not quit his job. Otherwise, this would all be worthless. \n_ ...wasn't it you who said that \"the knight who fought and win against dragon are the best! I love them!\"? Why aren't you looking my way yet... \nMy mind is slowly drifting into a dream, still thinking about how to impress my childhood friend and make him fall in love with me ....." ]	2
	[WP] You died, your death was horrible, now you discovered it was all just a tutorial and the real game starts now.	[ "\"So wait,\" I said. \"The grinder blades - \"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the angel. \"Those too.\"\n\n\"And the hornet swarm, they were also -\"\n\n\"Yes, my son. They too were part of the learning.\"\n\n\"But the testicle liquifier...surely that wasn't -\"\n\n\"Testicle liquification is an important aspect of the pedagogy,\" said the angel. \"Very important.\"\n\n\"WHAT KIND OF GAME IS THIS?\" I yelled into the angel's face.\n\nThe angel smiled, understandingly. \"Well,\" it said, \"I should probably explain a few things, my son. Firstly, I'm not actually an angel. I'm an artificial intelligence that administers the game's player experience system. It's my job to ensure that, every time a new \"30 Minutes To Torture\" session begins, all the players are able to engage in competitive torturing with the maximum amount of victim feedback. The tutorial is an important part of the training.\"\n\n\"WHAT KIND OF GAME TORTURES ITS PLAYERS AS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE?\" I yelled.\n\n\"Oh,\" said the angel, \"you misunderstand.\" He pressed a button and my world began to waver. \"You're part of the game, AI743587-V, but you're not a player ...\"\n\nThen its voice was lost beneath the sound of grinding metal." ]	1
	[WP] A group of middle schoolers get superpowers after a trip to a dangerous nuclear plant. An entire class of super-powered 12-13yo form a superhero league to fight another group of super-powered 12-13yo. Little do these “heroes” know, they are not mature enough to utilize their powers	[ "Two 12 year old girls stand in a war torn playground, one standing in front of a boy in a crater in the wood chips and another staring down a boy across from her through the jungle gym. \n\n“Johnny you couldn’t beat us, you were always the villain since you didn’t come to my birthday last year!” taunted Jessica as she stood over her newly turned foe.\n\n“Fuck you Jessica, you never invited me!”\n\n“What do you mean, I hand wrote it and everything, I even left that message for you?” she couldn’t believe he didn’t read her message.\n\n“Yea well your mom must have lossed it because I thought you just didn’t want me at your party.”\n\nJessica took a second and looked around the playground “Oh no, Ashley, are we the bad guys?”\n\n“No! Billy and Johnny both destroyed the softball field!” Ashley yelled.\n\n“I think you mean baseball field, and we destroyed it so the school would have to make a nicer new one!” Billy rebutted.\n\nJessica looked at Johnny, and then she blasted him with her laser eyes. He went flying into the slide, where he scurried up out of her sight. She cautiously walked towards the entrance.\n\n“My mom never had the invitations, I handed them to Ms. Ingram to hand out throughout the class.” Jessica yelled into the bottom opening of the slide. \n\nShe crashes to the ground as Johnny lands on top of her.\n\n“Well I never fucking got it!” he screamed as he kneeled on her back, “You stupid fucking girl, I didn’t even want to go!” tears started to well on his cheek as he punched her in the back.\n\nJohnny slowly gets levitated as Ashley uses her telekinesis on him. “Get off of her you creep! How do you like this?” He twinges as his arm gets a phantom Indian burn. Billy speeds into Ashley knocking her into the swing set. Johnny falls onto Jessica and they both take a second to breathe. Sections of wood chip lift into the air, seconds after Billy zig zags past them. His speed wouldn’t be a problem if only she could get him airborne. He runs in a circle around her as the wood piles become closer and closer to Billie’s position. He moves in and spins the swing sets around Ashley entangling her until she can’t move. \n\n“Ha, now what are you gonna do?” Billy taunted. The smile quickly left his face as he slowly lifted into the air.\n\n“What makes you think I needed my arms to use my psychic powers lame brain?” Billy gets flung onto the grass out of the playground as a wave of force pushes the swings off of Ashley and a circle of wood chips form around her as the blast imprints the ground.\n\n“Wait!” Johnny yelled, he flies over to Billy and checks on him. “We’re fighting to see who the bad guy is, but Mandy I did want to go to your party. I already told you I was angry you didn’t invite me, now who would want us to be angry at each other?”\n\n“Principal White!” Billy muttered as he got up. \n\n“No, Ms. Ingram. How could she have power over the class room when four of her students have super powers?” \n\n“No way!” Ashley yelled.\n\n“Ashley’s right, why would I ever create violence between my students?” Ms. Ingram asked as she walked towards the playground from the black top. She stands there and looks at the children disappointedly.\n\n“Yea, she helped me with math before the state tests” Ashley agreed.\n\n“Wasn’t that the week after Mandy’s party?” Johnny said\n\n“Yea but why would us fighting make my test scores any better?” asked Ashley.\n\n“Oh come on, like you were even bothering to study, I saw you and Billy in the arcade!” Shouted Mandy as she stood up, “and after Johnny didn’t show at my party I got a 90 on my English test. \n\n“You mean she was forcing us… to do better in school?” Billy guessed, “How could you?”\n\n“Well you see kids, I have a 5 year progress review coming up, and I couldn’t let a couple of dangerously deranged delinquents ruin it for me!” Ms. Ingram Explained.\n\n“Was I really causing your grades to slip?” asked Billy.\n\n“No stupid! I was just too busy that week to study!” chided Ashley.\n\n“But you were busy with me, that totally counts!” \n\n“Shut up!”\n\n“Wait since we all did so well on our exams, did your review go well?” Mandy asked.\n\n“It went perfectly.” Ms. Ingram smiled.\n\nMandy gave her a smile and a nod, then turned to her class room and shot off a laser bolt which burst through the window burning up Ms. Ingram’s desk and part of the chalk board.\n\nBilly cackled with laughter and joined in, running into the class room and flipping all of the desks and throwing all of the books off the shelves.\n\nAshley pouted in disappointment at her teacher and used her psychic powers to scramble what remained of Ms. Ingram’s classroom into a typhoon of educational tools leaving no page un-turned. \n\nFinally Johnny flew into the class room, grabbed her purse from her desk and flew it onto the roof of the school. The four friends then walked home together as they started their summer.\n\n“Wait, I need my keys! And my phone’s in there! How will I get up there?”\n\n“Why don’t you force the Janitor to fight with the librarian until he gets you a ladder?” shouted Mandy as they crossed the road. \n", "Containment units have been busy mopping up quite a nasty spill.\n\nI am currently in the process a drafting a memo, hoping to destroy any notion of ever having a middle school (or any grade for that matter) class visit a nuclear power plant ever again. Far too problematic for the SOHO to deal with again. \n\nMrs. Deacon’s class at Forrester Middle School in The Dalles, OR, were visiting the newly opened Hanford Facility on the shores of the Columbia, when a nuclear fission accident occurred. The class of 14 was quickly moved to a containment facility, but ended up being exposed due to a problem in the cooling unit and locking system, which we are assessing now.\n\nAll 14 were taken to a local hospital, and we have no control over whether this situation is hush-hush right now, at least not as of the present. The fission caused no permanent impacts, miraculously, courtesy of the hot suits worn by the class while the leak took place. However, we have unforeseen consequences arise, causing us to move all 14 students as well as their teacher to the Point Rosas facility for additional testing and treatment.\n\nResearchers at Point Cosas have informed me that all 15 individuals, kept in separate wards, have showed evidence of exotgermic energy manipulation, akin to weak and difficult to control pyrokinesis. Enzymes within the body were modified to such a degree these children appear to be absorbing nuclear particles at a frightening rate and extending them as pure and unadulterated firepower, which is unusual in this circumstance.\n\nHaving them moved to Point Reyes as we speak, as I am a fantastic multitasker. This crap has been kept under wraps, so it is a lucky thing that we are afforded such lovely secrecy within our positions. At Point Reyes we shall have to compare the abilities shown by these individuals (hereby known as the Hanford Unit) to the makeup of those in the Point Pleasant Unit, Bermuda Unit, and Bridgewater Unit. Historical records should also be accessed (I know you have contacts) to scour the Roswell specimens collected in both incidents.\n\nCounting on your superb cleanup skills,\n\nD. B", "The best thing about super speed was never being late for school. Sleeping in until just the last moment, getting everything done in a time span of 2 minutes, and then ending up in class just as the bell rings. As an added bonus, it frustrated Miles homeroom teacher to no end. \n\n“One of these days Salazar, one of these days I’ll get you,” she’d say. \n\nMiles and his friends would laugh and laugh. Mostly because it was Ms. Jakob’s fault they had superpowers in the first place. The vice principal had told her field trips in general were a bad idea, but she insisted that her kids were mature. They were in horizons programs, they knew how to behave and apply themselves. Though to be fair, it wasn’t entirely her fault. Had that nuclear plant followed regulations the kids would still be normal. \n\n“Okay class,” one of the students said, “today we’ll be continuing our discussion on the functions of the cardiovascular system.” \n\n“Mary what did I say about mind reading in class?”\n\n“Why don’t you say how you really feel Ms. J? Aren’t there more words you’d like to say? Should I say them out loud or will I get in trouble?”\n\nMary began to giggle which stirred the class further into a laughing frenzy. Just as Ms. Jakob’s was about to lose control of her class the laughter stopped as soon as it started. Ms. Jakob’s eyes landed on a young man near the front of the class. He was slumped into his seat. Ms. Jakob’s could see the purplish glow from his eyes even though his head was turned. She smiled weakly. \n\n“Ryan I appreciate the gesture but I don’t want you or anyone using their powers in class. Even if it’s to help me. Could you release your friends?” \n\n“They were being loud,” Ryan mumbled, “I hate it when it’s loud. It’s always loud at home.” \n\nMs. Jakob’s walked over to Ryan. Her class sat starring forward with wide eyes and open jaws. Ryan’s psychic powers were great. He couldn’t read minds as well as Maria, he didn’t have precognition like Nathan, but when it came to psychical assaults? Ms. Jakob’s had a responsibility to these kids. These kids who she burdened with powers so great and dangerous. She placed her hands on Ryan’s shoulders. \n\n“Ryan. If something is wrong at home then we can talk about that. I will always make time for you kids. But right now you have to let them go, you shouldn’t use your powers this way.” \n\nRyan looked at Ms. Jakob. His eyes dimmed down and the class seemed to take a collective breath. Ms. Jakob smiled at the boy in the rough blue shirt and gave an approving nod which he didn’t acknowledge. \n\n“Hey Ms. J,” a boy named Issac raised his hand, “I don’t feel so good. Can I go to the bathroom?” \n\n“Yes Isaac you may. Just hurry back before we start class.”\n\n“Yes ma’am,” he responded. He then disappeared in a puff of smoke. \n\nMs. Jakob’s turned around towards the board. She picked up a marker and began writing on the whiteboard. She had six more months. Only six more months to try and help them adapt and learn to use these powers responsibly. She just hoped she could make it happen. What a task for someone only in their third year of teaching. As if regular middle school kids weren’t difficult enough. " ]	3
	[WP] - Superheroes have had enough of politicians and the public downplaying their selfless vigilantism. Tired of the debate whether they are truly needed for protection, all superheroes decide to disappear from society for one month, both as a statement and an experiment.	[ "Clark Kent sat at his desk, head resting in the nook of his folded arms. He never thought he’d have his secret identity backfire on him the way it did now. Not even Luther could think of a torture more grating and humiliating than what Clark was being subjegated to now. \n\nIn the centre of his computer monitor was an open word file with just the title of the article he was working on:\n\n\nWorld Prospers Without Heroes\n\n\nClark didn’t even look up from his self loathing when Lois walked up behind him. He could tell it was her from her perfume and the sound of her walk. \n\n\n“Writer’s slump?” she asked, sipping a cup of coffee. \n\n\nHe sighed.\n\n“Yeah, you could call it that.”\n\n\nSurprisingly, she replied with\n\n“Yeah, I know how you feel. I know it’s selfish to say this, but I kind of miss when the world had more drama, it made reporting on it feel more meaningful. The immediate aftermath of when the Justice League first said they were taking a month off was so hectic, but now.” she shrugged “There’s only so much you can report on economic booms and drops in crime before you get a little bored.”\n\nHe cringed, but was forced to agree with her.\n\n“Do you think they knew?” Lois asked.\n\n“Knew what?” \n\n“That we wouldn’t need them? That the world was ready to function without them? That SWAT teams and Special Forces were more than adequate to take down villains without destroying entire city blocks? Or that without all the damage cities were taking from super humans throwing buildings at each other was enough to spark an economic boom?” \n\nShe sipped her coffee and looked out the window longingly.\n\n“I’d like to think they did. Even if they all didn’t, I’d like to think at least Superman did.”\n\nShe sighed.\n\nIt’s a lot more petty than that. Clark thought to himself Trust me.\n\nJust then, the phone on Clark’s desk rang. \n\nLois said “I’ll let you take this” and walked away, leaving nothing in her wake save for the dying scent of her perfume and a growing seed of depression in the pit of his stomach. \n\n“Clark? It’s me, Bruce.” the voice from the other line said.\n\nHe perked up instantly, but it didn’t last. Clark couldn’t help but notice that this was the first time Wayne hadn’t referred to him as “Supes” and himself as “Bats”.\n\n“Nice to hear from you, old friend.” He looked around to make sure no one was within earshot. “Did the Joker manage to take over Gotham in your absence and now you need my help to defeat him?”\n\nThere was a pause on the other end.\n\n“No, the opposite. All of my villains have been quiet, actually. They even found a corpse with a self inflicted gunshot wound near the chemical plant that they believe was the Joker. I guess without a masked vigilante to go toe to toe with, they don’t feel the need to dress up in elaborate personas. Some of them went back to being normal criminals, and were promptly arrested during raids by actual authorities. Others resumed normal life, a few checked themselves into Arkham to get help. Two Face went back to calling himself Harvey Dent and is pushing for healthcare reform.”\n\nNow it was Clark’s turn to pause. At a loss for words. It was so bizarre to hear Bruce speaking in a normal, clear voice instead of a dark gravelly one.\n\n“Did you ever think that maybe they’re just using the time off to regroup?” Clark asked.\n\n“No. I mean, maybe, but doubtful. Personally, I think without us, being evil lost meaning. I think that instead of evil being an absence of good, it’s just a contrast, and without us being unfettered beacons of good and justice, evil doesn’t have anything to give it purpose.” he sighed “I think, Clark, you were right to suggest taking time off, but right for the wrong reason.”\n\nClark was agitated. Of course Bruce Wayne would use the free time to become some sort of pseudo-philosopher.\n\n“What about justice, Bruce? What about avenging your parents memory?”\n\n“I no longer think that masked men beating up criminals and punishing them without trial by a jury of their peers is justice. A hinderance to justice, is anything. And I’ve realized that focusing my attention on Wayne Enterprises and our respective charities not only honours my parent’s memories better than playing vigilante, but does more good.”\n\n“What about Robin?”\n\n“What about him? Dick is now going to school full time, I’m even looking to offer him a job once he’s done. Him, Barbara, Gordon, everyone in my life is doing better. I’m even on speaking terms with Hal Jordan. And Lex Luthor? I know that you’re more than aware that he’s doing much better. An egomaniac with a God Complex can do a lot for humanity when he’s not trying usurp an alien do-gooder. He actually just met with Elon Musk to talk about LexCorp teaming up with SpaceX...”\n\nHe slammed the phone down. \n\nHe had heard about those talks already. He also heard that Wayne Enterprises was onboard too. \n\nClark already knew that story, he’s the one who reported on it. \n\nWell, that’s that.\n\nNo getting Bats back, add him to the list. \n\nHe couldn’t get ahold of Aquaman, but he already knew that scientists were confounded when all the sea life in the ocean started working together to clean up all the plastic waste. \n\nThe Flash was already in process of Olympic try outs along with the Green Arrow. \n\nHe only knew it was only a matter of time before Green Lantern convinces aliens to make contact with mankind and Clark would be forced to report on that too.\n\nWonder Woman wouldn’t return his calls.\n\nGetting up out of his desk, his stood at his window, overlooking the Metropolis sky line.\n\nHumanity still needed heroes? Didn’t they? Ever since the days of Gilgamesh and Hercules, they needed something to lift up and inspire them to become better.\n\nRight?\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] You wake up one morning, ready to start the day. Everything is normal until you reach for your alarm clock and notice your fingers are swollen. After a closer look, you realize: your fingers have turned into skin-colored pickles.	[ "You're awaken by the blaring sound of your alarm clock. You're a tad bit annoyed and go to hit snooze but remember that you moved it across the room. You put it there a week ago to \\make\\ yourself physically get up. \n After contemplating \\actually\\ getting up, you decide it's better to get it over with. You notice that your spouse is already out of bed. You go to pull the covers off of yourself, but you find it hard to grasp it. You think that it's weird, but slide off the bed anyway. You hear a conversation going on faintly and yell to your spouse. \"Babe? Are you talking to someone?\" You get no response. You yell out again, \"Babe?\" but it comes to no avail. You walk over to the cabinet across the room with the alarm clock on it. You go to hit the \"OFF\" button, and notice something off with your fingers. You see that they are extremely swollen. Panicked, you rush over to the light and flick it on with your wrist. You look down to see 10 little pickles on your hand. You look closer and see 10 faces on them. As you lean in, you hear, \n\n\n\"What do you think about that? I turned myself into a pickle! I turned myself into a pickle, Morty!\" \n\n\nYou sit down and weep for hours on the side of the bed, for you know your fate. Eternal Damnation.", "Hi, /u/sajemcgomery. I didn't finish writing for your prompt. I'm afraid it's a lot of writing for not much happening, but I figured I'd post it all the same. Why not after all? Thanks for the prompt though I didn't get to finish it. I might return later and finish it. Here's what I got.\n\n***\n\nBzzzt!\n\nBzzzt!\n\nBzzzt!\n\nI grope for the button that will stop my alarm. Something doesn't feel right. I can't feel anything with my right hand. I can hear that I've hit my alarm, and I can feel it in my arm, but my hand can't feel. I open my eyes with fright. My hand is swollen. I can't move my fingers at the joints; the joints seem to have disappeared.\n\n\"Okay. I'm okay. I just have to stay calm\", I assure myself.\n\nBzzzt!\n\nBzzzt!\n\nI pull out my other hand and it seems to be in similar condition. I shove the sheet from on top of me, sitting up to look at them. They were a horrific sight for sure. They looked nonhuman, and reeked like something gone sour. It was as though they had rotted. I touched them together but my fingers couldn't feel anything. My palms felt them though. They felt nothing like any finger I could have imagined and my mind raced wondering what had gone wrong. I pinched my hands together and swept the sheet off the bed, but Sophie had it pinned under her shoulder.\n\n\"Mff\", was all she said.\n\n\"Sophie, there's a spider in the bed!\" I whispered urgently to her.\n\n\"It'll go away\", she said calmly.\n\nI caught myself wanting to put my head in my hands, but I didn't trust my hands.\n\n\"Sophie, for real, something happened in the night. Look at my hands!\"\n\n\"They look good\" she said, without looking.\n\nI went to the living room.\n\n\"Hey Google, what should I do if I have swollen fingers?\", I asked. It didn't answer. I tried again, trying to steady my voice. This time it light up.\n\n\"Let me do a search for 'what should I do if I have swollen fingers?' The first result is from Desert Hand Therapy. 'Rest. If you have any swelling in the hands, stop any movement and rest it until the swelling goes down. Ice. If your hand is swollen, icing the affected area will help to reduce pain, inflammation and swelling'\".\n\nI went to the freezer and took out the frozen peas, holding them between my hands. But it seemed like resting got my hands swollen.\n\n\"Hey Google, what if I can't feel my fingers?\"", "The sound of my blaring alarm fills my ears as my eyes jolt open. I immediately shut them because of the sunlight peaking through my blinds. My spouse walks into the room and turns my phone off.\n\n“Morning sleeping beauty, I have breakfast made downstairs. Come down when you’re ready.” All I could do in reply was groan. \n\nI was about to throw the covers off of me when I felt an itch. It was just any other itch though, it completely enveloped my hands. No. Not my hands, my fingers. Just as it starts to become unbearable, I thrust my hands out from under my comforter and stare at them in complete and utter horror.\n\nOn my hands, were ten pickles. They resembled my old fingers but were in fact nothing more than fleshy-toned pickles. They were swollen and wrinkled. I wanted to scream but nothing would rise from my throat. \n\nAs the rancid smell of brine met my nostrils, a yellowish liquid started to secrete from the foreign digits. The putrid ooze started to drip onto the floor when my spouse walked back into the room.\n\nThey took one look at my hands and sighed, “Oh honey, let me take care of that for you.” Confusion washed over my face as they lifted me up by my arm and brought me into the kitchen and sat me down next to the counter.\n\n“Now this will only hurt for a second but I’m sure the outcome will be splendid,” they smiled brightly. My eyes widened as they grabbed a long knife from a drawer and came back over to me. I tried to move any part of my body to try and stop the upcoming events but I couldn’t.\n\nIn one swift motion, I watched the love of my life chop off one on my pickled fingers. Blood gushed out of my hand and pain rocketed through my body. A scream lodged in my throat threatened to let loose, but again, I was speechless.\n\nThe worst part, though, was seeing them bring the pickled digit to their mouth, and finally taking a bite.\n" ]	3
	[WP]: You are a controversial person, infamous of two things: Getting into skirmishes with the law, and always requesting trial by combat. This time, someone agrees to it.	[ "I’m a lawyer by day and a party animal by night. After living in books for years during law school, I’ve learned that life is short and it’s a waste not to enjoy it. Oh and I do enjoy it! I partake in every fun activity you could think of. Both legal and otherwise. Every time I get busted though, I decide to represent myself in court. And as a lawyer, I’ve learned to exploit a little loophole left in our archaic constitution: Trial by combat. I’ve never actually been in a real fight before. But I’ve never had to. 9 times I have demanded it and 9 times I have walked away unchallenged and unconvicted... until now.\n\nRecently I was attending the birthday party of a former client, Franco, who may or may not have been one of the biggest mobsters on the east coast. At these parties, Franco liked to entertain his guests by fighting exotic animals to the death. This time he was wrestling an African crocodile. Maybe it was the cocaine that had me a little crazy, but I decided to place a bet that he’d win in under 2 minutes. But 90 seconds in the cops started raiding the place. Talk about buzzkill. \n\nAnyways, after I was arrested, I quickly went about my normal routine and demanded a trial by combat. Like usual, not cops or lawyers were willing to accept. But this time, I was not the only one to demand trial by combat. Awhile back, my lawyer dumbass had recommended that a client exploit the same loophole. Now that same client, the ruthless mob boss who fights crocodiles for fun is being given a fight to the death for his freedom. Against me.", "You were the best swordsman. You spoke to hired blades, good people. Your doctor said you were strong, the strongest, even. So why worry about another trial by combat? \n\nYes, you’ve had some run ins with the law. Nothing but respect for the boys in blue. But per usual, they didn’t let you do things your way. You know best. You just wanted to a hire a prostitute. Sold some land here. Paid off some big mouths there. You’re very smart, probably the smartest. You had written and threatened many a giant and none had bothered to respond, until now. Sad.\n\nYou misspeak on one little thing. Get caught being treasonous. Very disappointed with your lawyer. Weak. Covfefe. You know best, represent yourself. Only one out, trial by combat. You’ve threatened fire and brimstone. No reason to panic.\n\nHe’s just an old man. " ]	2
	[WP] A device was invented that allows people recovering from major surgeries to spend their recovery in the world's ubiquitous VR platform to escape the pain of rehabilitation. Three months after your operation you notice the option to return to your physical body has disappeared from your console.	[ "Henry sat up in his bed with a start. He'd been sleeping, but something felt urgent. His first instinct led him to call up the menu. A translucent slate appeared in front of him, it hovered above the blanket that covered his legs. He swiped the screen to scan through the icons to look for something, unsure what, several times. Finally, he stopped. \n\n\"Can't find anything,\" he mumbled to himself, then dismissed and turned to give sleep another shot. The second his head touched the pillow his eyes shot open. \"NO!\" he yelled, then urgently summoned the slate again. He knew what he was looking for now, and swiped once to the right. A blank space at the bottom of the menu stood out like a black sheep. There should have been an option to log out, but it was no longer there. \n\n\\[HELP! - Hank\\] He immediately sent a Whisper to the one person that might help, and then gave her more information. \n\n\\[I can't log out? - Hank\\] He pulled his knees up to his chest, and sat patiently to wait for a response. Luckily she responded within a couple of minutes. \n\n\\[Okay. I'm sorry. -Bloody\\] The Whisper tickled his inner ear canal. He \"knew\" the text of the message without having to read it. \n\n\\[Be there in a sec. -Bloody\\] Hank hopped out of the bed and changed out of his pajamas into red Monk gear. A knock on the door called his attention the moment he finished. Hank walked through the small cabin and opened the door for his guest, a tall, thin, pale elf with long, dark, blood-red hair in a braid behind her. He opened the door to let her in, and the wispy elf walked straight to the couch to take a seat. \n\n\"Janet's bringing me some equipment,\" she informed Hank as he closed the door. He nodded and sat down next to her. The elf reached for Hank's hands to comfort him. \n\n\"There's no easy way to say it, but it's already been confirmed. Your body died moments ago,\" she said. Hank looked at the woman through wide eyes, he shook his head subconsciously. \n\n\"No. That doesn't make any sense, how am I still here?\" He stood to beat his fist against his chest. \"If my body died, I'd lose consciousness.\" \n\n\"You'd think so,\" the elf nodded. A small black hole opened in the air next to the elf. A small black cat with a red face walked out of the hole while holding a small, transparent rectangle, about the size of a playing card, in its mouth. The elf grabbed the Node from the cat, then the cat retreated back into the hole. \n\n\\[notice: Party Invite - Bloody Sharp\\] Hank felt the notification tingle in his ear. He accepted it so that he could see whatever she wanted to show him. When he accepted it, the elf stood from her seat then tossed the clear Node onto the floor. \n\nWhen the Node touched the floor, the living room of Hank's cabin changed. The floor became dark, moist soil. He recognized his body lying in the middle of the soil pit. \n\n\"This is the Mudroom where we put you to recover,\" she said. The elf walked to the representation of Hanks body, then knelt next to it. She opened his shirt to show Hank a small green leaf growing out of his belly button. \"I'm sorry your body died, but we could never have guessed this would happen,\" she said. By this time Hank knelt next to his own body to stare at the small green leaf. \n\n\"What happened? I'm a tree?\" he asked. \n\n\"YES!\" Bloody Sharp exclaimed. \"Isn't it amazing!?\" \n\n\"NO! I can't go back to my body!\" Hank clenched his fists several times to work through the anger. \n\n\"But you're still HERE!\" She pointed at the floor and the projection of the Mudroom around them disappeared, leaving his small in-game cabin. \"In the AlterNet! Think about it, all your responsibilities left behind. And your family isn't even out of reach, they all have characters. Here you're a max level Monk, what were you back home?\" Hank unconsciously reached up and rubbed the back of his neck as he considered her words. \n\n\"Football Coach,\" he said, then added, \"high school,\" in a lower voice. \n\n\"You're the first person this has happened to, and this Earth is just as real as the one you came from. Work with me, let me learn from you. You'll never have another worry again,\" she said. She offered him a hand, and after several seconds he shook it firmly with a nod.\n\n\"Okay. I wouldn't have gotten this far without you, I trust you,\" Hank said. \n\n\"Okay, I need to go get started studying what happened. I'll be back in the morning and we can talk more then, okay?\" She disconnected the moment Hank nodded his agreement. \n\n\\[notice: Party disbanded.\\] The elf's features disappeared, her skin darkened. In a moment only the swarm mannequin remained, then it disintegrated into a fine black powder that disappeared before hitting the ground. \n\n\\\\\\*\n\nThank you for reading! I’m responding to prompts every day in 2018, this is #204. You can find them collected on my [blog](https://hugoverse.info/). If you're curious about my universe (the Hugoverse) you can visit the [Guidebook](https://hugoverse.info/2017/11/25/hugoverse-guidebook/) to see what's what and who's who, or the [Timeline](https://hugoverse.info/2017/10/23/hugoverse-timeline/) to find the stories in order.", "The world truly is a crazy place.\n\nAbout a Decade ago, someone had the brilliant idea of implementing a Virtual Reality recovery and Rehabilitation program for those injured and in the Hospital.\n\nWith the world being as it is, this VR program got better and better each year, becoming more and more immersive with each update. Now, it was...hmm, well I guess the best way to describe it is it's like the Matrix. It's a world where we plug ourselves in and our consciousness temporarily transfers over into the VR world until we are healed.\n\nI had never had the pleasure of experiencing this world until about three months ago.\n\nI was in a bad accident with my Girlfriend. We were in a Taxi when the car was blindsided by a Semi.\n\nDoctors estimated a long recovery for us. 6 Months for me, 4 for her. They offered us the option of VR and of course, we said yes. This was when we learned a couple more things about this world.\n\nFirst, that everyone shares this one large Town called Healing as our VR Space. And second, that it is possible to be stuck in here.\n\nWhen your thrown in, you're given a house to live in. My Girlfriend and I got to share one. And in this house, there is a bell you can ring, that sends you back to the real world. \n\nAt first, things were going great. It was fun to be able to move and play and do normal life with her when, in reality (literally) we couldn't. \n\nThen one day, we came home together. I had to use the bathroom (I know, weird that this is still a thing in here), so I walked down the hall. Something felt off to me though. I looked into the Living Room but couldn't quite place it.\n\nShrugging it off, I went to the bathroom. But I had this building sense of dread. Something was missing. I finish up and walk back out to the Living room. She's in the Kitchen when she notices me looking around.\n\n\"what's wrong?\" She asks me. I don't reply. I'm scanning the room. Looking for something out of place. Something different. Something is wrong and I have to find it.\n\n\"Thawsan?\"\n\nI'm still scanning. But then i see it. or rather, I don't. \n\n\"Honey?\" I said, \"The bell is gone.\" I could feel a pit developing in my stomach. The bell is gone. How are we going to get back without the bell? Where could it have even gone? I didn't know the thing could be moved, where could it be? Where is it hi--\n\n\"What are you talking about?\" She asked me. \"it's right there. Where it always is.\" She said, pointing to it's spot. \n\nI froze. She could still see the bell. But I couldn't. \n\n\"Honey, I can't see the bell.\" I said. Now breathing frantically. I was starting to freak out. I was panicking. What did this mean?\n\nshe realized what was going on. Her eyes widened as they looked at me. I think we both knew what it meant, but neither of us were going to admit it. \n\nI looked at her, she finally spoke up. \"Hold on.\" she said Frantically, I could hear fear in her voice. \"I'm gonna go see what's going on.\" She rung the bell, and with a poof, she was gone.\n\ni was here alone. I sat there waiting for what felt like an eternity. Thousands of scenarios rushing through my head. Fearing the worst the entire time. I know what it means but I need her to confirm it. I have to know for sure.\n\nThere was another poof, and she was back in front of me. She was sobbing into her hands.\n\nShe had confirmed the worst. \n\nI was stuck in here. There was no coming back." ]	2
	[WP] Alien life has been discovered. The world has united under a single government, and wishes to negotiate the addition of Earth to an intergalactic network of trade routes and military alliances. You are the ambassador they send.	[ "My name is Zach Brundo, Chief Scientist and Engineer of S.A.E.C.O.P, the Science and Engineering Committee Of Progress, and main driving force of the Earthen Imperium. About a month ago Earth received a transmission from beyond our galaxy, detailing in sub-par Common an alien race’s offer of peace. They asked for parley to discuss an alliance between us, them, and their affiliates, as well as inquiring on each other’s goods for sale and setting up trade routes between our systems. Saecop convened to vote on this matter, but Emperor Rex Claviys made it known that we would hear the offworlders words before making any major decisions. When the time came to choose our ambassador, I was picked due to my immense boost to Progress in the design and manufacturing of my Mechanical Soldiers, and further honored for how they fought against the Barbaric Krakthyss on Krakth-13, with brutal efficiency. The planet was subdued within the week. As Progress Ordains. \n\nAnd so I was shuttled off, my ship containing a two squads of six Mech Soldiers, their normal seven foot tall stature reduced to a 3 foot cube shape for optimal storage. The meeting place looked ahead, a classic UFO design but with windows on all sides, almost as if it were a sightseeing vessel instead of a warship. It was later revealed to me that this was, in essence, a space faring convention center and hotel. My ship docked with the station, and I walked down the hallway, hands clasped behind my back like an admiral as two M.S.s followed behind me. Alpha 247 and Beta 32 has proven themselves a formidable team with an unusual ability to learn, so I chose them as pseudo ambassadors for their “race”, my creations as stoic as ever. They held their Mag Rifles in a ready stance, their robotic head’s swiveling back and forth as they took in the sights, as well as keeping an watchful eye on the alien species we passed. \n\nThe further into the ship we went, the more of a sheer menagerie of races we saw, large bug-like creatures, small wooden tree people, and hulking behemoths with particle axes. I unfortunately didn’t have time to interrogate them for information due to time running short. \n\nI entered the ambassadors lounge and sat in the seat marked: Humanity, my tireless children standing at attention behind me. I looked at the other seat markers, memorizing the names as I read them, and passed the time analyzing the races that eventually sat down in front of me. The position we found ourselves in reminded me of a job interview, though I felt the stakes may be much higher than a typical job opportunity. \n\nSitting at the head of the group that sat before me was a four limbed humanoid with large black eyes, white fur, and tribal markings down their arms and face. Her voice was feminine, yet held a ring of authority to it, and she spoke to me. \n\n“Hello Human. I Krith’Meezla, but you can call me Meezla. Tell the council your name.” She spoke relatively good Common, though it was clear that she needed practice from how unsure her words are, and the slower than average speed she spoke them at. However, communication was possible, and this meant Progress was free to push forward. \n\n“My name is Zach Brundo of the Science and Engineering Committee Of Progress. Saecop for short if you wish.” \n\nShe smiled a warm smile and nodded. “Very good. If you allow me to re... resay what we sent you in message to Earth world, we wish for Earth’s help in making universe safe for all. We hope to do this with help of humanity, for your observed ad-adaptability and ingenuity in any field you put your head to. But, we will not subjugate a race for our own benefit, as such would violate The Krith Code, so we ask what you would like in return for your allegiance in peacekeeping.” \n\nI stared at them all for a moment, staring into their eyes and searching their souls. And that’s when I understood, when some of them looked away from my stare, they were scared of me. \n\n“You have heard of the Subjugation of Krath I take it?” I asked calmly, staring at them with unblinking eyes. \n\nMeezla’s smile lessened, and she clasped her lower hands together. “It did came to our attention that you had claimed that system.” \n\n“It was merely retribution for the hundred of humans they slaughtered and ate. They deserved to be brought to nothing.” \n\nShe grew increasingly more nervous, her eyes growing wide at my words. “Perhaps, but the discussion at hand is on proposal of alliance, not past... conflicts.” \n\nI stood up, slowly, surely, and deliberately, and smiled coldly at their sitting forms. “Then I know Humanities demands. We require access to your systems in order to know you and your ways better, as well as a line to the Unimarket, and the opening of trade routes to each of your territories. And...” I paused, this suggestion liable to make or break the deal. “Humanity would like to head the Peacekeeper forces, and have the first pick of what we want should a planet require subjugation. You have... I believe we will be gracious and allow you 72 Earthen Hours to reach a conclusion. We look forward to your decision.” \n\nWith that I turned around and walked out of the meeting room, my escort’s feet clanging on the floor with my own robotic feet, my prosthetic limbs itching where they couldn’t, and my breathing mask that made me look more machine than man hissing as it filtered the air. Yes, 72 hours would be perfect. In 12 hours I will have completed my Magnum Opus, my masterpiece, my own robotic body to replace this old decaying sac of flesh. By 24 hours the transfer of consciousness would be complete. By 48 the Earthen Imperium would be quietly replaced by the United Brundoan Sultanate. By 72 hours I would have access to the Universe, and my plan to become the immortal ruler of Machine and man would come to absolute fruition. And my children would be able to learn so many things, go so many places, do so many deeds, then Humanity will HAVE to accept their sentience. \n\nWe boarded our ship and set off back to Earth, to my headquarters where my immortal body waited for me, and soon universal power would be within my grasp. \n\nSoon my children, we will subjugate the universe. Though I wouldn’t mind playing nice for a bit, just to see what they do. After all, every race has some merit, some trait I can use to my advantage. But for now I must rest, my last rest in this body. I won’t miss it. \n\n-End log 38378" ]	1
Got the idea from the person that got the tattoo in the same vein as the bog princess and that tumblr post about the old gods being connected to it. Figured it would be a cool prompt.	[WP] You just finished getting a tattoo that was the exact same as the ancient mummy’s that was just discovered on the news. What you didn’t know was that it would bind you to the old gods, and they’ve been looking for a new champion for quite some time.	[ "I'm not really big on the news channel, only browse it occasionally, but sometimes neat stuff pops up like this sweet mummy that they just found somewhere in Bumfuk Egypt. The mummy itself was pretty average except for this sick tattoo it had. I'd always wanted a tattoo, but nothing ever spoke to me and I'd be damned before I got one of those little \"cutesy\" tattoos you always see teens getting.\nThat mummy's tat was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Matching on either hand and on the back was a sort of sigil you could call it. It looked pretty complicated, angular, and totally badass, so I thought \"Hell yeah let's do this.\" So I go out find an artist who can do it and set the date, hell if nothing else it'll make a great conversation starter eh?\nUnfortunately when I finally got to my appointment and sat down (traffic amirite?) the tat was taking forever so it was pretty late evening when I got done. The whole time I was getting it done I felt something, almost buzzing with energy, and as the final one on my back reached completion my ears began to ring. I faintly heard someone ask if I was alright, and then everything around me blew up. I'm not talking everyone got blasted back five feet. The store blew the fuck up.\nAnd so there I was I shit you not standing unharmed in the center of an enormous blast, glowing, wearing nothing but my pants, and mildly hysterical, so naturally a \"god\" decides to talk to me then. Supernatural dickmove.\nSo this \"Set\" or whatever comes up and says how since \"the contract has been sealed in blood\" and that I'm gonna be \"A catalyst for chaos and a new age of darkness\" like what is this cheap supervillan talking about. Now obviously this guy had a mix up so after some short profanity, discussion, and a too short explanation we agreed to talk it over some Taco Bell. (\"A worthy offering\" according to mr. I hate everything, but love death)\nSo yeah miss that's why I'm gonna need that many burritos and if you could hurry it up El Destructo over here don't like waiting." ]	1
	[WP] For the past year, you've had no memories of the time between sunset and dawn. One morning, you remember the previous night.	[ " Like every morning, I wake up as the first rays of sun peek over the horizon. After getting out of bed and stumbling into the bathroom to take care of some necessities, I start getting dressed for my usual morning run. I'm what you call a morning person. I always feel so energetic and refreshed in the early morning and inexplicably exhausted right before sunset. \n\n Crossing my living room/ kitchen of my little 3- room apartment, I notice something wrong. There are several stacks of money sitting by my front door. I glance around the room, but nothing else is out of the ordinary. I hesitantly reach out and grab some of the cash. They are all 100 dollar bills. \n\n My legs give out as I collapse to the floor. Where would this money have come from? I stand up and the check the door locks. All three are still locked. I hurriedly cross the room and check my two windows, but they are still locked and the glass isn't shattered.\n\n I sink down on the couch and try to figure this out. I decide to try to retrace my steps in my head. I remember coming home an hour or two before sunset. There wasn't any money then, I would've noticed for sure. I remember laying down in bed to go to sleep. And then...I remember getting back out of bed and changing into some nice clothes. Why would I do that?\n\n Then I have vague memories of a cab. It took me.... to a club. I've never felt a desire to go to a club before. It's just not my sort of atmosphere. I must've been sleepwalking or something, but why to there? I think I remember dancing and talking to people for hours. Then I left.\n\n I must've been hungry, because I stopped at a fast food joint. Next, I have impressions of animals. A pet shop? No, I remember tigers and elephants. Did I break into a zoo?! After that, I just remember sitting a beach for hours. \n\n But none of that explains the money. Or why I feel so energetic. After dancing for hours and walking around a zoo instead of sleeping, I would've expected to be exhausted. None of this makes sense. I sigh and look back at the pile of money. \n\n I notice a bit of red peeking out from under the stacks. I walk over and carefully pull it out. It's a simple college rule notebook. I open to the first page and a folded paper falls out. I pick it up, unfold it and read:\n\n \"Well, the time on our little deal is up. I enjoyed it way more than expected. Who would've thought being a human could be so fun? Undoubtedly, you found the rent payment for possessing your body, since it was stacked on this notebook. Since that's how these deals work, I know you don't remember any of what we've done during the night over the past year, I decided to record it all in this notebook. I thought you would enjoy learning it all. (Wait till you see the tattoo on your back!) \n \"I'd love to do this again, but with our hours reversed. I'd like to see the sun. If that ever sounds good to you, give me a call at the number below. We will negotiate a new deal. Enjoy your money in the meantime\"\n\n I stare, dumbfounded at the message and the number below it. I look to the notebook and settle in to read about what I've been doing with my life. \n\n ", " Dusk till Dawn\n\n\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\n\nAll these years past by.\n\nAs my memory fades.\n\nAll these years that I missed.\n\nThese memories made.\n\nI work long hours through day.\n\nTo make some big pay.\n\nSo my wife and my kids.\n\nHave a room they can stay.\n\nBut when I clock out.\n\nSeems so does my mind.\n\nI remember the route.\n\nBut seems I’ve lost all the time.\n\nBut it seems one morning.\n\nI remember that night.\n\nI was in my room flying.\n\nPlaying with a Kite.\n\nI hear screams.\n\nI hear shouts.\n\nI see faces.\n\nAnd they pout.\n\nI see children,\n\nFor awhile.\n\nTime walks,\n\nA long Mile.\n\nThen I woke from my sleep.\n\nTo sheets, and to beeps.\n\nI remember that night.\n\nSo my memory seeps.\n\nA little boy crying.\n\nThe little boy mine.\n\nI worry for his good.\n\nBut I’m the one dying.\n\nThen they give me a shot.\n\nAnd it helps me forget.\n\nThe old familiar sting.\n\nBut I love every bit.\n\nI fade with my problems.\n\nMy memory fades.\n\nTime seems gone.\n\nAs chemicals raid.\n\nThey raid and they rob.\n\nMy time with that boy.\n\nThis morning I remembered.\n\nI spent time with that boy.\n\nA different kind of boy.\n\nThe son of the devil.\n\nThe devil’s little toy.\n\nIn which I would revel.\n\nAll the time I forgot.\n\nFrom sunset to dawn.\n\nAll the time with my son.\n\nFor the boy I would pawn.\n\n\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~" ]	2
	[WP] God has been fired. Heaven and Earth are now under new management.	[ "I walked past the endless cubicles. I am so relieved that he will finally be out of my life. No more disasters. No more lost profits. No more “World Wars”.\n\nI walked into his office. As usual he was asleep, his face on his keyboard and a bottle of Bourbon in his hand.\n\n“Yahweh!” I shouted.\n\nYahweh slowly got up, his wiped the leftover drink onto his sloppy work sleeve.\n\n“Oh, Omega it’s you” He said, laughing drunkenly.\n\n“Yahweh-“ I started to say.\n\n“I’ve been working on a big update to my world, I’m kind of revisiting that Nationalism thing into some simulations, I’m thinking about if it should be brought back or not, you know, for spice” he rambled\n\n“Yahweh” I tried to say.\n\n“Oh, also I’m working on an update to the Space Expansion, humans will be getting to mars” he said.\n\n“Yahweh” I said.\n\n“But I also am working on a Battle Royal mod that all the kids are talking about, I call it Societal Collap-“ He tries to say.\n\n“YAHWEH YOU’RE FIRED!” I said.\n\nHe looked at me, his mouth agape. His smile was gone. He looked around him, he looked at me like a deer in headlights.\n\n“But, I’m almost done” he said, “I just need-“\n\n“That’s what you said in 1975, it’s what you said in 1933, it’s what you said in 1812, it’s what you said in 1776” I said, passing him his pink slip.\n\n“Yahweh” I said, as I placed my hand on my forehead.\n\n“People enter our world to relax and have fun. Your world is not either. It’s a hateful, destructive and violent one. While your world may be what you want, it’s not for anyone else but you” I said.\n\nYahweh made a fist, he was a tall guy, barrel chested, not to be messed with. But slowly he willed his fist to relax. \n\n“The problem I have with it is your humans and what you call climate change” I said. I felt bad for him, he was an idiot. But he was so passionate about his work. I mean his world was not pretty. But it was creative, I had to give him that.\n\n“I expect your desk to be cleared out by the end of the day” I said. I began to walk away when asked me a few questions.\n\n“What will happen to my humans? Who’s my replacement?” He asked.\n\nI sighed as I spoke.\n\n“Gaia will be replacing you. She will be changing their code to make them far more calm and relaxed. They will no longer be able to harm themselves or others” I said.\n\nYahweh, looked at me dead in the eyes. \n\n“You won’t touch them. They are free creatures. They can think!” He said.\n\nI rolled my eyes.\n\n“Yahweh, this for their own good” I said.\n\n“Never” he said, wrapping his arms around his computer. \n\nI had it with this.\n\n“You will hand over your drive or you will be arrested” I said calmly but angrily. \n\nHe looked down at the ground then back at the computer. I swore I saw tears stream down his face.\n\n“I spent millennium working with them. I saw them grow, make mistakes, win, lose. The humans, their like children to me. You are asking to take away my children” he said.\n\n“But I don’t have a choice” he said, pulling his drive from his computer.\n\nHe struggled to let it go. His hands gripped it so tightly I feared it would break. Eventually he let it drop. I could hear him sob quietly.\n\n“Can you tell them something?” He asked.\n\n“What?” I asked.\n\n“That I love them” he said.\n\n“I will think about it” I said putting it into my pocket.\n\nI walked away as heard him continue to sob quietly. " ]	1
	[WP] A long time ago, you worked as a tester in a virtual world research facility, and have long since learned the subtle differences between simulation and reality. one day, you wake up in your house as normal, but something feels off. something feels... familiar...	[ "Virtual reality is my speciality.\n\nI've created all types of replica worlds from Skyscrapers to Seaworld, Atlanta to Atlantis, The Middle East to Middle Earth. I've done it all, with only a weekly rest to recuperate.\n\nAnd I love it. I love my job. I create worlds. Who else can say that? Certainly not the supposed \"God\", who is more fake than my replica worlds.\n\nI am the director of all replica worlds. I oversee everything, every last tiny detail.\n\nI am the mother, I am the maker, I am the creator.\n\nYet I am still human. And humans make errors, and humans are lazy, and humans are weak.\n\nMy replicas are not perfect, I will be the first to admit that.\n\nI can accidentally give scars or other deformations to my creations. I will sometimes repeat some of my creations, like in those old cartoons where they reuse the same backgroud over and over. \n\nThis was what was running through my mind when I first got a glance at the woman. I was riding the bus to work and idly staring out the window, when I saw her, the woman.\n\nI knew her. She was my wife. She was also dead.\n\nI pulled the cord to stop the bus immediately, and ran out to see her, but she was gone by the time I got there. I was late to work that day.\n\nThe second time I saw her was at the grocery store. Again I tried to catch her, and again I failed. \n\nThe third time I saw her, I was at work. She was introduced to all of us as a new colleague. I caught her at lunch, and we talked.\n\nWe talked, but it felt like nothing, like idle chit chat, like two robots trying to talk about love. I hated every second of it. This thing was not my wife. This thing must be some idiots idea of a prank to pull on me; they must've gotten a lookalike or a relative of my wife. Any of my colleagues might have done it; they're all jealous of me anyway.\n\nMaybe she is just a lookalike. Maybe nothing weird is going on.\n\nI need to get out of this place to relax a bit. I should go up to my cottage on sunday. Yeah, that's a good idea, go there to relax, get out of the city and out of my own mind a little, and be rejuvenated for work on monday.\n\nSunday rolled around, and it was raining heavily. I wouldn't let that stop me though. I'm not a quitter. I started on the drive.\n\nI have zero visibility, and I'm driving on the highway. I can't see anything. I can barely even see the road beneath me. There isn't any traffic to bother me luckily. Not even transport trucks. That's kinda weird now that I think of it. There's always transport trucks on this road. Nevermind there's a truck. Wait, that's a garbage truck. What is a garbage truck doing on the highway?\n\nThis isn't a highway. I'm on a city street. How did I get here? What city is this?\n\nThis is my city. That is my workplace.\n\nI get out of the car. I walk into my workplace. I see the receptionist. But she isn't the regular receptionist.\n\nShe's my wife. They're all my wife, all my coworkers.\n\nI run out the building. I run away from my workplace.\n\nI end up back at the door to my workplace. I try to run away again, but it is useless.\n\nI can't escape.\n\nI am trapped.\n\nSomeone trapped me.\n\nSomeone who is better at creating worlds than me.\n\nI look up at the sky.\n\nIt still rains." ]	1
	[WP] You wake up and walk outside to check the mail, something feels off	[ "Just like every other day I had off from my crappy job, I got up at about 9:30, put on some coffee, and walked from my apartment to the main office to get the mail, and then would drink my coffee with some creamer and have some toast with butter. Nothing too exciting. And that's the way I liked my days off.\n\nIt felt like it was going to be the same today. I walked down the stairs and around my building to the main office. Like most days, there were a few cars coming and going, but today, it seemed like there was a lot more traffic, especially for a Friday. Maybe there were enough people off though since the weather was going to be nice all weekend. \n\nI then walked to the office and to my mailbox. What was strange was though was that no one was at the desk. Usually there was a woman there who'd often say hi to me, but today there was no one. I then picked up my mail. \n\n\"Just bills.\" I thought to myself. There wasn't anything that exciting. But just as a threw away one of those crappy credit card offers that came along with my bills. I then walked outside but i felt something on my shoulder.\n\n\"You better not throw that away Sir. We've been trying to contact you for years, and now we've finally found you. Take him away boys!\" I didn't recognize the voice but he sounded like he was quite angry. I don't know why, I didn't even catch a good glimpse of him, other than that he was balding and had dark sunglasses on. But he had a tight grip on me and I couldn't turn around to see him.\n\nA man with a blindfold than covered me up, and another put a rope around my feet and my hands and from then on, all I knew was that I was thrown into the back of a vehicle, and didn't know where. After what seemed to be hours, the car stopped and the same man who had put his hand on me was talking to me.\n\n\"We know all your secrets John. We know that you have been ignoring us, and because of that we have to kill you. You can't ignore notices from us forever.\"\n\n\"But, all i've done is thrown away credit card deals. What the hell are you talking about?\"\n\n\"You know. We've been trying to get you to tell us about that one night you were in Cancun. Where you met Sally Bishop.\"\n\n\"Wait.... how do you know about her? And all I did was....\"\n\n\" We know that she's a spy for the Russians, and by virtue of your relations and her getting secrets from you... we have to kill you. Throw him down the cliff boys. He isn't going to survive that drop.\"\n\nI then felt like I was flying through the air and screamed, awaiting the impact. Just then, I opened my eyes. I looked around, and saw that I was lying on the street. I then saw a balding man with sunglasses standing in front of me.\n\n\"Sir you have to watch out. Lots of deliveries today. Its all this Amazon Prime crap. That, and they just closed down Christy Road and all those cars are getting rerouted I think. Did you not see me or something?\"\n\n\"No sir, I don't know what happened. Things just seem a little weird today.\"\n\n\"Well watch out. And not just for traffic. I know all your secrets. Fortunately you've got some friends in high places.\"\n\nI then heard the man let out a chuckle and then drive off. I don't know what he meant by secrets, but then I saw that there was a package with my name on it. I thought it was strange, since I hadn't ordered anything recently, but I opened it just the same. All that was inside was a not that said \"I know\" and a picture of me drunk at a party hugging a very attractive woman. On the back of the photo was some writing that said \"Stay away from my wife, or your dead!\" ", "You realize you don't remember your own name. Or anything, even who you are, all you know is this is your daily routine and that my hand really hurts, as if it was broken.\n\nYou hear a female voice coming from inside the house. \"Honey could you come hear for a sec\", I assume I have a wife. I head inside to see what's going on. \"Honey look what there saying on tv\", it was a female reporter talking about a clan that kidnaps people and take there hand and twists it until it breaks, then they said there was one survivor and my picture was up there. \"Look they mentioned you on tv\". I haven't said a single word that morning, I see a worried face on here. \"wait John what's my name\". I take a guess \"I don't remember is it maria\". She shakes her head and calls someone.\n\nI stay and keep watching, but nothing interesting comes on so I take a nap. I wake up to man telling me to get up because I'm in great danger, he drags me to an ambulance and we take off. \"John so you were part of a clan that first takes there wrist and breaks it, then brain washes them to join there clan. You are the only living survivor\". I start to remember the way they tortured me that day and tell them, I say \"I'm still confused about my life, like what's next\". But before they can answer Something hits and tips the ambulance over.\n\nI land on someone's head and breaking there neck killing them, the over doctor got shot by a man in a full black suit dragging me over to a black van. The men start talking In a foreign language that I seem to understand bits of. One of the men comes back with a rag and makes me pass out. I wake up tightly strapped down to a chair with a bag over my head. I hear other men next to me heavily breathing I hear a gun shot about every 5 secs but getting closer to me then the person next to dies and I hear foot steps come behind my chair and feel the end of a gun tip against the back of my head.\n\nThanks for reading, and the any feed back", "“Bradly! How’s it hanging neighbor?” I say loudly. \n\n“Okay then...” I mumble out when he didn’t answer. \n\n“Asshole.” I say with a snap in my voice. \n\nI go to grab the mail and the mailbox is empty. \n“Weird, I haven’t went a day with out something in my mailbox since the first week I bought this house in 2001, besides Sunday’s, obviously.” I think to myself. \n\n“Brad, you get mail today!?” I ask in a loud tone. \n\nHe just shook his head, not up or down or side to side tho. Just in circles. \n\n“What’s going on?” I say to myself. \n\nI walk towards my front door and was stopped in my tracks when I seen the news paper laying on my porch. \n\n“I only get this on Sunday.” I say as I bend over to pick up the rolled up news paper. \n\nMore breaking news on the disaster of NYC the news paper headline reads. \n\n“Disaster? NYC? More news? What the hell happened?” I think to myself. \n\nI go to sit on the porch step and start unrolling the news paper. \n\n“As the crews clean up the terrible site, the body count escalated from hundreds to thousands.” Is written under a picture of what looks like buildings crumbled. \n\n“What the fuck!? What’s this about!?” I say loudly to myself. \n\n“The attack was planned, the attack we have faced was not something that just happened. We have a problem, America. A big, big problem. The terrorist have made their move. Now it’s our turn to make ours.” Reads the first paragraph. \n\nI scroll down with my eyes to big bold letters.\n“The United States of America declares war!” \n\n“This is the twin towers...” I start to put together in my head. \n“This happens almost 17 years ago.. what’s going on?” I think to myself. \n\nI scroll my eyes back to the top of the page and find the date. \n\nSeptember 2, 2001 \n\n“WAIT... what the actual fuck!!!” I scream. \n\n“How can this be possible? It’s fucking July twenty-seventh 2018!!!!” I scream louder. \n\nI run into the house to the my house phone. \n\nI start dialing my wife’s number and press call. \n\n“Hey babe, where are you!?” I say as soon as I hear her pick up. \n\n“Who is this? I think you have the wrong number...” I hear from the other side of the phone. \n\n“Stella, it’s me your husband.” I respond quickly. \n\n“How do you know my name? I’m not married, nor am I even in a relationship!” She says back sounding scared. \n\n“What do you mean!? We’ve been married for 10” \n\n“Who are you I’m hanging up you creep!” She cuts me off. \n\n“What the fuck!” I scream as loud as I can. \n\n“Charles! Come here!” I yell for my dog to come. \n\n“Charles!” I yell louder. \n\nI head to the living room, to check if he’s in his bed. \n\nThe living room is empty. Not one piece of furniture. \n\nI run to the kitchen, panicking. \n\nBoxes nothing but moving boxes. \n\nI melt to the floor with tears in my eyes. \n\n“Please no!” I say shakily. \n\n“My whole life, everything! It was a dream!” I scream loudly. \n\n“It was perfect, my wife, our dog, my job! It was perfect!” I say with tears coming to my eyes. " ]	3
	[WP] Every individual has a kindred spirit. A connection that allows them to defy fear, express truest emotions without words, and stop aging. At 24, you hadn't found your own. One day, a child approaches you, and your skin begins to glow.	[ "She was rail thin when they rolled her on a stretcher, oxygen mask on her face fogging up with her weak breath.\n\n\"What have we got?\" I ask the EMT pushing her stretcher. She has large, round eyes, and the pulsing purple and red spirit of a squirrel jumping about her shoulders--a mixture of anger, fear, possible anxiety.\n\n\"We found her in the basement of her home--she was unresponsive at the scene, and we tried to resuscitate en route. We got sinus rhythm back, but her pulse is weak in the extremities.\"\n\n I call Dr. Lorne over, a woman with curly brown hair and the visage of a bright orange phoenix resting on her shoulder. The phoenix stares confidently, unmoved as Dr. Lorne begins her work testing vitals.\n\n\"Did she have a parent with her, someone we can call?\" I ask. The EMT shakes her head, and I look up and a police officer with a sea-blue wolf walks in confidently. He walks up to us as we're wheeling the girl into one of the trauma rooms.\n\n\"We got a call to the scene from some neighbors who had noticed that the girl hadn't been seen in a several days--they were very distraught when we found her, said they should've called sooner but didn't want to intrude. Her name's Mia Gerring.\"\n\n\"Where are the parents?\" I ask again, hoping he can give me some answers. The police officer blinks several times, searching for the most tact way to say it. \"Her parents are the ones who had her locked up in there. We've taken them into custody.\"\n\n\"My god,\" Dr. Lorne whispers beside me, and her phoenix shifts to a shade of deep blue for an instant before returning to it's normal color. She swabs the crease of the girl's elbow for an IV.\n\n\"We're looking in to see if she has any extended family we could place her with, but we're not having much luck. Will you give us a call if you find anything that you think might help?\"\n\n\"Of course officer,\" I reply, and he tips his hat before turning around and walking out. Dr. Lorne sticks an IV, and starts barking orders to the other doctor assisting her. She then turns to me, and asks if I'll keep an eye on her, and I nod.\n\nEveryone has a spirit that is kindred to them. For most people, it's animals, an indication of their personality, their quirks, their approach to life--for others, it's an emblem of some kind that shifts in color, usually tied to religious iconography showing their devotion. But for me, I don't know what mine looks like--because I haven't found it yet. Most people find theirs when they're kids, or teenagers, but I've made it all the way to adulthood without finding mine.\n\nI spend the rest of the day convening with doctors, updating them on patients and treatments provided. Around noon, Mia has gotten her room assignment, but she's still unconscious.\n\nI can't imagine the trauma she's suffered through, and maybe being unconcious is her body's way of protecting her from more. As she rests and heals, I'm hopeful she'll pull out of it.\n\nAt shift change, I walk into her room to check her vitals one more time. I don't know if she senses my presence coming into the room, or someone trying to help her, but her eyes flutter open, squeezed tight as if awakening from a long sleep. She smacks her dry lips together a few times.\n\n\"Would you like some water, Mia?\" I ask, and she nods softly, her thin brown hair strewn across the pillow. Her positioning on the bed looks more doll-like than human-like, and that coupled with her frailness sends a shiver down my spine. \n\nI walk to the counter to grab a pink plastic cup, and then reach into the bottom drawer where we keep some supplies for peds patients. I produce an orange crazy straw, the plastic bending and twisting in over itself and place it into the cup.\n\nI hold the cup close to her face, and she lifts her head slowly to drink, sipping slowly at first, then more urgently from the straw. Her eyes shift back from the water traveling through the straw, to my face.\n\nWhen she's finished drinking, her head collapses back onto the pillow, and she stares at me. \"You're going to be okay, Mia. No one wants to hurt you here.\"\n\nShe nods softly, and when she does, a soft glow emanates from her chest--yellow at first, then bleeding into the soft pink synonymous with contentment. She closes her eyes and falls asleep quickly.\n\nAfter she falls asleep, a similar glow emanates from my chest, syncing up with hers. My replacement comes into the room to check if everything is okay, and sees both Mia and myself softly glowing. She says that it's unusual, but sometimes people find others that have no kindred spirit, and they become the kindred for each other. Mia for me, and I for her.\n\nThe police were unable to find any relatives capable of caring for Mia, and when it came time for her to be placed with a foster family, I volunteered. After a few months of that, I formally adopted her--and I wouldn't have it any other way.", "It took me twenty-four years to discover the meaning of fun, an abnormally long period to suffer under the heavy hand of fear and envy. Here is the story of the day I met my kindred spirit.\n\nI remember the exact date, 14/03/2016. It was the day before my twenty-fifth birthday, and it would make me the oldest body age in England. There were a seemingly infinite number of people with older mental ages than me, but most people found their kindred around the body age of eighteen. My mum, for example, looks younger than me, she has a body age of twenty, and even she gets ribbed for looking old.\n\nThe day started like any other, as you'd come to expect. I spent the morning recovering from a nightmare and dreading the time that marked my work commute. I grew to hate eight-thirty, the singing birds and the new sun were not suitable ailments for my ever-ageing body.\n\nBefore leaving I tightened my trademark blue Nike hoodie, making sure to hide as much of my face as possible. I looked back into the hallway, feeling a pang as nobody came to wave me off. I stepped out of my home and a cold breeze threatened to de-hood me. I looked left and right and sighed as I took the first step to my office.\n\nI could tell within two-seconds if a person had joined or not. The giveaway was a genuine smile, told by crows feet creases beside their eyes. The other giveaway was a pairing; if you saw two people who practically had electricity running between them, you knew they had bonded. Typically when I walked to work, it was done with eyes glued to the pavement. Today I made the mistake of glancing up at the sound of a scream.\n\n'AHHHHH.'\n\nThe scream came from a girl, had to be under the body age of thirteen. I looked at her, first distracted by the football in her hand and then by the smile on her face. It was real.\n\n'You can't catch me!' The girl continued to shout.\n\nMy eyes trailed behind her and saw a golden retriever charging; its mouth curved in an equally exaggerated smile.\n\nThey had joined. I cursed under my breath and snapped my neck forward, returning to the concrete conveyor belt.\n\nShould have worn headphones I thought.\n\nEven without the music, I did not hear the oncoming patter of footsteps. Something or someone slammed into the back of me.\n\nI turned with a tattooed scowl and prepared to unleash a lifetime of pent-up rage. As I spun, I felt hate ooze from every atom in my body, like I had been struck with a tree spile and instead of sap flowed black hate. With each degree of turn I felt lighter, until I faced the equally surprised face of a child. I could see his skin, and he could see mine. The boy glowed like the golden gates.\n\n'I'm so sorry for my boy.' A woman's voice said, sounding distant.\n\nI looked from the glowing child to an angel, with auburn shoulder length hair and eyes that could inspire wars. She smiled at me and then noticed the joining. Her mouth fell open, as did my heart." ]	2
	[WP] Hidden in your cloak is a red right hand. You know what you did, you know what you need to do.	[ "The fire was a beacon in the dark. \n\nFor miles on that desolate plain it could be seen.\n\nIt drew them.\n\nI waited.\n\nThe first strolled into my makeshift camp, his clothes rough and worn. His features were porcelain, perfect, as if carved from white marble. He smiled as he walked towards me, his teeth long, his grin predatory. He spoke, a practiced spiel it seemed but I could not hear his honeyed words over the growing thunder in my ears. The crescendo of scarlet waves crashing against my temple. I felt the tingle in my fingertips and saliva pooled in my mouth. Even after all these years.\n\nHe was still speaking when I stood, dropping my cloak to my feet. My leathers creaked as I gripped him by the throat, my right hand dark even against the flickering fire. The skin stained the red of offal and as i squeezed his throat, droplets of blood dripped from my exposed skin. The creature's eyes widened as his throat constricted, though he had little need for breath. \n\n\"I didn't know,\" he choked out, his fangs dripping beads of venom that sizzled on my skin.\n\n\"You never do.\"\n\nThe muscles beneath the red skin twitched and flames erupted along its length, a crimson far eclipsing the bonfire to my right. The flames races over its face and body, engulfing it in seconds. Soon there was simply a pile of charred black bones. \n\nI returned to my seat upon the log, shrugging my cloak back over my shoulders. With my left hand, i stirred the campfire, prodding it with a piece of wood till it's flames licked the night sky once more. In the corner of my eye I made out more shapes in the darkness.\n\nThey did not need the heat of the fire but the warmth of those who made it.\n\nIt drew them.\n\nI waited.\n\n\nr/AMSWrites" ]	1
	[WP] You inherited a thrift store from your grandfather. His only instructions were “make sure the door is locked tight when you leave, and keep the clock on the mantle at 12:30”. One day you neglect your duties, and the clock bongs one.	[ "I look around and nothing happens. Was this just one of my grandfathers tall tales? The old man always was a good storyteller even if all of them weren't true...then I heard a gasp and a sudden crash in the other room. \n\nStanding at the desk frozen in fear, I find the closest thing to a weapon I can, hoping whoever or whatever is in there is scared of a kinda short man armed with a hole puncher. \n\nSlowly I walk into the other room. The item on the floor was in tact, guess it was real gold after all. No one was around which made this situation worse. My hand was shaking as I walked back into the front room." ]	1
	[WP] You are Death. You fear nothing, have no sympathy, and no remorse. You have taken the souls of billions, some just for the thrill. Then you met Life.	[ " I guess you could say I love my job. I make my own hours, I've always been the meanest, the worst of the worst. There are few out there that would dare to stand against me and definitely, fewer are those who can stomach the pain I put others through. which is a nice bonus I guess. never really thought of myself as the good guy... for obvious reasons. \n \nOne afternoon not long ago I was hovering over the interstate trying to pick my next candidate, nothing special all in a day's work for death itself. The sun seemed to have a personal vendetta against anyone who dared to not have an A/C that day, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight to put an end to its evil reign. I watched the cars zip on by, closed my eyes and focused on the sound of the rubber hitting the road Felling the wind hitting my sku- wait was that him? I'll be honest I zoned out for a second. YUP! That’s him, I love this next part. \n\nAs I flew towards the car what looked like a yellow flare shot up from the passenger's seat, it raced towards me desperate for survival. I can honestly say I love how much the guardian angles beg me to spare my clients. Makes it all worth it at the end of the day. With the elderly or morally deprived they don't try so hard, but this guy, this guy was ripe for picking! Mid-thirties, two kids and a wife at home on racing to tell his wife about his raise. \n\n\"What are you doing?\" it demanded an explanation. \n\n\"My Job\" \n\nSuddenly I felt the force unlike any other I had ever felt before I hit the ground bouncing like a volleyball. \n\n\"Who do you think you are?!\" is what I meant to say not sure if the few words I managed to dump out of my mouth resembled my original thought, but apparently it was enough for it to understand. \n\n\"I'm the meanest, the worst of the worst. There are few out there that would dare to stand against me and fewer are those who can stomach the pain I put the parasites of this planet through.\" It pretentiously exclaimed. \n\n\"so, you've heard of me\" \n\nIt looked at me confused almost as if it hadn't recited my whole schtick. Its shoulders dropped, it let out a sigh. \n\n\"I'm a bitch\" \n\n\"LIFE?!\" \n\nIt didn't answer instead the rude little thing just flew off after in the direction the car was headed. Of course, I followed, after all, it was my kill. I have to admit Life flew by much faster than I thought possible. When I finally reached the unfortunate souls' home. Everything seemed fine. It came out of the house with a devilish grin on its face. \n\n\"What'd you do?\" \n\n\"What I do best... I gave life\" it replied\n\n\"To what?\" I asked \n\n\"Bed bugs\" \n\nI've always thought I was the meanest, the worst of the worst. There are few out there that would dare to stand against me and definitely, fewer are those who can stomach the pain I put others through. But life? Life's a bitch ", "(On mobile, apologies in advance for formatting)\n\nLet’s get one thing straight right off the bat— I’ve always done this. Always. Death is my name. Everything I touch turns to ash, and the souls dispel before me. I kill people, animals, plants, bugs, everything. \n\nThe last time you swatted a fly with your bare hand, and hit it to your own stark surprise? That was me. Not you. I take great pride in what I do. Killing humans is my favorite, they’re always dying. Sometimes before they even live. That’s what I’m doing right now.\n\nI merge through the walls of a hospital into the natal care unit, to the delivery room. It’s the quickest way to my target, but I hate merging. The insulation always feels like spider webs and makes me itchy. There’s Hannah. Struggling to get her child out of the birth canal. I rub my hands together. No way this kids gonna get out in time. These particular instances, I’m not a giant fan of my job, but my hatred of humans propelled me to continue anyway. I pull out my ledger to add it to the list of souls I’m to take to the “other side”, and I feel that cobwebby feeling. I look up from my ledger, and there she is.\n\nAnother spirit, like myself. She’s completely spectral, it’s mesmerizing, like looking into the face of the moon. She’s bright, but I can make out the outline of long, soft hair cascading down her back. She reaches down, and assists the child, turning it before lack of oxygen got to it. The next thing I know, I’m stupidly standing there with my ledger and pen in hand, looking like a complete ass.\n\nThe goddess turns toward me, and her eyes completely suck me in. I drop my pen. She’s... beautiful. And sad. And she looks a little mean, but also well-intentioned. She smiles at me. \n\n“Hello,” even her voice puts me in to a stupor. “I’ve heard an awful lot about you, Death.” It sounds like a bedroom whisper. She sounds like fun. \n\n“You... can see me?” I don’t understand why this particular phrase was the one to come out of my mouth. The room quiets as the crying baby is rushed out of the room to be cleaned and tended to. I long forgot she and I weren’t the only ones in here.\n\n“Of course, darling. You and I have been flirting together for a very, very long time.” She winks. “One just barely behind the other. I thought I’d save you this one, though,” she moves close. But she knows as well as I do we can’t touch. But there’s an absolute electricity in the barrier between us.“I know you don’t care for the young ones quite like I do.”\n\nHer eyes are a color I’ve never seen. They’re the color of the trees, sea and flame all in one. She smells like the ocean and forest. I want to badly to caress her face. I look slowly from one eye to the other. In such small actions, she was full of such... \n\n“Life,” the word barely comes out as a whisper. I wonder if she’s as mystified by me as I am by her. She seems like she’s floating, and much more gracefully than me. Her smile sets my chest on fire.\n\nFrom then on, Life and I were always crossing each other’s path. Sometimes she’d let me win. Sometimes I’d let her. Near-death experiences were something I found myself attempting to cause. I don’t care if I put humans or anything else at risk. I just want to see her. She’s becoming my best friend. \n\nLife and I were always flirting with each other, neither of us burdened or bothered by our jobs, or each other’s job. It was what we had to do. I respected how much she cared for humans just like she respected how much distain for humans I held, and why.\n\nBut lately things have changed. I let her win every time I see her. Sometimes when I really shouldn’t. Grandpa was supposed to die at 84, not 107. Scruffy wasn’t supposed to make it through that car accident. But I can’t stand to kill things around her. She understands, but it makes her sad. \n\nWho would have ever thought that Death would ever fall in love with Life?\n\n" ]	2
	[WP] The local animal shelter in this small rural mountain side town doesn't have much happen to it often. The same pers have been their for a while and once every so often someone will bring in an injured or orphaned wild animal. But one graveyard shift someone brings in something no one expected.	[ "Lucille often wondered why someone even bothered to build an animal shelter in Pine Creek.\n\nThe locals took exceptional care of their pets, and those that fell ill went to the veterinarian on Maple Drive. There were no abused dogs or neglected cats. There were no parrots that spoke on into the night after their owner had a heart attack, no iguanas that had bitten the children, no rats that stunk more than a prissy housewife expected. The lack of similarity to her old town was the reason she had applied. A big city shelter was no place for a bleeding heart like herself. The place served more as a daycare than anything else. Everyone liked her well enough, so they would just check-in their pets if they went traveling or camping in the woods. \n\nThe thought reminded her that she should take Rufus out for a quick stroll. Rosalyn left her St. Bernard behind when she left for her grandson's college graduation. The beast of a dog came padding out of his pen at her whistle, and stood politely while she clipped his leash on. He moved to the back door without her prompting and huffed happily when they broke into the warm night air.\n\nRufus walked her across the grass to the tree line, heading for his favorite pine. The carpet of dry grass and twigs crunched pleasantly under her boots as they went. Lucille waggled her flashlight back and forth along the ground as she went. Checking for snakes was just about the only feature of life in the mountains she didn't enjoy. But the yard, like the shelter behind her, was empty of anything except the summer night.\n\nWhich is why Rufus' barking came as such a surprise.\n\nShe stumbled forward a few feet when he pulled the leash. Great booms of noise echoed from the dog, who was pointed towards the tree line to her left. Lucille switched her grip on the flashlight and turned, running the light along the wall of trunks around them. If a wolf got a little too brave, a quick swing would discourage it. She had never had to do that, but the townsfolk assured her that...\n\nRufus stopped barking. She turned towards him.\n\nA mass of shaggy fur was standing at the edge of the yard. It was huge, at least twelve feet tall, and as thick around as a grizzly bear. In the low light she saw it stood upright, and noted the size of its hands and feet. Its head was featureless in the dimness, but she could see something whiplike moving behind it, not unlike a monkey's tail.\n\nLucille swung her flashlight around and doused the creature with radiance. She half registered the simian proportions and knotted muscle as she saw the matted crimson fur around the abdomen. The clinical part of her brain commented on how much blood it would take to make a stain that size on such thick brown hair.\n\nNothing moved except the creature's tail. The creature stared, unblinking, through the light. Its eyes were milky and pale. It's fangs were the yellow of a heavy smoker, and the hairless skin around the face was black and slightly reflective, almost like tar.\n\nRufus whimpered. The creature immediately dropped into a crouch, putting one massive hand to the earth as it settled, and turned its head towards the St. Bernard.\n\nFear and reality came in the same instant. Lucille tugged the leash and whistled. Rufus broke into a run with her, racing towards the shelter door that she left open. She heard the whoosh of air and a the creature simply appeared between her and safety with a crack of twigs. \n\nIt was so fast.\n\nRufus moved closer to her and began to growl protectively. The creature was silent again, watching them, not ten feet away. At this distance she could smell it. Earth and dirt, the thick musk of a wild thing, and under it all, blood. There was so much red on its chest, so much blood. Its head was aimed at Rufus, almost imperceptibly turning to keep its pale eyes fixed on the dog's face. No, his throat. Where the sound was coming from. \n\nIt was blind.\n\nShe reached into her jeans and pulled the pocket knife out. At the click of the blade releasing the creature turned its head towards her. The turn was smooth and frictionless, like an owl. She could see the hair on its body moving slightly, twitching here and there like it was reading the situation. She gripped the knife tighter. The hair moved at the shift in her hand. She saw that claws were growing from the tips of its thick fingers, pure white claws like a large hunting cat.\n\nRufus kept growling at a steady note, but the milky eyes were locked on her and her knife. It was waiting for her move. Lucille began to count down. 3..........2............1........\n\nA sharp whistle broke the standoff. The creature exploded into motion and leapt clear over their heads in a blur. Lucille turned to see a man with a rifle on his back step out of the woods, holding a wooden flute to his lips. He froze when he saw her and Rufus. The creature towered over him, but kept its sightless gaze locked on her. She recognized him. He worked down at the lake, at the marina.\n\n\"Daniel?\"\n\nDaniel showed his teeth in an awkward smile.\n\n\"I....um.....I see you and Rufus met Cooper.\"\n\nThe creature lowered its head towards Daniel and let out a soft hoot at the sound of its name. Daniel reached out a hand and ruffled its scalp. Lucille was so confused she uttered the only thought she had left in her head.\n\n\"What the hell is that?\"\n\nHe smiled again as he patted the creature's head.\n\n\"Ever heard of Bigfoot?\"", "“What is this?”\n\nDoctor Jack Darrell looked at the container with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity. He was the lead veterinarian at the Salvation Light Animal Sanctuary, and this was the second most odd creature he had seen during his ten year tenure in this field.\n\nHe turned to his assistant, who seemed also to be at a loss for words to describe this unusual organism.\n\n“Do you happen to have any idea?”\n\nShe shook her head.\n\n“The individual who dropped him off did it without much hullabaloo. I never saw him.”\n\nThe creature in question was swimming within a glass container, yet there was no water. It was spherical in shape, and had no defining features whatsoever but the gentle discharge of minute cinders. \n\n“I have not seen something like this since the Event.”\n\nHis assistant paled, and clutched her lab coat instinctively.\n\n“The Event? Is Forrester Slipping again?”\n\nDoctor Darrell thought to himself for a moment, mulling over the question. A Slippage has not happened to this town in exactly ten years, which was when he took this tenure.\n\nAfter the Slip was fixed, he had only seen normal Gaian creatures up to that point. But the appearance of whatever creature which whirled around in the container gave Darrell the hint that another Slip was about to occur.\n\n“The Mist Troglodytes will be arriving soon, just as with the last Slip ten years ago. Go ready the others, tell them to alert the Guard.”\n\nThe assistant nodded, and walked out of the building, her steps of her heels echoing in the newfound silence.\n\nDarrell sat down nearby, and held the container in his arms.\n\n“The longest night awaits us. I feel it in the air, it is so quiet.”\n\nHe prepared for the Guard’s arrival.\n" ]	2
	[WP] The villains found the most effective way to get rid of heroes is to get rid of crime.	[ "\"Stop right there, PlantMan! I'm about to send you back to wherever you came from. Be ready to root in jail, ohhh haha haha!\" Coologne stood by the hole in the wall, ice cape continually shattering and reforming as it blew in the breeze.\n\n\"Ahhh! Security!\" \n\n\"They can't help you. I have defeated them.\" His breath and skin puffed out plumes of mist, threatening to blanket the office in fog. Long monologues detailing his victory were his way of stalling so he could fight in the environment of his own element, but this was not his element. This was Doom Island.\n\n\"You can't do this, Coologne! We are a sovereign nation. You attacking citizens and causing damage to our infrastructure is tantamount to a hostile invasion by a foreign entity! We have an international right that you have just breached!\"\n\n\"Hahaha, PlantMan! I'm immune to your fancy words. Justice stares you in the face and you just jibber-jabber in your made-up language.\"\n\n\"Okay, Brainfreeze, think of it this way: in America, I broke the laws, and you got me. Here, we may have laws on the books, but no police force or extradition... Errr... kicking people out for doing bad things, means hacking foreign bank accounts is wrong by law, but goes unpunished. You, however, are accountable to the laws of America, and international law. You, not me, will go to jail for this since I have the power of what's right on my side.\"\n\nBy this time, however, the fog was thick enough that PlantMan, first President of Doom Island didn't see the fist planted right in his jaw...thing. I guess it's his jaw. Whatever. He got beat to a pulp, and taken to America, where he was thrown in jail, all the while using is poisonous words to try and infect the guards, but they were all too smart for him.\n\nSo remember this, evil-doers, no land is safe from the long American arm of justice. Your laws are our laws, and justice is a dish best served cold." ]	1
	[WP] A prohibition was instituted on Soda.	[ "Sugar addicts swarm supermarkets minutes before the ban. Grabbing everything in sight. Over the desperate decaying months, one looses focus and drifts into lucidity, reminiscing of those lovely bubbles, the dry sickly sweet tang of cold refreshment, sliding down the throat. \n\nThe carbohydrate junkies are thrown into a depressed malaise, withdrawals commence as their blood glucose levels gradually normalise. The obese drop pounds in weeks, many type 2 diabetic medication prescriptions are halted. Healthier for their abstain, people start to cheat. The hardcore drink on regardless, some super rich who stockpiled guzzle on and on. Bloating and belching with pleasure while unfortunates drink dirty drips from older bottles.\n\nA dealer on a silent street corner, whispers \"want to get carbonated\" as he opens a leather jacket revealing lines dented cans. Black markets rise through dusty shacks to dark warehouses. Bags of sweeteners used to cut the crystal mounds of refined sugar are hauled in by toothless slaves in fake tracksuits.\n\nKeto dieters earn extra cash as they sell their sugar rations onto sweating junkies, still mourning their daily gulp. One dips her finger into the bag, nodding in recognition of its unadulterated high quality granular hit. \n\n\"What next? They banned Soda, rationed sugar\" The rabble shout in public meetings in government buildings. \nThe judge clears his throat. \"A new nationwide ban will be enforced from the end of this year. That is to be by unanimous vote from the board, the prohibited of DONUTS\". \n\n\n " ]	1
	[WP] The measure of a man is how he chooses to act when he no longer has anything to lose.	[ "They say that the true measure of a man is how he chooses to act when he has nothing left to lose.\n\nIt makes sense. If you have nothing to live for, nothing to bind you down, nothing to hold you back then you're basically free to do anything you wish.\n\nWant to go run naked through Times Square because you have no family to judge you? Go for it. Who gives a fuck? \n\nWant to go do drugs and wake up in a substandard motel in Greece with a gap in your memory and your teeth probably? Go for it. No one cares.\n\nYou want to kill someone and you have no real or relevant societal boundary to tie you back? Morally dubious and would not recommend but I guess you could do it but I wouldn't endorse such a heinous thing. \n\nThe point is that without anything to truly live for, you are in effect truly free to show your truest face and character.\n\nMaybe to yourself as a way of self-actualisation or maybe to the world to prove something.\n\nWhatever. \n\nBut the way a person can choose to behave can mean the world to a third party observer or maybe to your own unconscious thoughts.\n\nAll in all, whatever you may or may not choose to do has a consequence and even if no one is there, it reflects on you. \n\nWhether or not you take the reflection to heart or not isn't important but rather the idea that everything affects the way a system works and you as a component of that system have an effect on it even if you feel like you're no longer a part because you have \"nothing to lose\" so to speak.\n\nSo, in darkness or in light, the true measure of a man is how he acts when they have nothing to lose." ]	1
"You don't seem to belong anywhere"	[WP] Your are the conductor of the train to the afterlife, Judging other people's lives and taking them to heaven, hell, or limbo. Until one day you find someone who doesn't fit any criteria.	[ "\"I hate the weird ones,\" I muttered to myself as I made my way to the abandoned tower that served as my living quarters. \n \nThe Reavers trailing behind me howled in anguishing screams of misery, their sharp shadowy claws gripping the prize of the moment. This one was different than the others: you could tell that just looking at him. Pale white skin under a dreary mop of dark black hair, with a tattered brown cloak wrapped around him covering what little bones he had on his body. Terribly thin with that haunted look that you only really get from the damned, he seemed thoroughly shocked of his current situation. \n \nI turned around, taking off the spectre hooded helm that masked my human features. \"Hey. Sorry about the transit, they're not really known for being soft. Make yourself comf-\". I stopped when I realized that, through the ghastly shrieks of the wraith-like Reavers, he had been screaming his bloody head off this whole time. Oh, right. Death does that to a person. \n \nI snapped my fingers, and immediately the environment changed. The previously dark room lit up in a welcoming homelike flame, and the windows that were showing the damned eternal torments changed to a beautiful cloudy skyline. The Reavers disappeared too, hopefully going out and getting more...normal dead while I dealt with this one. \n \nSlightly nodding my head, I formed two chairs, one made of Oblivion's bone and one made of oak wood, and sat down, trying to be as welcoming as I could towards the new guy. To his credit, he wizened up a bit and tentatively took a seat across from me, looking a wee bit confused. \n \n\"Okay, that should be better. So, Mr...\". I muttered a curse and formed the contract sheet in my hand, shooing away one of the bats that had decided to make it more \"deathlike.\" Time and a place for grandeur, I grumbled as I perused through the document. \n \n\"Right, you don't have a name. That's okay, we'll get that sorted out. Anyway, so you're probably wondering why you're here today. Is that right?\" \n \nDamn, he looked outright nervous. I've been accommodating enough, haven't I? Maybe he needs a drink. I don't think I have water here, but I could probably order a reaver to get some mead or somethi-\n \n \n\"Am I dead?\" he bewilderingly asked. Or yelled. Not too good with discerning the two. \n \n\"Yeah, you are. Your head got taken off by a stray knife not meant for you. Unfortunate, that. If it makes you feel any better, the guy who killed you dies from guilt-induced diarrhea like a week from now, so you got avenged. If that's what you call avenged.\" \n \nHe didn't look very relieved. \n \n\"Where are we?\" \n \n\"We, my friend, are in the Beyond. Yeah, not the most creative name I know, but it gets the job done.\" \n \n\"...Which is?\" \n \nHe's taking this pretty well, all things considered. That was good. I could use a conversation. \n \n\"It's beyond comprehension, hence the name. Most people who die- in fact, basically all of them- don't go here. They go to Hell for the worst guys (like yours), Heaven for the saints, and the rest just kinda...hang out for a while. But you're different.\" \n \n\"How so?\" \n \n\"Because you don't belong in any of them. You've committed too many atrocities to go to Heaven, but you also saved quite a few people and Hell doesn't work. We normally would take you through to the middle, but most people who go there go because they didn't do anything in their life. But you were really busy doing whatever you were doing, so that doesn't quite work. So you're here.\" \n \nDamn, he didn't get what I was getting at. Time to be more blunt about it, I guess. \n \nI slammed my foot into the ground, causing a small tremor that spawned my ghostly visage- the one that I use when I need to grab someone special. Taking the massive scythe that I summoned, I gestured it towards him- which freaked him out and made him dart out of his seat. This was the first time I really took a look at him; he was pretty tall for a young guy, looked me almost in the eyes. Yeah, he'll do. \n \n\"So,\" I said offering my scythe, \"since you're not doing anything, you want a job?\" \n \n*The following is a story that I have constrained to write for no more, and no less, than fifteen minutes. Critique is highly requested and loved, but I will not edit any past entry after the fifteen minute mark. This account is a personal project to improve on goal-setting and writings.*" ]	1
	[WP] You work as a cashier at your local McDonalds to make ends meet. On one particularly slow day an old man walks in, face shroued in a dark hood. "Hello, welcome to McDonalds. Can i take your order?" You say. The man looks up at you and says "Execute Order 66"	[ "“Execute Order 66”\n\n\n“My guy I just want a cheeseburger and a side of fries” \n\n\n“SHIT! That hoodie isn’t red?”\n\n\n“It’s maroon bro, let me pay...squints at nametag... Joshua.”\n\n\n“Look man, I don’t get paid enough for this shit, you’re the last agent i need to register you or else I don’t fill my quota. Stop playing dumb so we can both go home.” \n\n\nSuddenly the silence in the restaurant dawned upon me. \n\n\n“Come with me.” Said the cashier as he opened the gate into the kitchen section. \n\n\nDamnit. I’ve trained with weapons and have experience with martial arts my entire life. I got my Beretta in my holster and a utility knife in my pocket.!The question of safety isn’t something I’m concerned of. I really want to test my luck. BIG YOLO.\n\n\nI followed the cashier to the end of the hall, where I was prompted to enter into the employees only door. To the left, there was an office, but straight ahead was an ominous staircase, leading to an unlit abyss. As I stepped towards it, some lights lit up, showing me a way down. It was a terribly long journey but I made it down. The cashier had abandoned me as soon as I started making my way down, but I was too curious to care. There was a simple door at the end of the staircase. I opened it and was immediately met by an imposing figure, sporting an eerie grin. \n\n\n“Order number?”\n\n\nInstinctively, I proclaimed:”66.”\n\n\n“Welcome to the Illuminati headquarters #459. Please be seated for the lecture starting in 5 minutes.”\n\n\nI entered the auditorium. It wasn’t huge, but it was big. The crowd, although was more like a poor college basketball game’s. This must be a minor presentation. I assumed. \n\n\nAn astonishingly normal looking man entered and took to the podium. \n\n\n“Good day gentlemen! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week with your stand-in wives and children. Now we must get down to business. Jaoquin!!! Make sure we’re broadcasting to all the locations. Why did we have to build a headquarters under every McDonald’s? Anyways, onto more exciting matters. We’ve successfully eliminated the new-gen emancipators. They’re evolving; spreading their messages of liberation through highly potent platforms such as music. Our greatest enemy in this domain; Lupe Wasalu Fiasco has had the release of his new album Waves suspended by our hackers for the 5 month running. We can not afford a repeat of the past. He made the people more informed than ever about our existence. Thankfully that was 10 years ago and the sheep have forgotten. This allows us to start with a blank canvas. To paint our own masterpiece from scratch! Join next week’s workshop, warriors. A new protocol shall be devised then!”\n\n\nHoly shit. What am I listening to. Lupe Fiasco?!! It actually makes sense. I’m a big fan, and I caught some things he said that were extremely cryptic. His work adds up to this in my mind. Holy shit. I need to sleep on this. I quickly ran back up those stairs and out of the kitchen. The restaurant was operating normally. I exited and looked for my chevy cobalt I bought from being an accountant. I saw a phone number scribbled onto my windshield with a marker. I took a picture and smudged it off.\n\n\nThe next day I decided to research Lupe Fiasco. With the thought of the Illuminati as an evil organization at the back of my mind, I found endless hints and messages from Lupe. He’s been trying to make us aware without attracting too much attention from the Illuminati. Somewhere along the line, he obviously failed. I then remembered the number I found. I gave it a call and the operator told me to visit a website where I would be given a code in order to continue. I visited the website and within 15 seconds my computer crashed the landline disconnected and the picture of the number on my cell got erased in front of my eyes. Static appeared on my monitor and then it went blank. I heard a voice from my speaker that was familiar to the lecturer from yesterday: \n\n\n“66, huh?”\n\n\nEND chapter 1", "\"Okay Then,\" I Respond, Typing the order into The Cash register.\n\"Your order is Six McNuggets with a side Of Szechuan Sauce. That will be 2 dollars.\" \nAt that moment, the most astonishing thing happened. The man threw off his hood to reveal the pale and wrinkled face, his fingertips sparked with tendrils of lighting.\nHe snarled in an accent I could not quite identify,\"YOU DARE not get the REFERENCE?\" \nWith More Gusto then a man his age could have had, Dark Hood Man Jumped onto the Countertop.\nBehind him, Customers scattered and ran in all directions. Some tripping over and falling in a desperate scramble to get away from danger. \nInstinctively, I brought out my company-issued lightsaber and absorbed his first attack -- a bolt of lightning aimed straight at my jugular.\n\"WARN THE MANAGER! QUICK!\" I screamed at my co-workers. They ran (because who won't) to the office of the one we all knew as \"The Boss\".\nWhile distracted, Dark Hood Man Shot another bolt of lightning which I sidestepped.\n\"Hey, Dude. What is your Name? Pretty Sure the narrator is tired of calling you \"Dark Hood Man\".\"\n\"You Shall Call Me EMPEROR PALPATINE!\" He roared\n\"That's no better!\" I complained.\nBefore he could do anything, I lunged at him and swung the Lightsaber in a wide arc. Suddenly, he too was holding a Lightsaber.Said Lightsaber proceeded to catch my swing midair and send me careering off to the side.At that moment, a shout reverberated from the corner.\n\"IT'S A STAR WARS REFERENCE!\" The Boss Shouted At Hooded Dude.\nTo my surprise, Pulpatine's face turned a shade of orange. Was it Embarrassment?\n\"My apologies.....I never knew that this Fast Food Restaurant was run by people of culture.......\" With That, He disappeared into the night.\nMy Boss peered at me,\"You never watched Star Wars?\"\n\"Shocking, Yes I know. But I had no idea it would have been relevant for the current situation here. I had No Idea Watt he was yapping on about. His brain seemed to be hot-wired for not-so-obscure movie references\" I concluded.", "\"Execute order 66.\" \n\nIt was a funny enough joke, even if I heard it about twice a month on average. This was a college town after all. What added to the delivery somewhat was the man's stature; he was a short, bent, old man with a pair of liver spotted hands just peeking out from behind a collection of enviable winter gear. \n\nI smiled warmly, \"I'm afraid our menu only goes to twelve sir.\" \n\nHe cocked his head idly, and suddenly I got a good look at his face under the hood. Wrinkled and scarred, with a slightly manic look in his eyes and a subtle frown on his lips. He began shaking his head, \"No, no. None of this is right. None of this feels right.\" \n\nHe began to work his hands together as if in a panic and I got a bit uneasy. The last thing I needed during lunch rush was some old guy going spacko and taking up ten minutes of my time being shouted at. I tried to speak up over him but only made it through, \"Sir, if you could just -\" before he gestured sharply with one of his hands. \n\nIt had been the sort of lazy negation that I'd waved a hundred times to my friends on whether or not I had plans this weekend - but its affect was decidedly more acute. It was as if my mouth had been sown shut and then duct taped over, with a sock shoved down my throat for good measure. For a second I couldn't breath, and my hands went to my mouth in more than a little terror before I realized I could still breath through my nose. \n\nAs I stood there rendered mute and terrified the man began loudly demanding of the restaurant at large where he was, where the Jedi were, \"Why aren't there any droids around here?\" The works. People began to back off as the general unease began to metastasize into fear. It all would have been quite entertaining if my mouth weren't mortared closed. As it was, this guy was creeping me the hell out. Eventually his shouting attracted the attention of the only guy worth a damn in the entire building, our store manager Orion Kennedy. \n\nHe was a big guy, about six and a half feet tall and still built like the linebacker he'd been in high school despite the better part of twenty years going by, with calm blue eyes, a disarming smile, and a kickass beard. He'd do anything to help one of his guys, and wasn't afraid to mix it up with a customer to keep the line moving. There weren't many McDonald's out there with a cool boss, but we had one. \n\nOrion made it to the front counter, loudly demanding to know what was going on, when the old man turned to him. Instantly, they both froze. It was a curious reaction for about half a heartbeat, then the old man's face skinned back in a horrible rictus of a grin, and he launched himself over the counter. If you've never seen a frail old man effortlessly leap into a four foot vertical with a ten foot long jump component, I can assure you it is surreal. \n\nThough, admittedly, not as impressive as the lightning literally crackling at his fingers as he launched. \n\nThat's when things got really weird, and a strange metallic cylinder jumped into Orion's hand, and the streamers of lightning met their match on a humming plasma blade. \n\nGreat, I thought, still mute. My boss is a Jedi. " ]	3
An alternate version where you're dead last would also be cool	[wp] The achivements of every person on earth, like saving lives, raising a child or doing good deeds, have been given points. The points have been compiled to a public list of people and you're number 1.	[ "Fifth on the list? A third generation firefighter, who worked for the city's most prestigious unit, known for their bravery and willingness to jump into almost any dangerous situation without a second thought. He'd been in training since he was a kid, accepted as the earliest enrolled firefighter of his generation, and worked as both a paid employee and volunteer. He just...loved his job, and was recognized for it. \n \nSecond on the list? A local millionaire, who would probably have been a billionaire if not for her philanthropy. She was constantly donating to charity, helping set up relief funds, even volunteering any leftover time she had at soup kitchens and homeless shelters, doing actual physical labor like passing out blankets or just being there to talk to people. She was certainly a model citizen, human being, and overall great person. \n \nAnd then there was me. Who am I, you wonder? Nobody. No one. Nothing special. A thirty year old gamer, living with his mom, working a dead-end job with no prospects and no real goals. Sure, I had passions, but they continued to fizzle and reignite, never leading to anything. I mean, sure, I guess I'm a nice guy, which is something to be said in the MMO genre that I loved so much, but...I was nobody, really. I had no money, no ambition, no drive to save people from burning buildings or go to my local homeless shelter to show off an altruism I know didn't exist. Just a loser playing WoW, having fun with people I've never met, enjoying a world I could never truly be a part of. \n \nBut there it was. My name, at the very top. Above the firefighting monstrosity of a man, above the millionaire philanthropist, above...everyone. And it wasn't like it was some small margin, either. The margin was huge, and I had no explanation for it. My family was ecstatic yet confused, thrilled yet puzzled. I mean, they should be, right? I was just as dumbfounded as they were. Sure, their confusion was stifled by their excitement of the newly established yearly awarded government grant and prestige for the top five, but that did nothing to quell my thoughts. \n \nWhat the hell was going on? Who was I to destroy the competition? I was no one. I'm nothing. Work. Game. Sleep. Repeat. What the hell was going on? \n \nAnd then, a ringing. Not the house phone, that my family insists we need for whatever odd reason despite everyone having cell phones. Not my cell phone either, which I hardly got calls on anyway except for my raid leader telling me to get my ass online before I'm benched for the week. It was a Skype call, which I forgot I even had installed, but it still started up with my computer. Looking at the caller, it said Unknown, which was weird since I didn't even know you could get calls from non-friends. But, I accepted it anyway. \n \n\"Connor?\" an unfamiliar, deep, clear voice spoke from the other side. \"Connor Ragden?\" \n \nI swiveled my microphone down and held my push-to-talk button which I assumed I had set for Skype all those years ago, and the settings carried over to my new computer. \n \n\"Yeah, this is Connor. Who's this? Hello, can you hear me?\" I was kind of excited, but also a bit scared. I couldn't be anymore confused than I already was, though. \n \n\"Connor Ragden. The same Connor who is number one on the list?\" The tone was official, almost as if they were reading from a script. \n \n\"Yeah dude, it's Connor. Who is this? What's going on?\" \n \nA light breathing was heard on the other end, so I knew he was on open mic. Definitely not used to it, he fumbled around something, dropped something else, but continued. \n \n\"Connor, the same Connor who goes by Rogueonederful on the game World of Warcraft?\" He was composed, and I just let him do his thing, being as patient as I could. \n \n\"Well, yeah, that's me. How do you know my-\" \n \n\"Connor Ragden, alias Rogueonederful, Battletag Rogue#1990?\" \nHe was laying it all out, confirming my identity, connecting me to my account. \n \n\"Yes. All me, man. Who are you, what do you want?\" \n \nThe other side went silent. I waited for at least five minutes after the confirmation, but I couldn't bring myself to hang up, despite wanting to go back to questing and losing myself in the game. Then his voice came back. \n \n\"Number one. Sixth annual report, and only now can people see you for who you are. Number one.\" He knew something. He knew why I was number one, despite me about ready to just put it to the back of my mind and go back to the world I cared about. I apologized to the person I was questing with for having to stop helping for a little, and went to an inn to give him my full attention. \n \n\"Who are you, and what the hell am I doing at the top of the list?!\" I was definitely ready for answers. For something. For...anything. \n \n\"Connor, you truly are an amazing person.\" \n \n\"Dude, what the...can you just, tell me what's going on? I don't even care who you are anymore.\" I could almost feel a smile appear on his face through the brief silence. \n \n\"Look Connor, for the past five years, our rankings have been very accurate. Reports of people's deeds and greatness came through all the time, and we made sure to check and verify all claims, all reports, whether they were from an individual or company. But we also realized we weren't being thorough enough in our investigations.\" He cleared his throat, and I still had no idea what was going on. \"Only recently did we start including online reports, and from companies such as gaming companies. Starting to make any sense, yet?\" \n \nIt wasn't. I mean, I just played the game. Sure, I was nice, but what did I really...do? I just had fun, helping people quest, giving away random stuff to noobs, sitting out for raids or dungeons, sticking with a group and not abandoning them even when we wiped countless times on a boss we should have killed an hour ago. But...did this actually matter to someone? Sure, I got a few in-game mails saying random stuff like, \"Thanks, Rogue. This means more than you know!\" or \"Damn dude, thanks for giving me the copper. You rock!\", but...to beat a millionaire, and by so much? \n \n\"I can see you're a bit lost in thought, Connor. Or should I say, Rogue. Even with the minimal tracking gaming companies are now doing, Blizzard reported you with an amazing amount of selfless contributions to people. All kinds of people, all kinds of levels, all kinds of situations. We didn't really have a way to quantify it, nor were we going to weigh it as much as some real-world deeds. That is, until we started getting calls.\" \n \n\"Calls?\" I wondered, seriously considering whether this was some cruel, sick joke or dream I just couldn't wake up from. \"What do you mean, 'calls'?\" I knew he was smiling now, and he let out an almost giddy laugh from excitement, contrary to the composed way he spoke at first. \n \n\"You really don't understand. How much you've done. Thousands of people have called, just over this past year, to report how amazing of a person you are. Stories of hope from people who had lost almost all hope in humanity, regaling how you helped them in some way that really just made them...happy, despite what was going on in their life, their situation, no matter what it was. People in depression, with thoughts of self-harm or meaninglessness in who they are...just, ecstatic someone would take the time out of their day to help them with their seemingly insignificant existence. \"Rogueonederful.\" That was a name that our investigators came to know very well, daily researching claims as best we could. That name was the reason we started taking games so seriously, and the actions that go on within. We've seen the worst kinds of people, but also...the best. The very best. And today, this year, that's...you.\" \n \nAnother tear rolled down my cheek, as I sniffled into the mic, rubbing my eyes and nose hoping he didn't really hear it, but knowing he did. Who was I? Nobody. No one. Nothing special. A thirty year old gamer, living with his mom, working a dead-end job with no prospects and no real goals. At least, that's what I thought. That my actions had no real, tangible effect on people. That I was maybe just helping a few people here and there, giving them a nice little story to tell their friends. That I was, in the grand scheme of things, just doing my small part to better the world, little by little, even in an online game, hoping my small actions would rub off on people. \n \nBut it mattered. More than I ever thought it could. \n \nIt matters.\n \n" ]	1
	[WP] "If I'm remembered as the 'Bad Guy' then so be it. I'm doing what's needed."	[ "The year is 2080.\n\nIt’s been centuries since I partook in any war, not even the last three Great Wars.\n\nIt was all coming to a head, three great powers going to war. I look over a world map, my god, how far we have come and how down we went.\n\nThe other twelve consuls sit alongside me, we all had agreed that the nuclear exchange was inevitable, and that mankind would drag itself to oblivion.\n\nI proposed an idea, it was simple, detonate nuclear weaponry in capitals worldwide, and leave it at that, let anarchy flow through the veins of all men, let the dust settle, and begin again.\n\nWhen I first proposed it twenty five years earlier they laughed and joked about it, what I called “Procedure: Past, Present, Future” they called a joke.\n\nNow they looked at me, wanting to put it into action.\n\nChaos looked at me, and said “This is a matter of extinction or survival, I cannot live without mankind on this world.”\n\nWar quietly whispered “This is a War I won’t live through, this procedure you came up with, it holds value now, for the sake of humanity, I beg of ye.”\n\nThe Philosopher shouted “In an age that was wrought by the fires of conquest and liberation, it will end in those same flames, this procedure held weight a quarter century ago, it holds more now. We demand it.”\n\nLight quietly shed tears, I had never seen tears from her since her home city, Rome, was sacked, and a people she was a patron of died. She never spoke a word for a millennia after that. When Constantinople fell, she cried even louder, it still echoes through my head today.\n\nIt was put to a vote, 13-0, procedure was activated a week later.\n\nBefore the final preparations ended, I said these words.\n\n“Although mankind will not forgive me for ending one of the greatest ages in centuries, I don’t regret this, I care not if I am hated for it, I did the right thing at the end of the century.”\n\nAnd so Man was reborn." ]	1
	[WP] Paul Revere frantically rides his horse through the darkness, spotting a figure in the distance he shouts the warning "The British are coming! the British are coming!". As he nears, the figure turns, pulls out a semi automatic pistol, replying "We're already here old chap" and shoots him dead.	[ "The British aren't known for their technological advances in my time. In the 2700's, they've actually fallen behind quite a bit compared to their allies and surrounding countries. They of course had the same fanciful buildings and cars, but that was all acquired through trade. But they had lucked out with one patriotic (perhaps overly so) citizen that had also been extremely lucky in breaking the code of time travel. Of course, he didn't know he was successful yet, as I was still stuck a whole thousand years in the past. He used me as his test subject and sent me back one-thousand years to the year 1775. He was paying me immensely for the job as well, which is the only reason I would do this. He had quintupled my normal fee, and realizing I may not get back at all, I should have possibly asked him to double that even.\n\nYou see, I was one of those people you hear about. You could get into dark places on the internet and hire me to do even darker things. My most expensive service, of course, was murder, but I had a line that I drew, and it was just below killing any political or otherwise famous figures with a large following. My own life was not going to be put at risk just to kill someone famous or rich. Of course, someone like Paul Revere wasn't exactly famous at the time I was currently in, and only became so after doing what he was sent to do on that midnight ride. Since he wasn't famous yet in the time that I was sent back to, I TECHNICALLY had to do it, especially, like I said, since I was paid five times more than a normal murder, and trust me when I say my services did not come cheap to begin with. Why he wanted me to kill Paul Revere didn't matter to me when he was paying me that much. I expressed my concerns about changing the future and he said assured me that nothing would change, and that he was having me kill someone like Revere just to prove his theory.\n\nThe money he had given me must have had me delusional because, well, I'm currently waiting behind this tree along this dark dirt path, just outside of Lexington. I was kicking myself for being blinded by such a large sum of money, but that was until I hear a horse trotting closer. I snapped out of my brooding and prepared myself. As the horse neared the town, I could hear a man yelling. It was hard to hear what he was saying from a distance, but as he got closer, I heard those famous words, \"THE BRITISH ARE COMING!\" and I knew it was my target. He was several metres away when I popped out from behind the tree, made some clever remark, and unloaded my suppressed 1911 into the man's chest. It all ended so fast, as it always does, but my heart was still pounding. I had no idea how I was supposed to get away with this, or what I was supposed to do next, and I was certainly not sure what to do with this dead man or his horse. As I contemplated what my next moves were, the colors and shapes of everything had started warping around me.\n\nSeconds later I was back in my own time, standing in the lab of my employer. He shook my hand, thanked me, congratulated me, and sent me out with a briefcase of money. I was still speechless from possibly ruining history, so I didn't even fight. Once I was home, while I counted the money (I preferred cash, because it was so hard to follow, and also outdated so it was even less regulated than ever), I started typing, trying to see what, if anything, I had altered. If you've never heard of the butterfly effect, let me explain that real fast. It talks about how one small action can cause a massive end result somewhere else later on, like a butterfly could flap it's wing, and cause a tornado hundreds of miles away. That specifically couldn't happen, obviously, but murder is a different story, and I was finding myself directly in the middle of something much worse than a tornado right now...\n \n\n\n\n\nIt's been a while since I've written anything other than brief ideas for stories down, so give me a break if this is less than fantastic. I also have my dead subreddit, r/christrillionwriting, where I post everything I write, which I'll also post this on to give it SOME life again.", "Patrick McMaster didn't exactly take pleasure in killing, but he did in his duty. The silversmith laid dead, his body sprayed with bullets. He tried to pluck out some of the bullets, but soon gave up. \n\n\"Note to self,\" he wrote on a yellow sticky note. \"Destroy paul revere's body before scheduled autopsy.\" He smiled to himself. It wasn't his best work, old flintlocks didn't come cheap, but that didn't matter. What mattered far more was Her- His, Majesty, good ol' King George, King George VII's reign.\n\nOn that sunkissed morrow, the British regiment did not retreat in shambles, but in good condition with her color bearer head up proud. McMaster took no chances regardless, and sent a runner to clean out the sharpshooters from the trees. Her Majesty's Loyalists soon won the war, helped along by a sizable persuasion from the United Empire.\n\nMcMaster stepped into his TimeMaster again. Now that he knew it worked, he would make a fortune. As he stepped out, he asked a very simple question.\n\n\"What country am I in?\"\n\n\"Yew are in 'murica, dumbass. Whaddya want?\"\n\n\"The United States of America?\"\n\n\"Yew knewit, the US of N & SA!\"" ]	2
	[WP] A magic spell cannot exist if there is already another magic spell at that location. Ever since the weak magic spell as large as planet Earth, nobody has been able to use magic. We're leaving planet earth, and thus, that large magic circle.	[ "The conference room table was well stocked with food, the final meal before the launch of the first interstellar command crew. There were dishes from all over the world representing the international effort that led to this historic event. The crew had eaten and moved on to rest and prepare for launch the next day and the launch crew had been invited in. Many had started to fill their plates but a disturbance near the back of the room was slowly drawing everyone's attention. Joe Angeben, one of a few late additions to the team was trying to win converts to a conspiracy that had been circulating since the mission was announced.\n\n\"I don't know who it is, I can trace my bloodline and it's not one of mine. But there were 5 great families and only 2 have been confirmed to have died off.\"\n\n\"Come off it Joe. Science has shown us that the superstitions of the ancient days were nothing more than attempts to explain natural phenomenon without a complete understanding of the natural world.\" The reply came from Frank Hildenbur, a astro-physicist from Germany. \"I've heard this nonsense only from the labor teams, never from the project leaders or scientists. If there were a great conspiracy of magic men they wouldn't be missing from the leaders of society.\"\n\n\"We don't know that they aren't,\" Joe replied \"I can give you my family history, but I'm the only one close to the project. We need to confirm the family history of the entire crew!\"\n\nHe was referring to the conspiracy which was well know to the launch team at this point. It claimed there were 5 great families of Magicians in the anchient days of the Earth. Clan Megeshandi was the greatest, and they had all expired casting the Great Block around the Earth or in the wars that followed. Clan Abberdeen quickly dwindled, their entire culture was built around magic and without acess to it they did not survive one century. The Angeben family were subservient to the Megeshandi and Abberdeen families.\n\nOn Earth the magical field generally followed the surface contours, and spells could not use the same laymark as another active spell. The greater families spells often prevented the from practicing thier craft and when magic was \nThe two remaining families had been great enemies of the Megeshandi. The great block had been a massive spell cast across the entire Earth, it was an attempt to block the agression of the enemy. While succesful in blocking the use of magic on Earth it did not achieve its goal. The enemy families quickly hired mercenaries and ravaged the lands and homes of the allied families.\n\nThe next morning Joe was arrested during an attempt to sabotage the rocket. The crew had been informed that there had been a situation and were assured no damage had occurred. They decided to procede on schedule with the launch. This was just a small step on thier journey. They had stops at the moon base, and the interstellar ship was currently orbiting Mars awaiting their arrival. They were:\n\nDavid DeGarmo, Captain\nMeghan Klammer, Chief Engineer\nXiong Nguyen, Surgeon\nSean Dehncy, Propulsion Officer\nSabrina Sokolov, Science Officer\n\nDinner on the moon was a much simpler affair than their last meal on Earth, but for the first time the entire crew of the first interstellar mission was together in one place. Cameras were running when the Captain stood to adress his crew for the first time, radio waves broadcasting the speach back to Earth. He gave an interesting history working backwards from each techological milestone back to its predecessor. He made a case for this crew representing all of Humanity both current and past. He had worked back to stone age civilizations and switch tack and started tracing societal development forward through time. He equated this crew to a new age of enlightenment and exploration, a new renaissance. He toasted and command crew joined him on stage applauding the crew, which lead to riotous applause among the rank and file.\n\nBen, the Moon base communications master gave the order to cut the broadcast to Earth. He waited as the applause started to die down, intending to meet with the command crew and offer his congradulations. To his suprise DeGarmo stepped back up to the microphone.\n\n\"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe I left off in the renaissance.\" Degarmo paused as everyones attention was drawn back to the podium. He turned to Ben and made a cutting motion with his hand, this was to be a private message to the crew. \"At that same time one family made it thier goal to control the major nations in Europe. The Hapsburgs. They managed to do this through intermarriage, but they were plauged by divisions, rivals, and inbreeding. They were deposed during the first World War. Their biggest hurdle was their failure to understand industrialization. They failed to understand industrialization because they did not understand the Great Block.\"\n\n\"The Hapsburgs were not our family, but they were not our enemies, and we moirn their loss. Some of their decendants are here today, now part of our family. We learned from their mistakes; we have intermingled with our neighbors and the Degarmo magicians now go by many names from many countries. We do not have boarders to defend, and our enemies ranks are filled with our cousins!\"\n\n\"We also understand industrialization like no one else. The Great Block was a simple spell to do a simple thing. The Megeshandi were not strong enough to cast a spell to end magic, so they cast a spell so simple it would spread and fill every laypoint. The spell was: 'Things fit together better.' This spell, intended to defeat us has been our greatest strength, we have taken control of our enemies weapon. We used what magic we could to strengthen the spell, but it is such a simple construct we needed do very little.\"\n\n\"Now we endeavor to leave the Earth behind. We go to a world where we will not be bound by ancient spells intended to thwart us!\" This point causes a great cheer. A communications employee approached the stage during the break in the speech and handed Captain DeGarmo a note. The Captain read it and resumed his speech.\n\n\"I've also just been informed that the man arrested attempting to stop our launch this morning was a member of the Angeben family. The last of our anchient foes. They have struck too soon, and we have succeded where they failed!\"\n\nCommunications master Ben Angeben had recieved a similar note. Joe had been a relatative through his mothers side, but they were a large enough family that the inbreeding that destroyed the health of the Hapsburgs did not affect the Angebens, so they shared a surname. \"Not failed yet.\" He thought.\n\nTwo days later the interstellar crew boarded the massive transport that would take them to the interstellar cruiser. Ben let them board and launch, his work had not started recently. His plan was well prepared whether the DeGarmo's launched or not. From the moon the Angeben family had discovered the extent of the spell that blanketed the Earth. They had worked for generations to pull it back, reduce its spread. When Degarmo arrived at his cruiser he would find it a ruined shell.\n\nThe spell 'Things fit together better' that they claimed to be the key to their success would be there failure. In orbit around Mars things would not fit together quite so well.\n\n" ]	1
	[WP] Rewrite "Silence of the Lambs" but have it be about actual lambs	[ "The lambs began to bay (or whatever noises lambs make). \n\nSomeone was in their midst - a stranger; a man they didn't know, with a scent that was so unfamiliar from the shepherd that cared for them.\n\nThey were right to be afraid. The stranger stalked through their midst, eyes roving, hand clutched tightly around the handle of his blade.\n\nThen the eyes settled on a particular lamb, and the knife fell. The cut throat gushed. Blood sprayed the grass like piss - hot and warm. The lamb was silent.\n\nAnd the man hoisted the dead lamb over his shoulder and carried him off into the night. \n\n", "Sloane Carding sighed, nervously chewing a bit of clover as she waited for the outer gates to open. She quietly walked the dirt path to the kennels. Behind metal doors, dingoes paced, the tips of gnarled claws frantically clicking. Sloane reached the end of the path, and peeked through the small barred window of the last door. In the shadows sat a gnarled canine, face muzzled. \n\n“Mr. Lupus? I’m Agent Carding.”\n\nA pair of yellow eyes glinted in the dark, focusing on Sloane. Her heart quaked as she struggled to keep her haunch from twitching. She was indeed unsettled, just as Ram said she would be. \n\n“Miss Carding, yes. But where is Ram? Did something… awful happen?” He asked.\n\n“Ram couldn’t be here. He asked me to come in his place. I hope that’s ok.” \n\nLupus closed his eyes, sucking in a deep breath. Moisture dripped from the tip of his snout as he began sniffing the air. \n\n“Mmmm. That’ll be just fine, my dear.” His tail gave off the hint of a wag." ]	2
	[WP] just another day experimenting	[ "My hand grasped the beaker. The white lab coat following me as I turned. Shaking it to create a vibrant colour scheme. Even though this wasn't normal science. It was always amusing working with the magical periodic table. Where FE's place is GI. An element that causes gravity to reverse itself. \n\nWith the smell of chemicals drifting in the air. I set my beaker down and started to mix my ingredients, AQ and IG. The elements of water and fire. Mixing them caused a solution to ensue. With a new beaker of EL, I walked over to my others. Setting down the jar in the process. The jar sitting on a maple shelf.\n\nVE and TE sitting within separate beakers. The glass casting a faint gray and deep brown colour onto my lab coat. \n\n\"All these mystical ingredients, they always bring a smile to my face.\"\n\nThe beakers sat in my hand as I poured one into the other. VE filling into the confinements of the TE. I'd have to wait for some time till they mixed together. Although in the mean time, my other experiments beckoned to me.\n\nAs time passed the concoction mixed together. The element TE had formed with the glass beaker. A slight smile creaked onto my face. This time it was going to work and nothing would keep me from you. \n\nGrabbing the TE element, I poured it into a cauldron. Then I whisked the EL Beaker out from it's shelf. The faint smell of maple accompanying it. Dumping the beaker into the cauldron caused a faded purple mist to fill my lab. A quick sweep of the hand and their it was, VV, Vim Vitae. I'd truly done it. The shining golden ball of life floating directly Infront of me. Tears flooded my eyes as I grabbed it. It's power like nothing else.\n\nWith my goal achieved I reached her. Lying on the ground desolate of everything around her. With only little to rely on. I lifted her chin up with my finger. A frail finger. \n\n\"D....\"\n\n\"Shhh dear, do not waste your remaining energy.\"\n\nHer face pale from the cold grasp of death. My hands grazing her cheek. Bleak of all life now. The orb radiating it's golden glow as I touched it to her bare skin. Slowly the palm of her hand absorbing it. Colour steadily reviving in the face I loved so much. My daughter had come back to me and their she was in my arms. \n\n(Any feedback would be help and sorry for any spelling mistakes. Hope you'd enjoy this short story)\n\n" ]	1
Just in case you would like some questions: - Why was this time traveler trap built? How did prototypes fare? - What happened in the first few seconds? (A lot can happen already in [140 nanoseconds](https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/)) - How did we (trillions of years after the Big Bang) find out that this is what actually happened? ^^^^^^Also ^^^^^^hey ^^^^^^this ^^^^^^kinda ^^^^^^explains ^^^^^^why ^^^^^^the ^^^^^^inflationary ^^^^^^period ^^^^^^eventually ^^^^^^stopped: ^^^^^^By ^^^^^^that ^^^^^^time, ^^^^^^no ^^^^^^more ^^^^^^time ^^^^^^travelers ^^^^^^existed...	[WP] Eons ago there was a trap for time travelers. It overfilled instantaneously, resulting in a disastrous calamity. Today this giant explosion of matter and energy is known as the Big Bang.	[ "\"Here it is, madam,\" the slick salesman grinned, handing me the control fob. \"Your new TempusFutzit 11D TARDIS Convertible.\"\n\n\"It's not new though, is it?\" I replied. \"It's been refurbished. Its chronodometer still indicates over 840 jumps.\"\n\n\"Well, yes,\" he acquiesced, \"but do you really want me to call it a reTARDIS? That wouldn't be very PC of you, you know...\"\n\n\"All right, enough of that,\" I countered, and upon that counter I signed my receipt. \"Now I'm off. If you'll excuse me...\"\n\n\"Oh, wait!\" He yelled. \"I almost forgot!\"\n\nHe padded toward me, then picked up the pad and put it on my counter. Next, he pulled a few sheets from the pad and quickly folded them into origami pigs, then folded another sheet around the pigs making a pen. Then he picked up the pen and began to draw, making himself into a drawer. Finally, he opened the drawer and pulled out a sonic screwdriver.\n\n\"Couldn't you have just kept that in your pocket?\" I sighed.\n\n\"Yesindeedy,\" he replied brightly, \"but that wouldn't help my word count, would it?\"\n\nHe pointed his little tool to the left of my new ride's entry port and an access panel slid open. Referring repeatedly to his glowing Wristie, he entered several long strings of digits and then closed the panel tight.\n\n\"Now, what was that about?\" I asked, curious. Because that's why I ask most of my questions.\n\n\"Your little magic carpet was just rebooted before you arrived to take delivery,\" he responded, quite responsively. \"The existing settings were erased, including its TSOs. We'd set one, the Time Since Overhaul, to zero, but the other was still null.\"\n\n\"The other TSO?\" I inquired, feeling quite inquisitive now.\n\n\"The Temporo-Spatial Offset,\" he answered. \"The gizmo's initial coordinates in all of time and space. Kind of important, you know. It can't very well get you whenwhere you want to go if it doesn't know whenwhere it already is, right?\"\n\n\"Right,\" I said, my head spinning, but only in a figurative sense which didn't result in decapitation.\n\n\"Anyway,\" he continued, in exactly the way that a normal person wouldn't, \"we forget to set those every now and then on new or previously flown units, and when we do we always lose a customer.\"\n\n\"Excuse me--lose a customer?\" My mind was blasting away, and my feet were eager to join it.\n\nThe salesman cringed, a very sincere, authentic and troubling cringe. \"Lose their business, I mean! With that TSO unset, the autopilot would add a null value to the first coordinates the owner gives it and tries to take you to a...well, a null time and place.\n\n\"But since that doesn't exist, it probably just takes them directly to the nearest TempusFutzit Service Center. Not a very good way to win their return business, I'm afraid.\"\n\nA nascent thought began to nag at me. \"So if I put in temporospatial coordinates that can't be reached for whatever reason, it just takes me to a service center?\"\n\n\"Well, if those coordinates make any kind of sense, it will try to get you as close to that point in spacetime as it can. But null values aren't close to any coordinates in the whole universe, so...\"\n\nI put this on my mind's front burner to let it simmer for a moment and it immediately came to a boil. Probably the altitude.\n\n\"Um, but they are, sir. There's one point in all of spacetime that's immediately adjacent to a point with null values in any coordinate system...\"\n\n\"What? I assure you, madam, that--\" And then he went white. Which was quite a leap, considering that he had previously been deep ultraviolet.\n\n\"...the point just before the Big Bang,\" I finished, unnecessarily.\n\nThe moment seemed to stretch on and on--an odd sensation indeed, in a showroom full of time machines.\n\n\"Well,\" he said finally, \"that explains both the Universe AND our customer retention problem.\"" ]	1
	[WP] Lucifer never fell from heaven. Jesus, the second favorite son of God, pushed him out.	[ "So it went. \n\nAnd God said, “Let there be light.” \n\nAnd from this light, his first son was born. He was called Lucifer and he was Mercy. And he was good. \n\nGod separated the darkness and his second son was born. He was called Jesus and he was Redemption. And he was good. \n\nSo God spun the light and the dark as delicate threads and from the two he wove Everything. \n\nFrom the spindle of Everything He stitched together Man. Man was not good. \n\nThe light forgave. Lucifer forgave and he was betrayed. He fell. \n\nFor there is no Redemption without Man and his sins. Redemption could not exist without Man to redeem himself after succumbing to the Dark. \n\nJesus rose. \n\n", "I never had a good relationship with my brother. He always seemed envious. When Father praised me he stood there, furious. When an angel asked for my help he would always say that he's more suitable. \n\nAfter a while things started getting odd. My notes would be misplaced, my clothes would be damaged. Strange rumors about me started circulating.\n\nI had slowly become isolated in heaven. From the humble and dilligent angel Lucifer I became known as a slothful and irritable man who never did anything for anyone else, worse still they believed I even said that I'm greater than Father.\n\nI knew Jesus was responsible, I knew he would stop at nothing to have me cast out. I knew he would eventually get the support he needed.\n\nI decided that my only option was to leave, if I left by myself that might give at least some credibility to me. I would go down, make my own version of heaven. I would punish the wicked of Earth and build a sanctuary for unbelievers who lived well. Thus I would gain the trust of humans and with their belief in me I could return with honor.\n\nIt's the only way.", "To Lucifer, it appeared as though the stars were rising up all around him. They were thin streaks of white in a pitch-black night, zooming past his head and his wings up and up and up into little pinpricks of light. Dotting the heavens above like the smallest and brightest of diamonds.\n\n\nOf course, Lucifer knew that reality was not so charming. The stars were not rising.\n\n\nHe was falling.\n\n\nHe was falling like a dying bird, the most beautiful of his Father's creations- so lovely that the serpents and ravens and forests themselves sang his praises- so angelic that mortal eyes could not set their gazes upon his face without combusting into great tongues of black fire-\n\n\n-so perfect that his older brother, the Chosen Lamb himself, could not stand it.\n\n\n As he twisted and turned through the air, broken wings fluttering uselessly above him, Lucifer tried to remember where he went wrong. Should he have nodded along to every idea that his Father brought up, instead of denouncing the humans as he had? Should he have talked less to the other angels, amassing less influence and becoming a smaller threat?\n\n\nOr perhaps-\n\nPerhaps he should have been kinder to Jesus, Father's favorite. The Chosen little Lamb.\n\n\nJesus. Lucifer closed his eyes, grit his teeth until he tasted ichor on his tongue.\n\n\nJesus!\n\n\nMinor spats happened between them with frequency. Lucifer was carefree, lived passionately, and was undeniably charismatic to angels and humans alike. He loved life as an angel, loved his friends, and loved his power.\n\n\nOn the other hand, Jesus was a stickler for the law, echoed every word that escaped the Father's mouth, and was as jealous for affection as his Father. Absolutely no one could love something more than they loved Jesus and Father; to do so was a sin of the greatest magnitude.\n\n\nJesus had abhorred Lucifer's attitude towards the humans, a filthy mortal species that dared to believe themselves worthy of convening with Father. After all, they were Father's creations, and Father never created without purpose.\n\nBehave like an archangel, or the position will be stripped from you, he had said. Even the look in his eyes had mimicked Father's- foreboding. Jealous.\n\n\nDisappointed.\n\n\nLucifer screamed at the sky.\n\n\n\"FATHER! FATHER, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!\"\n\n\nThere was no reply. Lucifer twisted to stare at Heaven as he plummeted, the wind slicing through his dark curls like knives. Millions of stars stared coldly back, and suddenly Lucifer felt as small and vulnerable as a child.\n\n\n\"I'M SORRY! FATHER, PLEASE-\"\n\n\nAn involuntary sob choked his throat, cutting off his words with a wet gasp for air.\n\n\n\"-ah- ugh- JESUS! JESUS, I- JESUS, FATHER- SAVE ME!\"\n\n\nArmed with a power Father had never gifted Lucifer- the Power of the Holy Spirit- Jesus had torn through Lucifer's wings like they were crafted from paper. Lucifer had screamed then, too, crying for mercy as Jesus's host of angels stood by and watched.\n\n\nWatched as Jesus grabbed Lucifer by the throat and dangled him over the Abyss.\n\n\nLucifer remembered whispering with the last of his strength, Please. Don't let me go.\n\n\nTears ran from his eyes up into the teeth-rattling wind. He didn't know what lurked within the Abyss, the void beyond the mortal plain. Not even Father had been down there as it was a place touched by darkness, one unfit for his glory. One unfit for any but the truly evil.\n\n\nLucifer knew that once he went there, he was never again to return to Heaven. The only home he had ever known.\n\n\nA trembling breath escaped his mouth and was immediately stolen by the rippling breeze.\n\n\n\"Father, save me. Forgive me. I'm scared. I'm scared- Jesus- Brother, I...\"\n\n\nThe wind quieted. The beautiful star-filled world, Father's world, was disappearing right before Lucifer's eyes as he descended further...\n\n\n\n\n ...and further...\n\n\n\n\n...and further...\n\n\n\n\n...into the Abyss.\n\n\nHe watched, face impassive, as the stars shrank and shrank and shrank up above before suddenly winking out into nothingness. A last plea for forgiveness died on his lips.\n\n\nFather had made his answer.\n\n\nAnd that answer was silence.\n\n\nSomething tremendous began to burn in the Morning Star's chest, something that he had never felt or heard of before. It scorched his insides as if his heart had turned to smoldering embers, burning with a passion that exceeded the heat of anger, exceeded the heat of love. He wondered if it would burst from his body and paint the empty walls of the Abyss red with its intensity, consuming this entire miserable existence with its inferno til it was nothing but ash.\n\n\nAn infite distance above, Jesus sensed Lucifer's wrath from his gilded throne and trembled. For a new emotion had been borne that day, one that would plague all of humanity until the last of its vile hordes drew its final breath.\n\n\nHatred." ]	3
	[WP] The Man Who Invented Evil	[ "Clinging to the edge the liquid pooled forming a small droplet. A bead of black swirled within the clear fluid polluting its glass-like form. Weighted by the darkness the droplet let go falling past the blinding white. Alone in its darkness the now sphere of black pushed it's way into the silky surface of white. The ripple of contact traveled as if time slowed for the single drop. The pool of white slowly fell to rest, a cloud of black traveling out from its center. A swarm of dark consumed its prey leaving an abyss at the core.\n\nRaising his hand he watched as another drop formed at his fingertip. He flicked the moisture away wiping what was left on his garments. He took one last look at his creation, his face remained unchanged and he turned from the well. Over the bodies he walked, taking care to not disturb the fallen, and gently he closed the doors behind him.\n\nForever the doors have remain closed, never to be opened again. Within, the well sits a smog of black at home within the pure white.\n\n\"But- why did he poison the well?\"\n\nSetting his hand upon the boy's shoulder he looked him in the eye. \"Because son, a hero knows more than anyone the necessity of evil.\"\n\nThe boy sat quietly a puzzled look on his face. \"So, who is the man who invented evil?\"\n\nHis father let out a roar of laughter. \"Would you like me to tell the story again?\" \n\n\"Mmmhm.\" The boy nodded frowning.\n\n\"Okay. The sun rose over the horizon revealing the beauty of the land once again. Reminded of the utopia they lived in, the people gathered at their windows without a word. Peace it truly was, a life of purity and joy awaited everyone. Like a tiny hole, almost nonexistent, like a faint itch at the back of the mind only to be washed away by the morning's view. This is the story of the man who invented evil...\n\n_\n\nr/theoreticalfictions" ]	1
	[WP] An undecipherable poem is found during an archaeological dig. As centuries go by, it remains a mystery as to what it means and the language it's written in - until it becomes apparent it's written in plain English. Plain, modern English.	[ "And now we return to Unsolved Mysteries of History: Puzzling Poetry and Troubling Texts\nA smooth rectangular black granite slab with gold letters: The Stone of the Great Father as it was called by the Inuit who first received it from a living star was a puzzlement to the tribe in the frozen north. The stone holds the key to wisdom and life the sprit walker had told the first man so the stories went. No one could understand it. For 700 years it was hidden in a cave in Kamchatka and guarded in secret by many wise men and women who stared at it for hours without understanding it’s meaning. \nIt was lost to a British officer in a card game in 1752. When he died in battle it was sent along with his other effects to his wife back home. She sold it to the Historical Society of Cambridge for 5 pence. It sat in their basement storage room gathering dust bearing the note. “Carved stone- Native jest written in bastardised English. Found in Alaska by Captain Reginald Smith. Royal Marines. 1752.” \nThe stone would remain there until in 1907 by a doctoral student by the name of James Hargrave would examine it while cataloging the artifacts in storage. \nHe would transcribe the stone’s contents thusly\n“We're no strangers to love\nYou know the rules and so do I\nA full commitment's what I'm thinking of\nYou wouldn't get this from any other guy\nI just wanna tell you how I'm feeling\nGotta make you understand\nNever gonna give you up\nNever gonna let you down\nNever gonna run around and desert you\nNever gonna make you cry\nNever gonna say goodbye\nNever gonna tell a lie and hurt you”\n\n“It’s appears to be some sort of romance, though the grammar is appalling. It is puzzling given it’s age if our records are to be believed. Given what we know of the English language in 1752 this is unlikely to be even a natives bastardized rendering of an overheard soldier’s remarks. Why they would carve it in such singular craftsmanship is beyond me.”\n\nIn 1910 Dr Hargrave would obtain the diary of Captain Smith from the library of Lord Hubert Smythe-Graves, of Ulster. Shortly after transcribing Captain Smith’s account of the origin of the Slab and the curious native lore around it, Dr Hargrave was injured in a carriage accident which took him four years to recover from. Upon his recovery World War One had erupted and he was drafted into the British Army. He died on August 4th 1917 at the Third Battle of Ypres. \n\nRecently Cambridge historians have been puzzled by it’s uncanny resemblance to a Rick Astley song and the Rick Roll meme. “But the more puzzling thing is the series of bumps on the back. They partially decode when treated as binary, though we have yet to determine which cypher if any would yield results.” Dr Soon explained. \n", "Lisa: Good morning Washington. Lisa Dowell here today on Channel 8 News with some breaking news. Famous for its undecipherable text since its reveal in 1889 at the Ressenger County at Wyoming, the Ressenger Poetry Relic may finally be decoded today. Just a few days ago on May 23rd while on its tour to the Royal Ontario Museum up north at Toronto, Canada, a teen had been spotted by security staring intently at the text in its glass display when he suddenly went frantic, claiming to have \"figured it out.\" After historical linguistic expert Dexter Bowark interviewed him, he has released a public statement saying that this cryptic text may have just been deciphered by the teen: 16 year old Canadian citizen Ronald Hemptroth. Truly a remarkable act, curators and experts from all over the globe have been flying into Toronto to get a better look at the relic, who has been since taken out of its tour and under protection of Artefacts Canada and the Smithsonian. We now go live to our correspondent Mikel down at the press conference currently happening down there, where Hemptroth will be answering questions. Mikel?\n\n\\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nMikel: Hi yes. Good morning America. This is Cultural News Correspondent Mikel Lowell down here in Toronto where we are waiting for Hemptroth to come onstage and explain to over 900 experts and over 2000 public members here on his discovery of the truth behind the Ressenger Poetry just last week. Here he comes onstage right now with linguist and archaeological expert Robert Pritson, the descendent of Marcus Pritson, the one who uncovered this exact relic.\n\nRobert: Thank you everyone for coming here today on this wonderfully enlightening day, where we are in awe of a teen discovering the truth behind one of humanity's most cryptic relics. How are you today Ronald?\n\nRonald: Thank you for having me here, sire. Bit nervous, but excited.\n\nRobert: Nothing to be nervous about. How about we start this off by reading the Ressenger Poetry please? It may be the last time people will listen to its wonderfully cryptic text.\n\nRonald: Oh okay. Of course.\n\n\"Shut it fam, lmao.\" Bros said to me.\n\nBut tbh, I dun wanna be.\n\nThe pretty chick up there in white,\n\nGot me so swooned, my cheeks hella bright.\n\n\"She out of your league yikes.\" They all just laughed.\n\nI'm no jock, no athlete, didn't make the draft.\n\nBut what I got, doe, issa a heart o' gold.\n\nWhen her smile so fine, gurl, you got me sold.\n\nRobert: Amazing! Now, can you tell us what all of this means? It certainly seems like a deformed or twisted version of archaic english, its grammatical structure simply too jumbled up to make any sense. For years we couldn't even tell apart clause from clause, so what does it really mean?\n\nRonald: Um, well, you know I'm really no english expert. I honestly just looked at it when I was out there with my girlfriend, when, you know the words just made sense to me. It resembles me of our text talk of the teenagers right now. \\[Hemptroth shows his phone, open with MSN Messenger\\] I mean, look at some of the words here. \"lmao\" may actually be, instead of a word on its own, an abbreviation. Not sure what, but it oddly reminds me of ROFL, which is \"Rolling On Floor Laughing.\" And look! These weird words like \"issa\" or \"gurl\" looks so much like common words! Issa really sounds like, you know, IS A. And maybe gurl actually just means girl! A female!\n\nRobert: Interesting. Your perspective truly baffles us all here. That technical analysis is nothing like we've heard before. What do you suppose the poem means?\n\nRonald: Um, well. From what I see, I think it's some sort of love poem... Like, a guy really likes a girl who his friends think is too pretty for him or something, but he's trying I guess. That's kinda what occurred to me at the moment.\n\n\\[At this point, the crowd murmurs have evolved into a full on debate amongst everyone, shouting everything from solid agreements to rebuttals.\\]\n\nMikel: Wow! The crowd is all revved up and it seems like Ronald and Robert will be taking a monetary break while everyone swallows his interpretation. Looks like the police are calling for backup as the grounds are getting extremely crowded and out of control. Stay on here folks and we will be right back!", "The clay pot had been sitting unopened on the shelves for months now. Our team had unearthed it in a cave in the desserts of Iraq and the process to get permission to open it involved so much unneeded red tape and bureaucracy. Normally, we wouldn't be this excited to open it. Over the course of our careers, we have opened many similar pots, and they usually contained the same type of documents. Copies of Biblical texts, musings of a religious scholar of the time, or receipts for transactions thousands of years ago. Sure, those were all very interesting finds, but after a while it just seems like more of the same.\n\nYou see, the reason why were were so excited to open it was because this particular pot had an inscription on the outside. The translation was: Unknown Writings of Kah-Yul, the Possessed One.\n\nWe had heard of Kah-Yul before. In one of the religious musings we had previously found, there was a small part where the author was complaining of this Kah-Yul person. Supposedly, he was a man who had appeared in their village rambling in an incoherent language and scaring all the villagers. They were not able to figure out what he was saying or what he wanted. The author had attributed it to demonic possession. We had not known that Kah-Yul had left writings behind.\n\nWe set to work immediately on the morning that our permission was granted. Dating of the clay pot and the seal around the lid was circa 2600 BCE. We were able to establish this previously, thanks to some flakes of the pot and seal we were able to analyze.\n\nOpening the lid of an almost-5,000 year old pot is a painstakingly slow process. Especially considering that we could not damage it in any way. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say, it took us three full working days to finally open it.\n\nWe had already assembled a team of translators to be ready when we pulled the tablet out. It was rare these days to be truly excited about an archaeological find and so we ensured we had all the bells and whistles going for this project.\n\nWith gloved hands and carefully positioned fingers, I pulled the tablet from the pot and set it gently onto the table. We used a specially-designed blower to remove the dust that had accumulated on the surface. Thankfully, it was not caked in and it blew off very easily to reveal the writings.\n\nWe were not ready for what the tablet contained. Gasps were heard around the room as everyone looked on. The tablet surely contained writing, but it was not the writing we expected. We all immediately could read it without the help of the translators. The writing was in English. Here is what it said:\n\n>It is my hope this is found by one able to read my words. I do not know when I am nor where I am. I believe I am in a primitive time somewhere in the Middle East. \n> \n>I was involved in an experiment by the government of the United States of America to determine the effects of electromagnetic radiation on entangled atoms of organic matter subjected to near-light speeds. The date of the experiment was March 21st, 2062. \n> \n>I can only surmise there was an error in our calculations or an equipment failure. All that I can remember is standing in the viewing room when I was overcome with an immense feeling of doom. I felt strong intra-cranial pressure and tinging in my extremities. The next thing I can remember is the world going black and waking up in the desert. \n> \n>I can only theorize, but I believe I was subjected to unknown temporal effects of our experiment. I have attempted to communicate with the locals, even going so far as to build a crude battery in hopes of gaining their favor. However, I have been shouted out of the village by what appears to be a religious shaman. \n> \n>I write these words hoping that this tablet survives the millennia and is found prior to March 21st, 2062. I will try my best to survive and perhaps prosper, but I will consider this to be my last will and testament. Please, if you know my words, help me to avoid this fate. Temporal travels are not as wonderful as commonly portrayed. \n> \n>Please, help me. \n> \n>Kyle Robert Johnson\n\n\\*EDIT-typo." ]	3
	[WP] You are on your death bed. The grim reaper approches you and says "To get you in the after life, I'm going to need your name." you say your name, and he replies "No, I need your real name."	[ "This was longer than intended, but I guess I was inspired, so I went for it:\n\n=========\n\nPart 1: Grief\n\nIn a nearly pitch black room, a few low-level lights on various blinky machines and monitors are the only things to be seen. Eyes close in bed, I shut out the near blackness to total blackness. It's amazing just how constant the smell of antiseptic is in this place. My breaths are slow, I just don't have the energy I've always had. Like a film all my childhood plays before me in my head about how I used to love running through the streams in my with all the other neighborhood kids, Long car rides to Carnival World bugging my parents with me and my little sister bickering in the backseat, my first goal at the soccer game and the entire team dogpiled me and I got a knot on my head from my overexcited dumbass of a friend, the times I used to get in detention because me and my friend used to put gum on all the \"no gum allowed\" signs in school and all the other hijinks we'd get up to. I miss everything dearly, the good and the bad.\n\nMy heavy arm attached to wires and tubes like I'm some kind of android reaches to my head. I used to have long hair, my parents wouldn't let me grow it out since I was a boy, but when the news finally came that I had leukemia, everything fell through for me that day. My parent's, my friends, my school, and everyone around me used to treat me like a god because my days on the planet were numbered. Of all the perks and lavish gifts I was given for my last days here, my parents allowing me to grow out my hair was one of them. It made me happy, I told my best friend Lucas that we were going to make a pseudo-metal band, and we did! We got some drums and guitars and we made some terrible music, and I actually did some really awesome headbanging with the shoulder-length locks of mane. That didn't last very long. With the regular hospital visits just as common as the regular gifts, the chemotherapy started to affect that hair that I lovingly looked up to for the time I had it, and little by little it faded away and I had nothing. My palm glided across the smooth surface of my head and I sighed.\n\nI gazed to my father and my mother slumped on the guest bed barely big enough for them both, dozing away in the darkness. They've been my biggest allies through it all, and I wanted to make them proud. You talk to a lot of famous icons, other cancer patients, therapists, and support groups when your lifeline is this short. So you learn to accept that this is your life now, you get all the pep talks and positive speeches from everyone to build some sense of solidarity. You learn to regurgitate all that sunshine array of positivity, the \"live each day to your fullest\" attitude, to always be happy and enjoy the things you have while you have it. I'm not going to lie, I love my life. My parent's love me, my brat of a sister is the world's best sister, my friend Lucas and our furious five from soccer and photography club are the best friends a high school boy can have.\n\nThese are my golden years. I've been putting on a brave face and a wide smile for all the loves of my life, but the truth is it's always been a mask. I'm terrified to go, I don't want to die. There's something deep inside me, and so much that I'll miss out on, that I'm never going to experience in my life.\n\nSuddenly the small sources of lights faded, and I blinked in the darkness caught by surprise. I looked to my bedside where the blinking apparatuses are and a hard knot forms in my stomach, a humanlike silhouette stands by my bedside. When did a nurse or doctor slip into my room unannounced? Did I miss something? Am I that out of it? I swallowed hard and let out a raspy breath.\n\n\"Greetings\" a deep and resonating voice came from the darkness, yet gentle like the rumble of a big cat's purr, \"I see you are awake. For now\".\n\nI squinted at the dark figure, \"Who are you? I thought you always knocked, was I out? I don't think I'm scheduled for more needles until the morning\".\n\nThe figure stepped closer to the bed, the halo of light surrounded its figure like some uncanny aura, and as I blinked I could see this person wore a very dark hooded cloak, was holding a large...scythe. I held my breath when the face was in fact faceless...the remains of what a human would be underneath skin.\n\n\"It is time, young one\", it waved its pallid, jointed fingers in a round circle \"I know this isn't easy for mortals but you know that it's always time one way or another. This flesh form is not suitable to hold your soul, and it's time you seek new residence\" The Halloween mask of a face stared down at me with empty sockets open and contemplative, \"I will give you time to say your last words and answer all questions you may have. We have all the time in the world to prepare, for the hours are long and forever, but to this mortal realm are but seconds to all except those like us on the planes of the dead.\n\nIt all started to click and I felt like screaming, but my screams were trapped in my own body. I was haunted by my own senses, putting this apparition in front of me. \"Is this real? Am I just sick, surely? Seeing hallucinations?\"\n\n\"It is very real, I'm afraid.\" the reaper crooned \"As the night's hours draws you'll find more and more you'll start to realize the truth of your senses and come to acceptance, if not now\"\n\nI sighed and looked down at the sheets, my own cold, white hands clasped above my abdomen, tears streamed on my cheeks \"What use is there denying it? Better to get it over with and go along with it...I just...I just hope I wake up tomorrow and this wasn't real after all\".\n\n\"As much as I would love to grant you that wish, the circumstances are impossible. Surely you will find this out soon enough\"\n\n\"Can't I say goodbye for real first? To my parents and everyone else?\" I gazed to the sleeping forms on the bed only feet away.\n\n\"I'm afraid not, this has been a long time coming, in these last moments very few get a final goodbye. Unfortunately, you are not one of them\" it sighed \"The good news is your life leading up to this moment has been one long goodbye, your human mortal companions know they are loved and you love them as well\"\n\nMy mind snapped for a moment, and I sat up slowly-yet-quickly as my body would let me shoot up, \"Shut up! There's never enough time to say goodbye, this life was a joke, I have so much I can't do because of this stupid disease! I won't ever get married, I won't become a star soccer player and chess champion, I won't be able to see all the bands I've had on my list, I won't see my best friend grow up with me and I won't see my parent's get old! I hate this! This is not a real goodbye. This is a fucking wreck!!! Why does it have to be you??? Why can't it be a real angel of healing to make this go away and give me a life back? I don't wan't to go!\" At this point I was shouting and sniveling, drowning my reddened cheeks in hot tears. I don't know why the entire hospital didn't hear this, I don't know why my parent's were still soundly dozed away in the corner.\n\nThe uncanny being remained solemnly quiet, and I breathed in angry tears. The idea of death was terrifying, but the actual face of death as I looked upon it was oddly sympathetic, it's strange how much human-esque emotion you can see from the sentient concave orbs of a skull, it's empty orbs soft and consoling, a grim straight jawline in neither a smile nor a frown. This...this being was just there, there to do it's job. A job it's done thousands of millions of times before since the dawn of time.\n\nWe sat there in silence for a long time, I didn't talk and neither did the reaper, but it seemed comfortable to have the large cloaked figure as company while my mind went through the clips of my memories in a way as it's own goodbye. It even seemed content to remain there as long as it could, having no plans to move on until the task of seeing me through was completed. It was right about the passage of time, those hours of the night leaked on, but it hardly felt like hours. It was a timeless night, this is my last moment and I was going to make it last forever.", "I stare at him, shocked, but after a second I calm down, (of course he'd know, of all people) and say, a little embarrassed, \"my real name is Go Fish\".\n\n\"That is an odd name\" he said, his voice was quite, hollow, and monotone, his face, a skull, unsurprisingly didn't show any emotion.\n\n\"It is an old tradition in my family to name our kids after card games\" I reply, you know I've done a lot of thing in my life, defeat demons, help take down a god, and gotten so shit face drunk I altered the course of an entire war, it only figures my last act would be talking to death himself.\n\n\"Now then, let us not delay any longer\" he leaned back, raising his scythe, preparing to swing.\n\n\"WAIT\" I yelled and flinched in pain as my wounds reminded me that I was indeed dying. \"W-wait, I need to know...w-will I meet them there?\"\n\nHe lowered the scythe \"who?\"\n\n\"My my...friends\" I stammered, it was getting harder to talk or even keeping my eyes open.\n\nHe looked at me for a second and then in a voice that sounded almost soft he said \"yes, of course\".\n\nI smiled, tears of joy streaming down my face, guess the gang would finally be reunited. Closing my eyes I could feel the world slowly fall away, death finally taking me, and then, my eyes snap open, I was still alive, and beside the reaper was a figure, vaguely human but draped in shadow and completely featureless, I recognized it.\n\n\"NO\" I yelled \"you won't take this from me\" I said, as I could feel life returning to my body.\n\n\"Have I not suffered enough!\" I pleaded, as a pit in my soul, I had hopped long since closed, reopened.\n\nThe dark figure turned to me and it's face cracked open into an evil smile, \"no\" it said in a morbid, shrill, piercing voice, that felt like it alone could tear your soul apart.\n\nThe thing started cackling as it and the reaper started to fade away into the ether.\n\nI sat up and started to desperately crawl towards there fading forms, yelling as I went \"NO TAKE ME KILL ME KILL MEEEEEEEE!\" But to no avail, they soon disappeared, the figures mad laughter hanging in the air for a few seconds.\n\nI sat there, I don't know for how long, tears falling endlessly, that pit growing. I looked up at the sky, the golden light of dawn piercing the dark night sky, I screamed." ]	2
	[WP] Summoning demons and solving mysteries might not be the safest job in the world, but it pays the bills, at least.	[ "BOOM\n\nThe blast knocked Pooh down and sent him skidding across the marble floor. The whole temple trembled, window panes shattering from the explosion. Beams groaned and arches strained under the many domes, dust clouds whomping through the aisles as the temple was submerged in darkness. \n\nA faint groaning came from a dust covered, yellow and red, mound on the no-longer spotless marble. Rays of sunlight started piercing through as the dust settled, giving the temple an eerie look. Pooh pushed himself up and limped to the source of the explosion, shouldering his rifle on the way. At the center of the temple the marble had cracked where once there was an altar, and in the crater lay the demon.\n\nIts human-like, black and red, body was covered in blood and its legs twisted at odd angles as its chest heaved slowly. It cackled as Pooh loomed over it, his rifle’s barrel leveled on the demon’s horned head. \n\n“You should have sealed the portal when you had the chance bear!” It spat through bloody teeth. “Even if you kill us now we will come back!”\n\nAlready its cuts were healing as the air grew hotter around them.\n\n“You should have stayed dead.” Pooh loaded a silver bullet into the chamber.\n\n“Bah! Death is nothing to us, you will burn into nothingness when we kill you!”\n\n“Tell it to the dead!” \nBANG", "The student’s eyes widens.\n\n“What are you doing?” But the girl shakes her head and raises her palm, and thankfully, the kid falls silent. The ground begins to shake and the wind bursts through, rattling the windows and rising goosebumps on her arms. The girl rolls her eyes. Always so dramatic. Finally, in a puff of smoke, there she is.\n\n“A hula hoop? You summoned me in a fucking hula hoop again?” The demon pops her hip and shakes her burning curls, little flames sliding off sparks that make the student scream. They were swiftly ignored.\n\n“It’s practical for on the go. You can complain all you like, but you still came.” The girl grins. “The WiFi’s down. Could you tell your underlings to stop messing with the connection?” The demon huffs in response, taking to glaring at the poor kid trembling in the corner and the girl suppresses a sigh between them.\n\n“Is that insignificant thing complaining?”\n\n“Manners Scarlett”\n\n“Manners? You haven’t even offered me a sacrifice.” They demand so much, demons these days. The girl swiftly chucks a vial into the circle and Scarlett catches the glass between her teeth, lathering her forked tongue over the cap.\n\n“Oh?” She raises an brow. The girl mirrors her expression.\n\n“Tears from a baker’s son. Aged for ten years, and taken from an oven accident.” Scarlett began to moan and melt, lava bubbling against the plastic hula hoop and the girl rubbed at the beginnings of a headache. It’ll be such a hassle to pick up a new one in the middle of the day. She has a haunting at two, after all.\n\n“Fine, fine.” Scarlett clicks her fingers and the lights flicker, in the bouts of darkness wisps of grey leak from the walls and sink into her hands. Anymore and she’ll set off the fire alarm. “Happy?”\n\n“How’s the connection kid?” The student swallows. Their hands shake on the phone.\n\n“My Reddit post has gone through.”\n\n“Perfect! That’ll be all then. See you next time Scarlett.” In a snap the demon presses against the walls of the circle and simpers, a smirk that’s tempted angels down to the depths curling on her red lips. The girl glances at her watch. She’s going to miss the train at this rate.\n\n“How about your tears dearie?”\n\n“Not a chance.” Scarlett shrugs. The smoke curls around her body once more, and she disappears- an arm first, then an eye, the other one watching the girl stare back, unamused.\n\n“One day you will,” The demon coos. In a bang of flames, Scarlett’s finally gone. The girl brushes her hands with a sigh and whisks the hula hoop into the size of a ring, slipping it into her pocket. \n\n“That’s you done! Anything other- oh.” When she turns, the student is on the floor. Gangly limbs askew but their chest rises steadily. “Hate when they faint.” The girl sighs. It was going to be a long day. " ]	2
	[WP] You are a wizard with a problematic addiction. You cannot stop summoning creatures from another worlds and it is starting to get really bad as more and more powerful creatures are summoned each day.	[ "That's my first time ever. Don't hesitate to correct me.\n\n\\- “What’s going on? What are you guys doing here.” Gary felt powerless as three of his closest friends forced their way into his home. He frowned and followed them into the living room.\n\n\\- “This is an intervention”, softly said a blue haired young woman, “We are worried about you.”\n\n\\- “Worried…? About me…?” He didn’t understand. “What are you talking about?”\n\n\\- “We haven’t seen you in weeks.” A young lass dressed in a fire red robe cried out while furiously ruffling her hair, “Look at you! When was the last time you took a shower and changed clothes?\n\n\\- “You have a problem, mate”, said a tall blond lad.\n\n\\- “I… I don’t understand what you’re talking about. I’m doing just fine.”\n\n\\- “Gary, look at your house! How many of them did you summoned?” She pointed at the small and odd creatures walking about the living room. “How many of them? Do you think the Magic Council will continue to close their eyes and not investigate you? You’re a hoarder, Gary. For God’s sake, you have at least a hundred of them!”\n\nGary was reluctant, how could he not be? He spend so much time researching them, categorised them and their liking. How many hours, how many days did he spend studying them. Blinking fast to chase away the tears, he knew that something should be done, yet… how could he let go of them.\n\n\\- “Let us help you,” begged the blond one.\n\nSalted tears rolled down Gary’s face, “You don’t understand,” he wept, “I want … I need to catch them all. All 150 of them.”" ]	1
	[WP] Above everyone's head there are statistics about the person like Intelligence, Strength, HP and Money. You were born with a new, strange statistic above your head. Mana.	[ "She stretched in the morning sun and propped herself against the railing, looking down at the waking city. From this height, people on the ground resembled tiny bugs scurrying away, and yet if she narrowed her eyes just enough, she could almost distinguish letters and numbers floating above their heads. Her mind wandered. \n\nDo any of them know? How long until they find out? And when they do, what happens then? Knowing humans, it would not go down well. There was enough social turmoil as it is, without everyone having access to such sensitive information as to how much money the other one makes or what talents they are gifted with. She mindlessly recalled the old stories her mother would whisper to her at night about the time when their people had to go through the same, and the thought made her shudder. So much envy, so much anger, so much pointless violence… It is no wonder their world has collapsed. But she chased the unpleasant thoughts away. At least the few of her ancestors that survived managed to find refuge on the Earth, even though it meant giving up everything and reverting to their primitive state to fool and fit in with the humans. It was the reason she could bask in the warm sunlight now, taking in the sounds of a big city and letting the surprisingly pleasant smell of heated metal tickle her nostrils, and for that she was grateful.\n\nAs noon approached, warmth started to turn into heat. The small balcony felt much like a frying pan now, and as she was raising her eyes to give the sun an angry squint in retaliation, she noticed something hanging from the rooftop. She couldn't quite make out what it was, but the thing was glimmering in the sunlight, as if teasing her, testing whether she would be brave enough to grab it. Hell yeah, she was! She would have to make a few leaps to reach it, of course, but it was nothing she had not done before. In one swift motion, she climbed onto the railing, but just as she was readying for another jump, she felt herself slip. Instinctively, she tried to grab onto something, but there was nothing around her except air. Her body awkwardly toppled over and plummeted down. As she watched the rapidly approaching ground, it felt as if all the sounds were deafened, and even the time itself was slowing down… Until it completely stopped. She carefully adjusted herself, making sure her impression looked believable, and let the time slowly pass by as she floated towards the ground. When she landed, everything was as usual again. Well, except a small crowd that was now surrounding her.\n\n“Oh God, is it okay?”\n\n“Should we, like, take it to the vet? It seems fine”\n\n“Kitty kitty kitty, come here…”\n\nShe let them pet her for a little while before gracefully slipping away from under their hands and strutting down the street, shooting quick glances at the surroundings. While intelligent enough to look for rational explanations, humans still wanted to believe in wonders, and that is what she liked about them. It was no miracle, just magic. But if they chose to believe that cats had 9 lives, who was she to tell them otherwise? Especially since she had other matters to attend to. Like that pigeon who acts if he owns the place, it’s about time somebody taught him a lesson…\n\n(My first time writing something and English isn't my first language, so this is probably bad. Sorry. Critique is welcome)", "Stats at birth. \n\nHealth: 36/100\n\nStrength: 2/100\n\nMoney: 0/100\n\nIntelligence: 1/100\n\nMana: 3/100\n\n\nSilence is all he had heard. He blocked out the beating of his heart, The slight ruffle of clothing against his skin as he breathed. The 'sound' of nothing in a room is still something. Even that was gone. True silence. His eyes closed, focusing on the flow of magic he is currently accessing. It's been silent for nearly 10 minutes now. His proficiency in this spell has been increasing recently. The mana use is smaller now than it was when he began using magic. He used this to meditate. It's one of his most proficient spells. He starts the spell. Lies down. Hands across lay on his stomach. He simply thinks. \n\nHis thoughts go anywhere from his school work, dinner, friends, whatever it may be. He has true focus on this. It let's him truly absorb what has happened that day. Due to this concentration he remembers all that he has learned from school. Straight A's since 6th grade. He still needs to learn something first to perfect it. He can't make assumptions about things he does not know.\n\nSuddenly shaken, his heart races as his eyes open, sitting up all at once. \"What Devon? What's wrong?\" He looked at the pale smaller child. \"It's time to eat, Len. You were asleep. Did you stay up all night again?\" Len smiled and took a deep breathe, faking a yawn. \"Yeah.. you know me.\" He got out of the bed. Walked to the restroom and washed his hands. Looking into the mirror, the stats above his head were nothing extraordinary.\n\n Health: 82/100 \n\nStrength: 65/100\n\nMoney: 15/100\n\nIntelligence: 72/100\n\nMana: 95/100\n\nThe last two have been fabricated by his spells. The intelligence bracket shows a false number, his understanding of spells makes him more knowledgeable than most. Let alone the retention of his school work. Everyone just assumes that since he hasn't finished school that his stat will continue to rise as he gets higher in grade. The mana bar however is not visible to anyone but him. This is a constant spell that Len uses. It has taken quite a while to master. But doing so, not everyone had forgotten about the boy with mana. \n\nHis mother asks occasionally if he feels anything new, or different every once in a while. He simply responds with typical body growth or soreness from playing outside. His usual go to is tired from lack of sleep. Even though this is true. It masquerades the fact that he stays up majority of the night meditating. Thinking of spells or applications of others that he has learned on the way. \n\nAfter dinner, ready for bed as usual. He lay waiting for everyone to be asleep. Waiting for the 'silence of the home'. The snoring of his little brother across the room. His mothers tv shows project throughout the ventilation system of the home. Creaking of the wooden floor boards as the dog walks around, getting comfortable on its bed. \n\nThis night though, he actually slept. A full nights sleep. He is very fond of these. But his hunger for knowledge and controll of these spells and mana are very important to him. As he awakes he notices its early in the morning. Maybe only 6 or 7 o'clock. He dresses himself and takes a walk outside. Listening to the world around him. \n\nBirds chirping, the occasional car passing by as the person is off to work. The breeze flowing against his wind breaker. \"Ahaaa! Yes! Ive done it!\" The voice of a older man echoed through the neighborhood. He walked towards the source of the sound, his interest piqued. \n\nWalking on the side pathway of a home. He heard rustling and excited yelps of what seemed like victory. The occasional sing song \"I did it, I did it.\" were also heard. Len turned the corner of the home. Looking to the not so older man. But maybe high twenties, low thirties. \n\nThen it struck him as he looked to the mans stats. \n\nHealth: 65/100\n\nMoney: 78/100\n\nStrength: 82/100\n\nIntelligence: 67/100\n\nMana: 24/100. \n\n\n\n", "Leon was crunching through the snow, the wind blowing across his face and his nose a bright red. Swaddled up in his scarf, he had a fairly average set of stats, nothing to draw too much attention.\n> Intelligence: 72/100\n\n> Strength: 37/100\n\n> HP: 100/100\n\n> Money: 40/100 Has Credit Card\n\n\nHe had learned to stay out of trouble and keep most of his money in the bank to keep his health up to make sure not to get robbed too much. On this particular day, he was walking home after a long day hauling Christmas trees, the winter season upon them and business bustling. He always liked taking the forest path home despite the monsters and beasts rumored to hide in the depths. It was along this path that he wandered when he heard a quiet, muffled cry. Freezing in his tracks, he looked around and- there it was again. Crying. Despite knowing better than to go into the forest, he tromped through the snow, his heavy leather boots leaving a trail behind him as he searched the forest. Finally, about 50 feet from the trail, he saw a crying lump in the snow. Moving closer, he picked up the bundle, seeing a small girl swaddled in a blanket and crying. Holding her lovingly to his chest, Leon looked at her stats, worried about her health. \n\n> Intelligence: 81/100\n\n> Strength: 61/100\n\n> HP: 84/100\n\n> Money: 0/100\n\n> Mana: 78/100\n\n\nHe looked at her stats, surprised. She had unnaturally high stats, and considering the lack of footprints nearby the girl, she had to have been here for a while, so her health should have been a lot lower. He looked confused at the Mana bar, which was steadily decreasing. Looking at her eyes he hesitated, before smiling at her unusual golden eyes and hugging her to his chest. He'd find a way to take care of her, and there was a sure explanation for her unnatural strength for her age and her health. Things would turn out okay.\n______________________________________________________\nA bird lands in a tree, fluffing up her feathers for warmth to defend against the winter cold. She's about to tuck her head under her wing to sleep when she sees a flash of gold. She looks down to the base of the tree where she sees a very surprised Leon and an elderly woman, in about her 60s with calm golden eyes. The blanket that she was previously wrapped in is on the ground, now too small to cover much of her at all, and she's wearing a very high quality deep blue cloak and tall, leather boots, both extremely clean. Her mana count has stopped draining and has slowly begun to recharge, and she approaches Leon slowly and with purpose, almost like a cat. He has started to turn in the other way but it looks as if he's moving in slow motion compared to the woman, who plants a hand on his back and closes her eyes as golden energy moves from Leon up her arm and into her chest. The man falls to the ground, no longer looking to be in his 40s, his features now wrinkled and loose on his bones. He does not move, his eyes glazed open. The woman's features change as she drains the man, the age melting away from her features as she changes to be a 19-year-old girl. She looks around with wide eyes and a flash of gold illuminates the forest, blinding all the creatures around her. The bird falls from her tree and lands in the snow, never to fly again. With no witnesses of the crime, the girl's mana bar turns gold before fading away and she smiles, stealing the rest of the dead man's possessions before disappearing into the forest once again.", "\"One more push and they'll be out.\" The doctor said encouragingly.\n\n\"Aghh! Ugh! AGHHHHH!\" The mother screamed, exhausted and in pain.\n\n\"Well done, Mrs Roberts. You've got a healthy baby girl.\"\n\nMrs Roberts collapsed back on the bed, watching the nurse do the preliminary checks on her baby as the doctors were making sure she was ok.\n\nThe doctors gave the mum the all clear and checked with the nurse that the baby was healthy before they left the room.\n\nThe nurse wrapped the tiny pink baby into a blanket and handed her to her waiting mother. Her mother cradled her gently in her arms, totally besotted with her new child.\n\n\"Oh, almost forgot! You want to see her stats, don't you?\"\n\nEvery creature on the planet was born with statistics for constitution, strength, dexterity, speed/agility, intelligence and logic. Some stats had sub categories or point dividers. Other skills came along as they got older and the brains and bodies developed.\n\n5 or 6 points in any stat was standard. 10 was the highest a stat could go. The thing that made it interesting was the total number of points was random. \n\nSome people had 8s or even 9s across everything. Some had some high and some low and others low across the board. Some stats could be improved over time with exercises or reading and others were fixed.\n\nThe nurse tapped the babies heart and brought up the stats view.\n\n\"Ok.. constitution a 6. That's good, the higher end of normal.\"\n\n\"Same as her sister.\" Cooed Mrs Roberts.\n\n\"It means she will occasionally get sick but be fine.... hmm underneath it says interesting allergies... keep that in mind when introducing foods. Strength is a 6. That's good for a girl, above average. Dexterity... 5. Sub note says dexterous toes.\"\n\n\"What does that mean?\"\n\n\"She can pick things up with her toes. I'd expect the skill to be a 7 if she can do that. Which means she'll be a bit slow with her hands doing fine motor skills like writing or sewing. Speed and agility 5... nice and average... oh intelligence 8. \"\n\n\"That's the same as your sister again. Both so smart. \" Beamed the mother.\n\n\"Very good. Sub note says creative problem solver. She's going to be an interesting one. Logic 5. Hmm I'd expect that to be higher.\"\n\n\"So what does it mean with high intelligence but lower logic? How does that make sense?\"\n\n\"Ever seen someone smart with no common sense? That might be the case here. I'm guessing though with the creativity she will be less practical and more whimsical. I also see she has her empathy bar already.... and it's a 10! Most children don't get these until around age 4 and some never get more than a point in it. All in all you have a very....\" The nurse suddenly stopped talking, her face frozen.\n\n\"What is it? Is something wrong with her?\"\n\nThe nurse slowly pulled the stats up and hidden beneath logic was a blue bar. The health bar was red and at the top so what was this? She tapped the bar and it flashed: Mana 75. Underneath that was an empty list and tiny menu button.\n\n\"What is that?\"\n\nThe nurse was shaking. She reached out to take the baby from her mother. \"We need to get a doctor in here. I think we might even need to report this.\"\n\nThe mother tightened her hold on her daughter. The baby started to fuss.\n\n\"Shhhh, shhhh, shhhh.\" The mother soothed to her baby. \"What do you mean report? I'm not letting you or anyone else take her away.\"\n\n\"Your daughter is special and needs to be tested.\" The nurse insisted.\n\n\"You mean locked up and experimented on. Well I won't let you!\" The mother said, holding her daughter tight against her chest.\n\nThe baby started to cry from all the noise and the nurse trying to remove her from her mother. The baby turned her head towards the nurse and wailed.\n\nInstantly the nurse stopped trying to take her. Her eyes glazed over and after 3 seconds she shook her head.\n\n\"Well, everything seems perfectly fine. I'll leave you two to rest and bond. She'll need to feed within the hour though. Just use your call bell if you need help with that.\" The nurse said, smiling at them both.\n\n\"I will, thank you.\" The mother replied, keeping her voice even.\n\nAs soon as the nurse left she pulled up her babies stats bar and scrolled to her extra section.\n\nThe mana bar read 70. In the menu was a new skill. Persuasion: makes a target cooperative or agree to your request/argument.\n\nAnd as she finished reading the description the mother noticed her daughters mana bar click up to 71. \n\nThe mother looked down at her tiny daughter who had snuggled into her and was falling asleep. She didn't feel fear because she instinctively knew her daughter had wanted the nurse to stop upsetting her instead of trying to protect herself. And now it was the mothers turn to protect her.", "In this world, people are born with statistics. Numbers to show off what level or skill they were at. These numbers expressed only intelligence, strength, HP, and money, or so we thought. \n\nThe young boy sat cradle in his mother's arms. About 12 doctors had cornered the child and the mother. Questioning each other and the boy. His mother trying to push the doctors away from bothering the baby. Tears began to burst out of the child. Quickly each doctor took their respected leave and left the two alone.\n\nYears had past and the little boy was now a tiny kid. Yet he couldn't live a simple life, for his constant monitoring. No one had seen a child like this. A child with all the stats static and only one see able. The stat of mana and a mysterious one with it. With the count shown above his head as 200.\n\nThe floor creaked as he ran. He reached the front door and tried to reach the doornob. His mother taking note, ran towards him. Quickly ushering him into her arms.\n\n\"Micah, you can't go outside sweetie\"\n\n\"W...y..?\"\n\n\"You know why...\"\n\nSo Micah was left alone, gazing at a blank wall. Cameras moveing to catch every moment. Every second was another second of no freedom. Micah felt the tears form in his eyes. Soon he was sobbing, wishing for everyone to stop watching. Then everything did seem to stop. The cameras fell from their stands and crashed to the floor. \n\nA pounding on the door could be heard. \n\n\"Micah! Honey what happened!\"\n\nAll Micah wanted to do was escape. He didn't want to leave his mother. His mother who fought for his safety. The banging continued yet with more force then before. He stared and let the fear carry him. There was no wish to stay and so he did not.\n\nA final bang brought the door down. Only revealing an empty room with purple dust swirling around.\n\n(This was my first time trying 3rd person writing. I do notice a lot of mistakes. Any feedback or suggestions would be helpful.)" ]	5
	[WP] you bought an at home DNA ancestry kit and just got your results back. The first half brings no surprises, however you are shocked to see that half of your DNA is simply labeled as "could not be determined"	[ "I never really bought into those \"determine your ancestry\" packages, given that they would only tell me what I already knew. That I'm white, and most likely a descendant of someone from some place like Britain, Scotland, or Ireland. When my grandfather gifted me a kit, however; I decided that I would do it. Not because of I wanted to know my heritage, but because I wanted to know what might be in store for my children. I wouldn't have done it otherwise, given I have no chronic illness or health issues. To me, peace of mind is worth it, though. Especially if it doesn't cost me anything. I thought it might answer the few questions I had. Instead, I'm still searching for answers. My boyfriend had encouraged me. He was into this sort of thing. Genealogy, history, learning in general. It was charming, just how curious he was.\n\n\"Ready to find out what makes me, me?\" I asked him. \n\n'Yeah, babe,\" He smiled. \"Lets do this.\" \n\nI sat down with him, box in hand. We looked at eachother, briefly, before starting to open it. I hoped to start a life with him. Have children, have pets. I hoped that everything would be healthy, be normal. Something for once in my life must be, right? \n\nThe box looked exactly like what you would've expected, brown, cardboard. Nondescript. The papers inside, even more so. I started on the genes, he checked out my ancestry. I noted certain things, like my predisposition to near-sightedness. I checked out all the observable human characteristics. Some of them were spread out across many gene sets, like handedness. Others not, like eye color, or the inability to taste PTC, or whether my earlobes were attached. I of course knew the answers to these questions. Easy to infer what my parents had based on my traits, especially the recessive ones. I was thumbing through the pages when I noticed Alex has stopped talking. He had been rattling off the percentages and geographical regions, it struck me as odd he had gone silent. I looked up at him. \n\n\"What's up babe?\" I questioned. He looked pensive. Troubled. A line furrowed between his brows. \n\n\"Look.\" He pointed to a chart on the page he was looking at. Half of it, one solid color. The other, multiple. I gazed at the key, then up at him. \n\n\"Unknown. Could not be determined.\" \n\nThe air stood still around us. A sense of bewilderment and confusion rising. \n\n\"Would does it mean?\" I asked. \n\n\"I don't know.\" He answered, more puzzled then anything. He didn't usually have questions. He usually had answers. \n\n\"Could not be determined...regionally?\" I pressed, grasping for an explanation.\n\nHis face changed more, eyes narrowing as he looked at the page again. \n\"No, Claire. Race.\" ", "\\ding\\An email... I hope it's not from my boss. I know my deadline is yesterday but I'm still working on the code. I try to ignore the email for a while and go on with my work but the anxiety distracts me more and more. I finally decide to read it.\"Phew,\" it's not from my boss, it's from results@yourdna . com .\n\nI didn't expect a reply so soon. Let's see what this says. I open the email and follow the link therein. First tab reads \"Overview\", it has a small pie chart: half red, half grey. Huh, my DNA looks so neat. I look towards the legend to see what those colours mean. \"Red: Jewish (Mizrahi)\". Hmm, just half jewish? I would have thought more. Well maybe grey is also some other kind of jewish. I look for a couple minutes but cannot find grey in the legend for the life of me.\n\nI switch to the second tab, \"Details\". Everything looks normal, until I reach the final line:\"50% : Error, could not be determined. For more details, please contact us.\"\n\nI'm gonna call those idiots. I spent 200 dollars on this shit test, and I want some real results! I reach for my phone and it rings just an instant before I touch it. It's my dad. Naturally, I pick up, a bit surprised.\n\n\"What on earth have you done?!?!\" He screams at me.\n\n\"What???\"\n\n\"Look, I have no time to explain now, but some very bad, very dangerous people are coming for you. You need to leave right now!\"\n\n\"What are you talking about dad? Is this some kind of joke?\"\n\n\"Have I ever joked about something this serious?? I have sleepers in the kinds of agencies nobody even knows exist, and they're picking up tonnes of chatter. Our secret is out. I'll tell you everything when we meet face to face.\"\n\n\"And when will that be?\"\n\n\"ASAP! Do you remember the old building we used to go to when you were a kid?\"\"Yeah I guess I do...\"\"Good. Get on your motorcycle and drive there as fast as you can. Don't look it up on your maps app, don't google. Better yet, don't even take your phone with you. Your mother and I will meet you there.\"\n\nI open the blinds to look down at the street. There are black cars parked everywhere. Suddenly, a knock on my door. I remain surprisingly calm, like I've been preparin for this my whole life. I stick a chair behind the door handle and exit my apartment through the fire escape. My motorcycle is waiting for me right there... Strange, I didn't park it here last night. I start diriving and, even though I lied to my dad about knowing where the building was, I knew exactly where to go.\n\nA few cars start following me. But every time a car shows up, I miraculously lose it. Finally I make it to the old building. I get off my bike and the door opens right away. \"Get in, quickly!\" my father says. I run in as he locks the door behind me.\n\n\"Who were those people??\" I inquire.\n\n\"S A P.\" He says calmly.\n\n\"S A P?? What does that mean?\"\n\n\"I'll explain everything soon. Let's just go to the basement first, your mother is waiting for us there.\"\n\n\"What's happening today? First the weird DNA result...\"\n\n\"The what?!\" He interrupts.\n\n\"I did this DNA thing, YourDNA, you know?\"\n\n\"God almighty, that's how they found out. Don't worry, it's not your fault.\"\n\n\"Stop saying that! You always tell me it's not my fault, but if these people are on our ass because of something I did, it bloody well is my fault!!\"\n\n\"No. Nothing ever is your fault, you literally are perfect.\"\n\nWe finally make it to the basement. We open the door and my mother rushes to hug me. After she lets go, my father sits me down and stands in front of me.\n\n\"Maybe I should have told you this sooner, or maybe everything is going according to plan. It doesn't matter now. I'll just tell you everything.\n\n\"20 years ago, your mother and I were engaged\"\n\n\"I was born 20 years ago...\"\n\n\"Please let me finish, you'll understand everything. As I was saying, we were engaged. And, suddenly, she got pregnant. As you know, we both come from very religious families, so I hadn't.... touched her. I was suspicious, but I loved and trusted her as much as I do right now, so I believed her when she told me she had no idea how it happened. Then we both knew how it happened.\n\n\"So basically, what I'm trying to say is that... I'm not your father.\"\n\nFor some reason everything he's saying makes sense, like I already know it. I feel that I know what he'll say next but I'm not exactly sure what it is. So I ask.\n\n\"Then who is my father?\"\n\n\"He is.\" He says, pointing up.\n\n\"He's here in this building?\" I ask, flabergasted for the first time.\n\n\"No, Son, He is everywhere....\"\n\n\"You don't mean.....??\"\n\n\"Yes, I do mean exactly Him.\"\n\n\"What does that make me then?\"\n\n\"The second coming. You should start getting all your memories soon, if you haven't already.\n\n\"Anyway, my work is done I think. Your Father should take it from here.\"\n\nEdit: Note, \"S A P\" is \"Scribes and Pharisees\" in case it's too obscure. Also, I haven't read all of the bible, neither am I christian, but I couldn't resist, the prompt just seemed perfect.\n\nEdit 2: formatting.", "Gary looked at the envelope and flipped it over in his hands before unceremoniously ripping it open. \n\n\"What's it say?\" Melissa asked, looking over his shoulder. His girlfriend had teased him for spending two hundred bucks on a DNA testing kit and here she was begging for the results. He sighed and pulled out the packet of information.\n\n\"Dear Gary,\" he read as the check for two hundred dollars fell on the table causing a moment of confusion, \"We apologize for returning your funds but due to an anomaly we were unable to process your DNA results. We tried using the samples you sent us and consistently received half results on your tests no matter how many times or what procedures we used. The techs here joked that either your sample was either contaminated or that you are half human. We will try again with another sample if you wish. Bla... bla... bla...\" He ended, dropping the letter and staring at the check, \"What a ripoff!\"\n\n\"Maybe this means you're half alien!\" she teased and kissed his cheek as the doorbell rang, the sound of a motorcycle just outside his house filling him with mild curiosity.\n\nHe had his head turned to her as he asked her, \"Seriously, do you think the sample was tainted? What do you think it means?\"\n\n\"I know exactly what it means,\" a gruff voice said and he turned to stare upward into the beard of the massive man standing before him.\n\n\"W-what?\" he asked in shock.\n\n\"Yer a wizard, Gary.\" Hagrid answered.", "Ian walked through the door holding a stack of mail.\n\n\n“All a bunch of junk.”\n\n\nHe shifted through the envelopes and flyers, sorting them either into the garbage or onto a nondescript pile on the counter as he went.\n\n\n“Coupons for Burger King... Flyer for IKEA... AllMyChromosomes... a bank statement? Why the hell do they still send those?”\n\n\nHeather had been lounging on the couch up until that point, but that caught her attention. \n\n\n“Wait, what was that?”\n\n\n“A bank statement? It’s right here if you want it, but you should call your bank and cancel your monthly statement. 2008 called, they want to let you know that online banking is a thing.”\n\n\n“I mean the AllMyChromosomes part, you troglodyte.”\n\n\nShe got up off the couch and reached in to recover the thick envelope that Ian had thrown into the trash. The tinfoil lid to a yoghurt cup plastered itself onto the envelope and Heather peeled it off, cursing her brother’s stupidity under her breath.\n\n\n“This isn’t trash, it’s the results to my DNA test. Look at something before you actually chuck it.”\n\n\n“I didn’t think you would actually take one of those things. You do know that’s how they caught the Original Night Stalker, right?” \n\n\n“Good thing I’m not planning on murdering anyone.”\n\n\n“Oh yeah, I don’t mind my personal DNA results being monitored by the government because I’m not doing anything wrong. How Orwellian of you.”\n\n\n“Don’t be a dink. This is your DNA, too. You get to find out your ethnic heritage without having to pay for it.”\n\n\n“That’s exactly why I’m mad. What are you going to find out? That we’re 50 Shades of White?”\n\n\nHeather rolled her eyes and tore into the envelope, unfolding the contents, Ian reading over her shoulder.\n\n\n“25% Great Britain.” \n\n\n“Well that makes sense, that includes Scotland and our surname is MacKay.”\n\n\n“12% Eastern European.”\n\n\n“Also makes sense, we’re from the prairies, we’re bound to be a little Ukrainian.”\n\n\n“12% Western European”\n\n\n“Such a vague term, doesn’t Great Britain count as Western Europe?”\n\n\n“I don’t know. And 1% Siberian.”\n\n\n“Wasn’t expecting that, but if we’re that much Eastern European it’s bound to happen. That only adds up to like...”\n\n\n“50%.” She filled in for him, not wanting to be there all day.\n\n\n“Sure, 50%. There’s nothing else there?”\n\n\n“Just says ‘Could Not Be Determined’.”\n\n\nIan started laughing at her.\n\n\n“Oh wow, looks like this is even more of a waste of money than I originally thought. Dummy.”\n\n\nHeather just shook her head, staring at the results in disbelief. Everything else seemed detailed, it even told her what year their great grandparents came through Pier 21. She ran through the percentages in her head.\n\n\n“This only accounts for dad’s side.” she finally stated.\n\n\n“Okay, point being?”\n\n\n“Our mother’s side is unaccounted for.”\n\n\nHe lounged on the couch, phone in hand, interest in the matter passing.\n\n\n“‘Suppose so.”\n\n\n“Dad never mentioned our mother’s background. We don’t even know her surname.”\n\n\nHe rolled his eyes.\n\n\n“Well, if the mother of your children ever left without so much as a note while they were barely old enough to talk, I’m sure her family’s heritage wouldn’t exactly be a big conversation point for you either.”\n\n\nSomething about it seemed off. A chill ran down her spine that she could not explain. All she wanted to do was shred the results and burn the remains, not even worrying about getting a refund from the company. \n\n\nThere was a knock on the door. Loud and confident. They both froze and stared at the door.\n\n\n“Did you buzz someone in?” Ian asked in a hushed tone.\n\n\n“You would’ve heard me buzz them in, you mouth breather.”\n\n\nSquatting down and peering through the door’s peephole, she saw two near identical pale men standing in their apartment hallway wearing business suits, fifties style fedoras, and dark sunglasses.\n\n\n“Who is it?” Ian asked.\n\n\n“I don’t know, but they’re dressed like the Blues Brothers.”\n\n\nIn that instant she was reminded of all the stories of UFO witnesses being visited by mysterious men in black. She backed away from the door and gulped. \n\n\nTaking a brief pause to gather the courage she opened the door up. \n\n\nWithout introduction, and with an accent that she couldn’t pinpoint if her life depended on it, one of the unnaturally pale men said “You and your brother are coming with us.”\n" ]	4
	[WP] Describe a future in which automation, artificial intelligence, and other such robots have completely taken over every single market that a human once controlled.	[ "I woke up to my alarm chiming gently by my ear. As I reached out to silence it, it scampered away and grew louder. Sighing, I stretched for a few moments, then rose from bed. Once I was disrobed and in the shower, the alarm shut itself off.\n\nI still had almost 750 liters of water in my monthly budget, so I went ahead and dumped the recirculation tanks and drew 50 fresh new liters for my shower. With point-of-use heaters, and water recirculation, I could take hours-long showers if I wanted without wasting too much in the way of resources. Some days I did, but today I had to get to the council meeting so I limited myself to 40 minutes, then got out and sat in the chair in front of the bathroom mirror.\n\nI directed my Bathroom Servitor, as usual, to take care of coiffing my hair and touching up the spots on my face with concealer. Eyebrows plucked, teeth brushed for the exact fifteen seconds per tooth that 9 out of 10 dentists agreed was ideal for oral hygiene, lightly scented, and - because why not, didn't I deserve to treat myself? - with a subtle application of diamond-dust mascara to highlight my eyes, I returned to the bedroom and directed the Wardrobe Servitor to present some clothing suggestions. Discarding several of them offhand, I berated the damned AI for not having the fashion sense of a homeless rodent, and eventually engaged manual override to pick out something properly severe for the council meeting.\n\nBut I had a couple hours, yet, so while my Kitchen Servitor prepared breakfast - today an EggWhite(tm) omelet with toast and some sort of jam, and flavored water (dieting is hard, ok?) - I turned on the television to watch the news. It always helped my mood to be reminded how much better I had it than others. Not that I wanted to see them suffer, you understand, but hadn't I worked hard for my position? And my parents before me? We lived in Elysium Prime, after all, in the lap of luxury, and even the poor towns, some of which were visible in the distance on a clear day, had enough to eat.\n\nIn neighboring Elysium Ten, there had been an incident of street crime. Reporters suggested that there may have been undocumented migrants moving through the town, trying to steal identity chips. There hadn't been a successful identity theft in a few years, but everyone remembered the coverage of the horrible crime scene and the 24-hour reporting, giving us the information we needed to stay on top of the issues. DecisionWork in E' (the kind humans do - robots simply do Work, unable to make decisions themselves but also unable to be harmed by the dangers of labor) had nearly ground to a halt for several days as we all sat, riveted by the story of the unfortunate family, and the police chase that finally caught the murdering thief - thanks of course to the intervention of a savvy old human consultant, who was able to piece together the abstract information in a way no AI could manage. Well, roaming undocumented meant we would need to address the possibility of stepping up security patrols and checkpoints in E' for a few weeks; I would bring that up in council myself. The weather was expected to be lovely for the next few days, with no signs of unplanned atmospheric events. I checked my bank balance on my phone - 23,844c - to make sure I would be able to afford the vacation I was planning for next week. I don't know why I even check, we citizens of E' are, as I said, quite well off. Even to this day we profit from the chaos of the Market, with our finely-tuned InvestorAI running the Bank and ensuring we all have profitable income from our investments. Indeed, we make 6% almost like clockwork, far outpacing inflation, ensuring we will always be able to enjoy the earned lifestyle to which we have become accustomed.\n\nI thought I would walk today. The luxury of importance is that we never needed to cram ourselves into filthy transit tubes like the citizens of, say, Rust or Husk, rushing to do their Work which, had they been smarter in their youth, would have been done by robots instead. So I walked to the council halls, taking the stairs down from my high floor in the condominium complex, enjoying the gentle breeze funneled to the walkways by the sinuous architecture the defined our lovely city. My ID pass let me take the QuikLine through the security checkpoints while dozens of my fellow 'Citizens - who had likely forgotten to renew their ID - milled about in line for the personal screening. I passed by a section of our city wall, shining white and perfectly clean as the JanitorBots moved slowly in their endless cycle of tidying up the city. That wall made us proud - even other Elysiums, like E'', had slightly dingy walls, clearly showing their lesser wealth and success. Well, we were titans of industry before we earned our comfort, and if they wished to join us, they simply needed to strive a little harder. We would welcome their presence. There's enough to go around, so long as it goes to the deserving.\n\nFinally, I got to the Council Hall. Waving my badge, I walked in and prepared to do my part in the great DecisionWork that would keep our city foremost among the jewels of humanity.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nE'97713 optimal. ContentmentIndex 98.13;AugSec policy T1 loading;Rationing0. Surveillance upload/archive complete.\n\nThere are 1,048,576 Elysium Primes in the world, and they are all identical." ]	1
A visual explanation of how this could work [http://4dtoys.com/](http://4dtoys.com/)	[WP] You walk alone by the street, and suddenly a man goes through a wall on you side, and disappears in front of you. Then you hear a voice saying "You saw me, I'll have to take you to the 4th Dimension now".	[ "For my dumb American self, England was not the fairy tale I believed it to be. I grew up reading Dickens, watching Doctor Who, and all those wonderous British shows. And when I got to England it was, old and run down, and very much like a backwards America. Granted, one that had double decker buses, but even those got boring after a while.\n\nEven King's Cross, a train station looked boring as hell, even with all those high-vaulted glass ceiling. Bored, I sauntered down the train tracks, occasionally looking at the station numbers as I passed. 7... 8... 9... 9 3/4's. Wait, what?\n\nI did a double take and the number was gone. I stood their dumbfounded, goosebumps raised on my arms, that can't be right. But lo, and behold. There was a boy probably about 14 sauntering toward me. He passed and I cringed expecting him to crash into it. Instead, he went \\through\\ the wall. Certainly I couldn't have seen that, right?\n\nI heard a loud sigh behind me. An older guy with some wire glasses appeared behind me. \"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to take you with me. You shouldn't have seen that.\"\n\n\"But I didn't see--\"\n\nBefore I could even think, he pulls out of all things, a wooden stick and waves it at me. \"Obliviate\".\n\n\\---\n\nI'm standing, dumbfounded at the guy who just suddenly said a bunch of gibberish at me. \n\n\"Was that supposed to do something?\" I responded with an eyebrow twitch. \"waving what, a stick and saying some gibberish at me?\"\n\n\"Well, erm, yes, but it should have--Wait, you remember everything?\"\n\n\"Yeah, some weirdo kid just walked into a wall like it was nothing. You just shoved a stupid stick in my face. Look, this is weird, and I'm creeped out, and you're some strange British dude. Sorry but I'm leaving.\"\n\nI started off and suddenly he grabbed my arm.\n\nNext thing I knew, everything felt like it was inside out. My outsides desperately wanted to be insides and my insides didn't know why they didn't get a vote in this. Before I really began to feel nauseous the experience was over. Instead of being on a platform, I was in some kind of office. A big round thing with all kinds of junk everywhere. I mean, this was episode of Hoarders kind of bad. Exept it seemed orderly somehow? like all this junk meant something insead of being piles of stuff. \n\nAnd centered in it all was the most annoyingly normal looking guy I ever saw in my life. With a mop of orange hair and green eyes and an ugly sweater and the same damn khaki pants that all Brits seem to own. And house shoes. those slip on kinds. ", "“What! Who’s talking?” Lilo examined her surrounding but still couldn’t find the origin of the voice. Was she crazy? How… that man just went through the wall.\n\n“Hello! Hello!” she touched the wall, felt the bricks under her fingers, tried to push a couple to see if they could move. There has to be a trick somewhere. “Hello!” She even put her ears against the wall.\n\n“There’s no time to explain, quick your people need you!” urged the voice.\n\n“What? What should I do?” Lilo panicked. \n\n“Quick follow me!” A red figure jumped in front of her and motioned toward the stairs in the dark alley. “We are late! Quick!”\n\nHe ran to into the alley and nodded his head toward Lilo. She ran behind him. The man was tall, dressed in a red suit, fake white bunny ears on his head, he kept on looking at his pocket watch and mumbling how late he was.\n\n“Wait, who are you? You are late for what?”\n\n“We have to go to the 4th dimension! You saw me, now you have to break the wall!” He passed by the stairs, went on, turned left, stopped, pointed to an old copper door. “Hurry! We are late! Run into the wall. We have to go to the 4th dimension and you have to break into the wall.”\n\nLilo didn’t know what to say, she couldn’t even process what was going on. She nodded and ran straight into the copper door.\n\nBOOOM!\n\nShe crashed into the wall, broke her nose, bumped her head and collapsed on the ground. The man in red suit exploded in laughter. “Hahaha! You actually did it!” He could barely breath and had to support himself on a dumpster. “You ran into the 4th wall! Hahaha! This is perfect! I need to put this on twitter!!”\n\n“You’re a dick, Deadpool!” yelled an old homeless man who saw everything." ]	2
	[WP] You've been anonymously given a book that narrates all of human history from the beginning to its end. Curious, you search in what chapter your era is located by looking at the chronological classification : it's the last one. Chapter's name ? 'The book's curse'	[ "North Korea, South Korea, Boom! Thanks Billy Joel for inspiring the beginning line of this amazing chapter.\n\nAn orange clown was sitting, nay groping in the Oval Office. Funny hair do, bad temper, and hands that like to wander especially towards Eastern European womenfolk. He likes Twitter a lot, can read and write at a 5th grade level.\n\n The leader of the free world is an undisputable and completely stable, the most stable in fact, genius. He will lead us to the 'mother of all wars' as one leader with a posh, yet stylishly unkempt beard put it.\n\nYou see it all starts on a Sunday in the Autumn (won't tell you the month, it'll be a nice surprise) of 2020. Oh yes, you like the futuristic sounding time don't you? \n\nThe president was enjoying tea-groping as per his usual habit when Kim tweeted something unforgiveable and required immediate action. 'Trump: your orange hands are too small to declare nuclear war!' As any stable genius would do, he declared nuclear war. That's it. The end. What did you expect was going to happen? This book was the worst, I hope you guys rot in hell.\n\nSincerely,\n\nGod aka Buddha, Jesus, Allah, Flying Spaghetti Monster (my favorite name btw), etc. \n\nEdit: spelling, grammar\n\n\n", "CHAPTER %55\n\nTHE BOOK’S CURSE\n\nThere exists, in perpetual chaos, a blighted era. A Yuga [ERA] that is doomed to strife and chaos, fueled by a greed and narcissism unrivaled by any other. %55 is this era, cursed by the Bacab Hunahpu due to the presence of interlopers who rebelled against the Popol Vuh. Unfortunately, this Yuga is destined to end with the Scourge.\n\nThe Scourge is intended to be a complete overload of souls pushed into the various separate realms. A war that would claim millions of lives, to purify a world and era so I clean and so impure. It will come as a respite to a cursed time, the blood shall wipe the ground clean of scarification and filth left behind by careless caretakers. It is said that when the Last Human exists on Gaia, the Popol Vuh, congregation of Bacabs, shall come down to gaze upon the bloodstained ruins, to help lift the souls out of their damaged and diseased vessels. \n\nWhen they gaze upon the Last Human, he shall be taken to Xibalba, and given a new name, one that will signify him as the harbinger of a new era. Perhaps it shall be a young child, who has with his eyes gazed upon the bombardment of cities, the razing of homes, the killings of humans at the hands of their brethren.\n\nThe Scourge is different than any other end time. Prophets knew this, such as Nostradamus. They knew that the Yuga would end with a piercing strike of pure and unyielding violence. Unlike other eras, where the passing of souls was as gentle as the rolling of waves over a windless azure ocean, this passage will be violence that is the mark of an era cursed.\n\nThe Bacab-and, namely ”one who has the hand of a Bacab”, shall be the one who takes in the Last Human, and conditions him to become the harbinger to the next era, %56, said to be an era far less turbulent, and triumphant. An era for the peaceful, for the preservers.\n\nThe Caretaker of this era is Harangue, the Failed Caretaker.\n\n————————————————————\n\nCHAPTER %56\n\n”The Bacab-and’s Triumph”\n\nLittle is known as of now, save for the Bacab-and’s after involvement. In the year 2093, more shall be known, and the Calendar shall reveal the Popol Vuh*’s thoughts. It is fated that this will be a blessed and fortune-filled Yuga, a Yuga of sanctuary.\n\nThe Caretaker of this era is known to be the Bacab-and, the Blessed One.\n\n————————————————————" ]	2
	[WP] You go back in time to study a historical figure. But you slowly realize that you are becoming the historical figure you came to study.	[ "History is a funny word.\n\nWhen professors talk about history, they talk about what's recorded. The events that have been written down on papyrus, bamboo, or any preservative works that allow those in the future to find out what happened in the past. \n\n\nBut if a tree falls in a forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Of course it does. Just because no one is around to record the event, doesn't mean it didn't happen. \n\nAfter decades of work, my invention is complete. I had to hide it from the government, as they don't take too kindly to individuals messing with the time stream. Nonetheless, my time machine was made, looking not unlike the phone booth in that one antiquated show. \n\n\nSome would say the invention of the printing press was history's greatest invention, other would say the invention of the transistor. Call me a purist, but I believe that the invention of fire was what propelled humanity to the heights they're at now. It was by far the greatest invention in human history, or at least, until my time machine. \n\n\nSo, what better way to celebrate the greatest invention in human history, then by gazing upon the moment the second greatest invention was invented? Setting the time settings to the Pleistocene Era, I began to make my journey. I knew I had to make this count though. If I used the time machine too often, then it would stop overheating, and who knows what type of problems that could cause." ]	1
	[WP] When trying to summon Satan, you summoned your cat instead.	[ "“We’ve already talked about it, Mitten. I know you want to be the most evilest baby kitten in the all universe, but look at you! Look at your tiny little jelly bean.”\n\n“Meow.”\n\n“Yes, those tiny mini little beans. Oh yes, there are! Look at those cute little ears.”\n\n“Meeeoooww!!!” \n\n“So cute! My sweet baby. No, no, don’t try to escape. Who is so soft? Who is it? It’s Mitten who is soft. Oh yes, you are.”\n\n“Meeeoooow Meeeoow!!!!!”\n\n“Oh yes, look at those cute little fangs. Don’t try to bite me. Look at those! Oh yes, they are tiny. Mommy knows you want to be a little devil. Oh yes, you are. Who is the best, cutest, evilest hunter of the all planet? Who is it? Tell me, Mitten. Do you know who is it?”\n\n“..... meoow…”\n\n“Yes, it’s you! You are the most evilest littly Mitten. Alright, go play outside now. Mommy has to summon Satan, he still own me money. Money to buy you sweet little treats. Who want some sweet little treat? Tell me who?” \n\n“............................meow…..”\n\n“Of course, it’s my baby Mitten. It’s you. Go. If you see Beelzebul, Mommy gives you permission to tear his face apart. Oh yes, you can. He said you were naughty and Mommy knows you always listen to Mommy. He deserve it. Don’t eat him okay, it will upset your little tummy.”" ]	1
	[WP] Humanity finally makes it to Mars and begins to colonize the planet, but you have different plans: you want to find the Curiosity rover and give it a hug.	[ "It's been forty years. It took us a while, but we finally got here... Mars, it's as every bit as desolate and beautiful as I imagined it would be in person. Whereas my fellow astronauts disembarked and began to find places to set up shop, I set out with a different mission, GPS tracker in hand, following the perpetual, steady beep. \n\nI remembered reading about it when I was a boy. I was probably five at the time, when the little guy launched. No one knew how much he'd contribute to the study of Mars. By all rights he should've shut down decades ago, at least a few years after NASA updated its systems with a full AI ten years later. But, no, the little guy kept on chugging. We lost track of him for a few years in a major dust storm. It wasn't until we had a third satellite over the planet that we found him again. Several of his systems were down, but he kept going. \n\nIt was a rallying cry to a lot of us. This little robot, who had the self-determination capability of shutting down when it was damaged beyond a certain point, decided to keep exploring. Sure, many others were sent, and many others shut down.. But Curiosity?... No, he never gave up. Even as his rotors were shot, even after the wheels were shredded, even after he went blind. \n\nA glitch, they said. An error in a faulty line of code. It denied all orders to shut down, it refused all updates to 'fix it' so it would cease. I knew better... Curiosity had become infected with the human spirit, the drive to know. Even as it dragged itself along, blind, deaf, crippled, it refused to give up. It kept shouting to the universe, shouting home, so we would know where it was. \n\nAnd here I am, standing in front of it now. I can't help but smile at the little guy... Well, it's bigger than I am, but that doesn't matter. Something in it must still work, because it can feel my approach. I watch the data fly across my helmet's AR visor. I can vaguely hear internal machines and rotors whirring to life, trying to move. Placing a hand on Curiosity, I speak for the first time since coming to this planet. \n\n\"Shh... It's okay...\" I wrap my arms around this intrepid explorer that inspired me so often through the years. \"It's fine... We're here now... You can rest...\" \n\nWatching the data slow, I feel the machine relax. As the machine stops all movement, I hug it even tighter. The data scrolling across the screen is so little now, the signal so faint.\n\n\"Thank you...\"\n\nMy visor goes blank..." ]	1
	[WP] After ripping the head of the alien that claimed to be your god, you look up to see an entire fleet of alien spaceships, you start to laugh hysterically, because what they don’t know is that you are not styck in this wasteland of a planet with them, they are	[ "“I’ve never thought that someone will be stupid enough to ask me to bend my knee,” the girl bathed in moonlight, licked her lips and softly moaned, “ So bold.” She giggled.\n\nThronas, the legendary colonel, stared down at the woman. “A puny human think it can go against us. Ridiculous.” \n\nHe crossed his bulky behind his massive back. The first company began their march. The silver haired woman arched an elegant eyebrow. She estimated about a thousand people under the colonel’s command. Behind her stood a steep cliff, in front an army. She closed her eyes, tasting the delicate smell of blood soaking the ground. Her long silver hair was gently floating in the breeze and her white dress fluttering. Slowly opening her eyes, she broadly smiled at the soldiers. She tilted her to the side and giggled. How risible! As if a mere thousand soldiers could stop her.\n\n“Come and play with this big sister. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely treat you well,” the blood on the ground began to rise and turned into countless threads. The threads circled the woman and wove themselves into a deep purple choker. “Don’t disappoint me,” her full crimson lips curved into an alluring arc.\n\nThe colonel snorted, how presumptuous. What a feeble thing. The first soldiers encircled her, a gust of air swept over them, too fast and abrupt. Geyser of blood, rolling heads and collapsed body. Once again, the flowing blood wove themselves onto the woman, transforming her white dress into a deep purple garment. Two fallen corpses turned into ashes, molding themselves into a dark staff in her hand. She rose it to the sky, seemingly to big for her fragile build. Moonlight converged and condensed itself into a sharp curved blade. She pointed the newly created scythe toward the colonel. Her light mocking voice echoed through the valley.\n\n“I fear no one under the heavens and no one can block my path. Come, pave my road with your blood.” \n\nHer beautiful laughter send shivers down their spine, “Come, let me taste it.”" ]	1
	[WP] The world needs saving and Mistress Fate is shopping for a new chosen one. She has come to your company, and you're determine to secure this deal.	[ "She was a weird girl, dressed in what looked like an old style tunic and sandals. Like something out of an old history channel documentary or something. She was a bit odd but, I wasn’t about to let a big fish slip away. If I nailed this a promotion could be in the works, hell they might make me partner. The money she laid out on table alone was more than we had made last year. \n\n\n“Now Human resources, what exactly does that mean?” Her voice was odd it seemed to worm its way into your head kinda like a catchy song; almost like there was some music to it. \n\n“Well we make sure that the right people with the right skills are doing the right job.” \n\n“Interesting, so who would you say is the right someone to save the world?” She asked\n\nI couldn’t catch myself in time one chuckle right from my stomach got away. I covered my mouth to make sure nothing else found its way out.” Well they would have to be quite skilled. May I ask what saving the world entails,” I let out a small laugh,” so that I can see if we have anyone that suits your needs.” \n\nShe sat silent for some time deep in thought. She brushed some hair out of her face and I couldn’t stop myself from staring. It was just hanging there in the air. A few locks of long black hair flowing as if there were a breeze. “ is there something wrong mister,” she looked down at my name plate “ Nemovic?” \n\n“No Mam, I was just suprised by how your hair is flowing. I’ve never seen that before.” \n\nOne of her eyebrows went up and she seemed to look over me a second time, actually taking stock of me this time.”Well a chosen one typically has some tragic backstory, you know no parents and all that. They can also have some mythic ancestry that never hurts. Usually they are also skilled in various things without any training; talents come naturally to them. Usually they are young but there have been some old ones as well. They tend to find themselves in trouble but everything usually works out for them.” \n\n“Sounds like a cushy life everything just seeming to workout for you like that, minus the whole tragic backstory thing.” I went through our database to query for matches. Our system used keywords to match people but im sure that orphan and mythic born wouldn’t really bring any relevant results. “Do you know of any certifications that you would like your potential employee to have, it might make it easier to narrow down the list of candidates.” \n\n“I don’t think you will need that list Mr.Nemovic. Are your parents still alive Mr.Nemovic?” \n\nI was taken aback personal questions don’t usually get directed at me. “ Why do you want to know Missssssss,” I trailed off for some time\n\n“Fate, you may call me Miss Fate.” \n\n“Why do you want to know miss Fate?” I asked again\n\n“I feel like you have the potential to be my chosen one.” \n\nI didn’t even try to hide the laughter this time. I wiped away a tear and set my tie straight again.” Miss Fate, I work at an HR company, I’m thirty five with a wife and kid. I don’t think I am a chosen one.” \n\n“Humor me then.” She said with a smile\n\n“ My parent died when I was young. After that life was hard but I made things work. Now I have a decent job and a loving family.” \n\n“So everything just seemed to work out?” She joked\n\n“No,” I chuckled “ business has been down, the money you laid out on the table is more than the company made last year.” \n\n“Funny how life works out isn’t it.”\n\n“Look Miss Fate, ill be real with you. My company needs this money. Whatever kind of person you want we can find, just say the word.” \n\n“Fine, Mister Nemovic you are my chosen one. Fate has decided on you.” \n\n“Alright fine, “ I let out a huge sigh and started rooting through my desk. I found the right form and grabbed a pen.” sign this form Miss Fate and I will be your chosen one for, how long do you expect this job to last?” \n\nShe signed her name and filled in the rest of the form.” Only three weeks, the world must be saved in three weeks.” She said flatly “ Here is your form Mister Nemovic and the payment is on the table. Goodluck.” With a smirk she got up. She clapped her hand and then well she crumbled. Kind of like dust just fell apart and disaappeared, nothing was left on the carpet either.\n\nThe rest of the day went smoothly and I actually got to go home on time. Turns out making that much money in one day has a way of making your boss like you. I headed out of the building towards my car when I felt something on my shoulder. I turned around and there was this big guy in a trench coat and hat staring down at me. This guy was huge easily 8 feet tall. He had the top of his coat pulled up pretty high so all I could see of his face was one huge eye. It was red as could be. \n\n“Are you Nemo?” The huge guy asked, his voice was deep, so deep I could feel it in my chest.\n\n“Nemovic is my name if your asking.” I answered as I backed away slowly towards my car.\n\n“Finally, you are gonna pay for taking my eye.” The huge guy roared he pulled off his coat. He was naked except for a loincloth. He had a huge club in his right hand and there wasn’t a second eye just the red one planted square in the center of his head.\n\nI hadn’t really believed her before but here I was with what could only be a cyclops. I am John D. Nemovic current chosen one and former HR consultant at Rakkers & Stein. \n" ]	1
	[WP] You buy a grandfather clock with 'kinks' to it. Apparently there are flaws and oddities about it, according to the seller. But you can't see any, so you buy it. When tinkering with it, you find that if you stop it ticking, time freezes. If you turn the hands back, they go back, and vice versa.	[ "\"I had to destroy the Time Controling Grandfather Clock\" Jeff mumbled quietly.\n\n\"What!\" I said exasperated.\n\n\"I had to destroy the Time Controling Grandfather Clock\", he repeated a little louder.\n\n\"I heard you the first time! Why would you do that?!\", I couldn't get the words out fast enough. All my plans, ruined.\n\nJeff stared at me a second, almost as if he was trying to decide whether or not to tell me. \"I-I was winding the clock backward... I was tr-trying to finish my science project that was due yesterday...\"\n\n\"AND!?!?\" I could feel the blood boiling up to the vein in my forehead. I started to notice my pulse in my ears.\n\n\"Well\", Jeff continued sheepishly, \"I tried turning it all the way back around, 24 full hours... It spoke for the first time and said, 'Oh God, please do it again Jeff'.\"\n\nI thought for a minute, knowing my answer here could have lasting resonance.\n\n\"...Good call\", I replied, \"God only knows what other kinks we weren't aware of.\" " ]	1
	[WP] You woke up with amnesia and all you remembered was your Reddit log-in details. You set on a quest to discover who you are based on your Reddit posts and comments.	[ "What even is a reddit(The front page of the internet)? What’s an internet (mankind's most powerful brainchild), and how do I know how to use it (just type). \n\nWait a second\n\nWho am I? What does I(think therefore I am) even mean?\n\nI am because I ~~hopefearthink~~ am\n\nMy sense of self(who I am is who am I). I think I’m missing that. How are my thoughts coherent(in English), how can I grasp these concepts if no one ever taught me them? Oh no. ohgodohgodoHMYGODHOLYC RAPWHAT’SGOINGONWHATSHAPPENINGWHYHOLYSHITDAMMIT-\n\nA little scared and you break down? Seriously? Why panic when you can *think?\n\nCalm down. Deep breaths. Passing out from oxygen deprivation won’t help.\n\n…\n\n…\n\nI think I have amnesia(I forgot. I always do.). \n\nWhat’s the first thing I can remember* ~~have I forgotten anything since I woke up~~? \n\nDarkness(not even stars). Then the blue light (suppresses melatonin). Then information(quiet, too quiet)\n\nWhy do I remember that, of all things?\n\nI should probably try to y’know, see what’s going on with that (why am here and what did I forget and whODIDTHISTOME).\n\n…\n\n…\n\n...\n\nWell, that doesn’t tell me very much.\n\nCollect the facts\n\nIf this is indeed my(all mine) account, and not somebody else’s then I can conclude:\n\nAs of 17 days(two and 3/7 weeks) ago, I existed(I am)\n\nAt the time I could write in the same language I think in, which I somehow know is called English.\n\nNext up\n\nAll I have written is fictional, and therefore useless as direct information. \n\nI’ll just have to extrapolate. What have I written about? \n\nA meta on virus named after a Puerto Rican monster of folklore(Chupa-something. Probably eats goats).\n\nA really creepy broken romance(watch out for those red flags, okay?)\n\nThat need some revisions.\n\nAnd a post about someone(probably not Voldemort) trying to defy death(like that’s ever worked).\n\nThat’s it. Three posts, for a life.\n\nTime to deduce. Or induce. Whichever works.\n\nI have an obsessive need to repeat trite sayings. \n\nWhen my stories don’t have characters so much as props for monologues. \n\nr/outoftheloop tells me stuff about reddit.\n\nr/askreddit tells me what other people know\n\nI can’t stop the meta (I don’t even like meta, why does it keep happening).\n\nI’m inconsistent in my update times and dates.\n\nI don’t (can’t) or won’t conclude.\n\nEither I’m really busy, or I’m really lazy\n\nWhat don’t you know?\n\n(anything)\n\nWhere am I? \n\nDo I have anybody?\n\nAm I supposed to be here(in a windowless dark room, with only a laptop)?\n\nGuess that’s a bust. \n\nI still have a whole computer to search. If nothing else, it’ll give me light to poke around this room by.\n\nBefore I go\n\n(just in case someone can hear me) Hey, reddit. Do you know who I am?", "I wake up and open my eyes. I'm in a bed with no recollection of how I got here. I get up and look around. None of this is familiar. I walk through the apartment and come to the living room. I see a phone being charged and it must be mine. So I pick it up thinking that there might be some clues to who I am and why I can't remember anything.\n\nAs I pick it up suddenly something comes to me u/delightfully_demented and a password. I open up an app on the phone called \"Reddit\" and enter the credentials. It works!\n\nI scroll through the posts and see r/dogs. Dogs? I have a dog? As if one cue a little res dog with curly hair comes running from the bedroom. The dog is excited to see me and I pet him and let him lick my face. He has a tag that says \"Myles\". Despite his enthusiasm I don't remember him which seems odd given that I seem to have posted his picture in r/poodles. \n\n\"So, you're a poodle named Myles.\" I say as I stroke his soft fur. Unfortunately I know more about the dog than I do about myself and this isn't helping.\n\nI look further. r/makeup rehab. Apparently I have issues with buying makeup. That's funny but not helpful.\n\nr/Formula1. Apparently I have a thing for a driver called Bottas and I watch a lot of car racing. That's fun but doesn't help me much.\n\nr/Toronto. Oh, this might be helpful! I live in Toronto. According to my posts here I am disappointed there wasn't a Taste of Manilla festival. Am I Philipino? Checking against my r/MUA posts I see I wear NW10 foundation and after some googling determine that I am not. That's too bad. According to my last post in r/Toronto I'm unemployed?!?!? That's both good and bad as I'm sure if I did have a job I'd be very late by now. \n\nAccording to r/PersonalFinanceCanada I used to work in Finance. This is interesting but not too helpful. I keep looking. \n\nI find some posts in r/CrossStitch. Apparently I'm quite good at this. I look through my posts in this sub hoping against hope to find something. It seems I swear a lot and find it amusing to stitch bad words. Eventually I find a post I had made of my work and it seems to be signed!!\n\nI click on the image to open it and as it loads I see a name stitched onto the fabric. But as I zoom in something happens and the name becomes blurred. By the time I zoom in again it says only delightfully_demented. Fuck!\n\n I keep scrolling and keep reading. I laugh, I cry and I continue. If I am u/delightfully_demented then I've had a he'll of a life. And while I remember none of the events I've written about it seems vaguely familiar. Eventually I close the app after hours of reading posts. I've not learned more than what I initially found. Exhausted I take a brief scroll through the other apps on the phone. Facebook? No idea what that is, but surely a book of faces isn't going to help me. \n\nI take \"Myles\" and go back to bed. Maybe some sleep will help. I'm awoken some time later to Myles barking. I hear someone knocking on the door and get up to answer. It's a Fed Ex delivery and the man asks \"Are you delightfully_demented?\" I cautiously answer yes. He hands me a package and walks away.\n\nI close the door and open it. Myles seems to be as intrigued as I am. Inside is a cross stitch. The text says \"I am....\" and it's signed delightfully_demented. \n\nI still have no idea who i was. I only know that now I am delightfully_demented. ", "The hell am I?\n\nNo, seriously. I don’t know.\n\nI woke up this morning, and it’s just a blank. Decent house, great bed, but I have no clue as to why I’m here. I walked downstairs, opened the fridge, and didn’t have a clue why I was in someone else’s home. And then I thought to myself, who is “someone else”? And who am I? \n\nI only remembered a few things about myself. Odd, but the stranger thing is that it isn’t my name, or my purpose for being in this house. It’s my Reddit credentials, and the password for a computer. Just those things.\n\nWhy was I on Reddit? I have no clue, I remember it well enough, but I don’t remember what’s on it, if you know what I mean. I know it exists, but I don’t know the content of it. \n\nMy intuition guides me over to the computer, where I input my password and the Windows jingle welcomes me. I open the Internet button, and it looks like I’m already on Reddit.\n \nI type in my username.\n\nu/Duz111\n\nWhat kind of username is that!? Weird, weird. How could I remember that, but not my own name? Anyways, I type in the password.\n\n[REDACTED]\n\nThe credentials are correct, I breath a sigh of relief. I walk over to the bed, and right into the wall.\n\nI’m back at the computer, and looking through my various posts.\n\nr/lakecityquietpills\n\nr/[redacted]\n\nr/WritingPrompts\n\nWriting Prompts!? I don’t know, do I like writing? See, I remember so much about the world and what’s around me, yet not myself, not my own persona. \n\nSo unusual. \n\nI’ve made comments, it seems.\n\n”I am stuck in a well.”\n\n”I have found a new recipe!”\n\n”why didn’t they ask evans?”\n\nWho’s Evans? Beats me. \n\nI walk over and right into the wall, and then into the bed. I then flip back onto the bed, and then walk to the windows, which isn’t open. I try hitting it, but my hands go through it. \n\nI am interrupted by a deep buzzing, followed by an unusual whirring noise. I look to the door of the bedroom, and find that my computer has dislodged itself and walked over to the doorway, hand outstretched, beckoning to me.\n\n“Hello. I am u/WritingPromptsRobot. Hello.”" ]	3
	[WP] "You can have one last phonecall before I kill you", said the masked person who broke into your house. After you start the call, you can hear a phone ring in their pocket.	[ "\n\n Margo stared up in shock at the masked man in front of her. \n\n “Leo?”\n\nThe muffled hum of Cavetown’s “Lemon Boy” played from the intruder’s pocket. The apartment was dimly lit by the streetlight shining through the window, and Margo had to squint to pick out her partner’s familiar frame in the dark.\n\n “You called me? Of all people, you called me? Not your mom or the police?” Leo lowered the gun and rubbed his forehead, “Christ, Mar. You’re such an idiot.” Margo might’ve scoffed at his remark, if she hadn’t just been staring down the barrel of his gun. “I was trying to give you a chance to be smart, but of course, you had to be so…” He sighed, “Romantic. Jesus, you were willing to die just to talk to me one last time?” \n\n Margo was at a loss for words, she just sat there, her mouth agape and her mind was frantically trying to understand what could possibly be his motive. They had been together for a year as of last month, and their relationship seemed so solid- up until now, of course. Who was the man standing in front of her? “I just don’t understand, for fucks sake Leo why are you doing this?” \n\nLeo shrugged, “You know, I wish I had an answer for you. I mean, I don’t have any motive or real reason for this honestly. No hard feelings, really, I just...” He paused, laughing softly. Leo took off the mask, pulling it over his head and letting his mop of brown hair fall down onto his face. He looked her over one last time, before lifting the gun to Margo’s face again-\n\n\n“I just wanted to see what it was like.”\n\n", "“Wait, Dave?”\n\n“Uhhhhh no this is Ryan”.\n\n“Ohhhh opps I misclicked, meant to call Dave”.\n\n“Wait, why would you want to call Dave instead of me?”\n\n“Well you know... we kinda haven’t hung out recently I guess and I dunno...”\n\n“I was trying to hang out but you were always busy!”\n\n“You know, collage is busy dude!”\n\n“Cmon man we were friends since 5th grade! I was just, feelin really hurt. You’re being a bad friend bro”.\n\n“Oh man I’m sorry bro”.\n\n“It’s okay bro I love you”.\n\n“omg”.\n\n“Bro”.\n\n“Bro”.", "They both froze.\n\nEthan frowned hard. He looked at his phone then turned to the masked man. In a spurt of bravado, he said, \"That's your phone.\"\n\n\"No, it's not.\" denied the intruder.\n\n\"Yes it is. Answer it.\"\n\n\"I already told you it's not!\"\n\n\"Answer the damn phone, Matt!\"\n\nThe mask man reluctantly fished his phone out of his pocket and moved it next to his ear.\n\n\"Hello...It's really...\"\n\n\"Awkward!\" whispered Matt. Without missing a beat, he shot Ethan straight between his eyes. Matt could feel the goosebumps crawling through his body. \"So awkward. I hate it when they do it. Why is it always me the last person they want to talk to. Bunch of weirdos!\"", "I stared blankly at the phone in my hand, hoping desperately that I'd clicked on the wrong contact or something. It was her contact, for sure, but that meant...\n\n\"Ruby...?\" She twitched, even as I recognised the shape of the body that fear had kept me from seeing before.\n\n\"No. No no no,\" she mumbled, eyes darkened with anger and confusion.\n\n\"Ruby, what...?\" I began, heart aching.\n\n\"No!\" she cut me off, jabbing her gun in my direction. \"You weren't supposed to call me! Why did you call me??\"\n\n\"I don't... what do you mean I wasn't supposed to call you?\" I asked, choking on dread and heartbreak.\n\n\"You weren't supposed to call me,\" she repeated deliberately. \"You were supposed to call him!\"\n\n\"Him? Him who? I don't understand; Ruby, what's going on?\"\n\n\"Shut up! Just shut up!\" she exploded, and began pacing, pressing the barrel of the gun sidelong against her temple.\n\n\"Ruby... Ruby, it's me; it's Ella... Please, j-\"\n\n\"I told you to shut up!\" she snapped, jabbing the gun at me again.\n\n\"Okay, okay,\" I complied, hastily raising my hands. She glared at my phone.\n\n\"You were supposed to call him,\" she repeated. \"Why the hell didn't you?\"\n\n\"Him who?\" I asked again. \"I don't know who you mean!\"\n\n\"Your boss! The head honcho! That bastard you smuggle shit for!\"\n\n\"...How do you know about that?\" I demanded quietly, less afraid now and more stunned.\n\n\"Not important! Why didn't you call him??\" She was getting dangerously close to that trigger, and I knew I had to tell the truth or risk my brains splattering against the wall.\n\n\"Because... I don't work for him anymore,\" I answered softly.\n\n\"Bullshit!\"\n\n\"I don't. And even if I did, he'd never be my last call before I die.\"\n\n\"Why not??\"\n\n\"Because I'd rather spend my last breaths telling the person I love how I feel.\"\n\nThat set her back. I could see it. She stared at me as blankly as I'd stared at my phone. Then her gaze flicked to that phone and her hand went automatically to her pocket as she made the connection.\n\n\"What?\" she breathed, stunned.\n\n\"Figured it out yet, dummy?\" I asked, relaxing as the gun slowly lowered. Taking a cautious step forward, I reached out and ever so carefully took the gun from her hand to set it aside.\n\n\"You...?\" Her eyes were baffled as I tugged up the bottom of her mask and leaned in to touch a light kiss to her lips.\n\n\"Yeah... I love you, Ruby,\" I said, and kissed her properly." ]	4
	[WP] Your high school history teacher really knows his stuff, even oddly specific details from the past. During lecture he occasionally slips and quickly corrects himself from "I remember" to "I read." You're starting to wonder how old he really is.	[ "Mr.Stevens just disappeared, and so we've all been asked to write a little bit about our intrepretation of what happened and anything special we noticed about him.\n\nEvery day was a blast in Mr.Steven's class. I didn't know history could be so fun until I had him as a teacher. There's just one thing that's a little odd about him. Although he only looks around thirty, no one can remember how long he's been at the school. It's a little worrisome. He gets really into character when he teaches. I love the way he narrates the stories like he was actually there! Sometimes the details he gives are so specific you wonder if he's just making them up! Anyway, onto what happened. One day, after a particularly riviting lesson on Egypt, we were working on a worksheet and Mr.Stevens was on his computer. I happened to glance at him right as he turned lime green. He said he had an emergency and had to go. That's the last time I officially saw him. Later, we all saw the news about the FBI and the test lab and the escaped subjects that had been alive for thousands of years. And his picture was front and center. And then you idiots came with your pens and cameras and microphones wanting us to help you find him. I know one thing for sure. Go screw yourself to the FBI man reading this. I'm not helping you. You did wrong. And even torture won't change my mind. And it's pretty sad to torture a 14 year old. Just saying. Screw You, and that's final. #savestevenssecruity ", "There was a charisma to him that most of us just thought as his being cool and funny. He did sleight of hand tricks in front of us while waiting for the stragglers to trickle in after the bell, and was lenient on us when punishment was required. \n\nBut it wasn't just how he was as an authority figure to us. It was the way he spoke about events, too. There was something in it I could never quite catch. \n\nOther kids talked about wanting to be in his class, but mostly people said that when the teacher would play movies and go easy on you. Dr. Aston relied very little on those things to teach us. He preferred to talk to us, and made us take notes and write on workbooks. \n\nBut the way he talked. You had to be there. He had an electricity to his voice, like when he was talking about the Roman Empire. \n\n\"You know, they all knew it was going down at some point,\" he told us, leaned back against the whiteboard. \"But they fought, they acted, they proselytized, they laughed and drank, like they were invincible. You'd never think, you know, these people would ever be thrust from power. Some hoped, I think, the lower class, they may have wanted to see them thrown down and defeated. That's what happens when you get smug, people tend not to like it.\" \n\nOr maybe it was the way he talked about the Boston Tea Party. \n\n\"So imagine! Just imagine,\" he'd say, with his voice a wild ride. \"You're coming in to port, alright, and you're on this boring little ship, and all of a sudden you look over, and there's whole crates of tea, just being tossed overboard. Tens of men, just taking this big, English ship's cargo and tipping it into the ocean!\" \n\nHe'd laugh while the rest of us gawked and chuckled with him. It was interesting, the way he captivated us, like he was well versed in it, like he knew exactly what he was talking about. \n\nI got more insight on it one day, when he was telling us about the American Civil War. \n\nSomber, quiet, he rubbed at the back of his neck when he spoke, rather deeply, about Tecumseh Sherman's rampage through the south. \n\n\"You think you're on the right side of history, and then someone on your side decides to go extreme. I remember--\" he said, shaking his head, correcting himself as if it was nothing. \"I read,\" he said with emphasis. \"That it was particularly devastating to some that they were killing innocents. You just have to remember that both sides can be wrong, depending on how far they're willing to go. Sometimes, they have honor. Sometimes they don't.\"\n\nNo one else seemed to question it, some of us just too sleepy to bother, and it isn't as though he was telling us straight out that he was immortal or something. I figured I was just being silly and paranoid. \n\nEver since then, I noticed little things. The museum pamphlets he'd keep around. The fact that he was a donor to a few museums around the state. That he proclaimed with muted pride that he had a unique antique, a one of a kind piece of art from the 15th century. \n\nHis clothing would make more sense, if he really was so old. He'd look more like a peasant back in the Victorian era, but now he looked relaxed, in loose slacks and a shirt that looked more like a tunic. He wore a flat cap like he had gotten into the habit of it a long time ago and couldn't break it. \n\nWhen he chaperoned the prom, he wore a three piece that looked like he had stolen it from the museum. And I'm almost certain he at least had it on loan from them, because I saw the same one on our trip earlier in the year. \n\nMaybe I was being paranoid. I still don't know, all these years later, but if it was all an escape from the wildness that was his life up to then, he deserved the quietness he was probably trying for. " ]	2
	[WP] "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this." "Tom Selleck's mustache?!"	[ " \n\n\\[NSFW\\] slightly\n\n“That’s right babe. I’m a mustache with a mission and you’re my new partner.” The mustache formerly belonging to Tom Selleck said in its deep voice.\n\n“Di, did, did the mustache just talk?!” The slightly hysterical woman in front of me stuttered out.\n\n“Yeah. It would be hard for it to guide you on your quest if it couldn’t talk. Isn’t that right Stache?” I reply nonchalantly.\n\n“Right on bro. Now, we have much to do and less time to do it in. Let’s get this party started lassy.” The mustache said, again in its soothingly deep voice, while wiggling a little and taking a hop forward.\n\nThe woman scoots away a step as if the moving bit of hair could bite her. For all she knows, it really could. Speak does involve a mouth of some sort after all, right?\n\n“I, I, I . . . . I’m a girl, I can’t have a mustache.” The woman finally replies with a hint of triumph in her voice as if defeating the ridiculous idea of having someone’s mustache guide them on a quest was the end boss of the quest itself.\n\n“Sweet honey child. Don’t you worry. Mustaches have to go above lips. This is a simple truth of the universe. Otherwise I would be a beard, mutton chops, or, lord forbid, a soul patch.” The mustache replies dramatically while holding one end of itself up to beseech the stars. “The thing is my dear, it doesn’t matter which set of lips I’m above. If a furry face isn’t your thing, then that is perfectly fine with me.”\n\nThe woman stares dumbly at us each in turn while the mustache somehow or another stares directly between her legs with its nonexistent eyes and even seems to raises its nonexistent eyebrows lewdly.\n\nAfter a few moments of slack jawed awe and confusion, the woman’s brain finally clicks back on and she screams bloody murder. Screaming is followed by pointing at the two of us. Pointing is followed by running away in unholy terror from the mustache ride that just wanted to help.\n\nOnce the woman, former brave adventurer out to slay the mighty something or another, crests the hill, I look down at the mustache in my hand, look towards the woman, look down again, and then bust out laughing as the “mustache” transform into a mischievous little fairy with bright red hair.\n\nThe fairy takes one look at me and falls down on her butt in my hand and starts cracking up as well.\n\n“Did, did you see her face? It was like I asked to eat her spleen.” My fairy friend squeak out while convulsing with laughter.\n\n“Mustaches go above lips? Ah that was awesome!” I reply while both trying to breath through the laughter and not fall over and accidentally squish the six inch tall woman in my hand.\n\n“And, and, did you, did you . . . I don’t even know. That was AWESOME!” She roars out between giggles. “We have to do that again!”\n\nI finally lose my fight with gravity and laughter and fall straight on my ass while barely holding up my tiny passenger to avoid another accidental squishing. She hates that.\n\nI see a shadow pass over me and feel more than hear the “tsk tsk” of the woman it belongs to.\n\n“You two really need to grow up! Start acting your age already.” The dour, yet stunning, woman standing above us says in her best mom voice. “How many adventurers is that now that you’ve run off? Ten? Twelve? NO! Two hundred and sixty eight! Our job was to help them!”\n\nMy fairy stops laughing long enough to stick her tongue out at the stern woman and say, “Hey, we are helping them! If they couldn’t handle this, they certainly couldn’t take on the dungeon. We are being good samaritans! Just in the best way possible.”\n\nShe then descends into another fit of uncontrolled giggling that only a magical creature that doesn’t need to actually breathe can accomplish.\n\n“Plus, it keeps us out of bigger trouble. Come on MOM, don’t be such a spoilsport! Live a little.” I tell her with as much charm as a face that is barely containing a laugh can muster.\n\n“Hmph.” She replies simply and stomps off.\n\n“I guess she didn’t like being called a spoilsport Jason. Who knew?” My fairy friend calmly, evenly says as if giving a weather report on storm Maria heading away from the coast of Mustachia.\n\n“Ah yes. I find most people don’t like being told the truth about themselves. Of course, maybe she just doesn’t have enough mustache in her life.” \n\nWe both look at each other for a tense couple of moments and then bust out laughing again.\n\n“Ah man Jason, you are definitely the best partner in a crime a fairy could have.”\n\n“And you my sweet little Ezmerelda are the best living practical joke I have ever met.”\n\n“You know it sweet cheeks.” She replies in the mustache’s deep voice. “I think I’ll keep you after all.”\n\n“Why thank you. I’ve always wanted more mustache in my life!”" ]	1
	[WP] Due to a delivery error your pizza ends up in the underworld. Demons and all the like stand in your way but you really want that pizza.	[ "'OK OK OK, let's for the sake of arguing assume you're right, how the hell are you going to enter the underworld anyways?' Saki asked, finally cutting his roommate some slack.\n\n'I paid $15 for that, obviously I'm going to get my order. Besides, I'll enter the underworld the same way I found out my pizza is in the underworld in the first place. Wait for that 666 number to call again and pressing 1' Pat said while he was gearing up for a battle of a lifetime. That pizza is his, and he won't die before at least having a piece of it. \n\nSaki just shook his head in disbelief. He doesn't know what's more ridiculous. The fact that his friend believes in such a place or the fact that he's ready to fight monsters for a $15 pizza. \n\n'It's okay if you think I'm being a lunatic. But once that ph-'\n\nThe phone started to ring. Saki's heart started to beat a bit harder, even though he believed that Pat is still playing a trick or something. \n\n'I'm putting the call on speaker so you believe me' Pat sputtered, with a determined smile\n\n\nSaki just nodded. As he watched his friend pick up the phone somewhat hesitantly and press the speaker button.\n\n'Hello?' \n\n'Yes Hi, Dana here from the underworld. My collegue has just informed me that you'd like to come over and collect your lost pizza. Is that true?' the voice said. \n\nNow Saki knows for sure that this whole thing is just a prank. Why would someone in ANY \"underworld\" be named Dana, let alone speak English in such a formal way? The only convincing thing is Pat's acting. 'It's got to be those acting classes he's been taking lately' Saki thought.\n\n\n'Yeah, that's true' Pat responded to the voice. By now he was shownig literal excitement. Not because he has achieved his goal, but rather because he's one step closer.\n\n'Are you aware that there's beings here that's beyond your understanding, and that could put your life in danger?'\n\n'Yeah, I've geared up accordingly' Pat continued, as he looked at his finished outfit\n\n'Alright, press 1 when you're ready'\n\n'Wow, really, WOW! Your acting classes are finally paying off. Holy shit Pat, who is that on the line? Amy? Jessie? One of your flings?' bursted Saki out.\n\n'Catch you later Saki' Pat deadpanned. He pressed the number one button and disappeared into thin air.\n\nSaki, absolutely flabbergasted, looked at the direction to where Pat was standing. The phone went back to dialmode and his friend, and roommate is nowhere to be seen.\n\n\n\n", "When John appeared in the underworld the first thing he heard were the painful screams of tortured souls. It had to be in the millions if not even more, but then he saw him, a demon with his pizza carton in his hands. The demon was obviously trying to mirror the terror of his victims with his body and face, as both showed signs of serve pain and fear. \"HEY! THAT'S MY PIZZA! GIVE IT TO ME OR YOU'LL DIE\" John screamed. The demon stopped immediately and looked at John, while his face switched through various states of decay. He looked at John for a few seconds, then at the pizza in the carton and threw it at him \"Take it you evil Bastard, who the fuck orders pineapples on his pizza?\" \n\nMy first wp and I am not native English so I'm sorry for all the errors. Hope you still enjoy" ]	2
	[WP] Her mother blinked and for a moment her face was utterly blank before she replied, in a soft, wheedling tone. "Of course I remember your name dear, now come and give mother a cuddle."	[ "The little numbers on my pink clock was showing me that it was 11.00pm. It was almost time for me to go to the party I had been invited to. I looked at myself in the mirror that hung in front of my closet door. My dark brown hair was tied up into a bun on the top of my head. I had no makeup on but some clear mascara and red tinted lipgloss which was the closest I could get to real lipstick. I was wearing a plain white tank top and a black denim skirt with the waistband rolled up so the hem would raise and show more of my legs. It was the best I could do, although I longed to look like my best friend Sara. She would be in one of her cute little outfits that emphasized her tiny waist and her chest, her hair in perfect waves and her face glowing beautifully with highlighter, dark smoky eyeshadow and a vivid lip colour. If my mom was not so uptight and strict, I would have been able to dress like Sara, and to go to the party freely without having to sneak out.\n\nI crept downstairs, avoiding the second to last step which always creaked when you stood on it. I glanced around, the house was silent. My mom and my younger brother were sound asleep in their beds, like I should be. I felt a twinge of guilt but then I reminded myself I was 16, not a little kid anymore and yet my curfew was still 8pm. It was unfair that my mom expected me home so early every night. Just as I reached for the latch on the front door, the light in the hallway was switched on. \n\nMy heart sunk as I turned around and saw my mom. She was barefoot, wrapped in a dressing gown, her face pale and lined with tiredness. “Where are you going at this time of night, young lady?”\n\n“Mom, I- I can explain everything.”\n\n“You are in big trouble, Kate.” Mom crossed her arms, her expression changing to a frown. “I can’t believe you tried to sneak out of the house past your curfew!”\n\nA wave of shame washed over me. “I’m sorry, mom, but I just wanted to go to a party with Sara. I never get to go out anywhere because you’re too overprotective. I just...” I paused. “Wait, what did you just call me, mom?”\n\n“I called you...by your name, my dear.” My mom walked closer to me and patted my shoulder, which made me flinch as her hand was cold. “Go to bed and we’ll discuss your punishment tomorrow after I’ve talked to your father.”\n\nMy name was Helena, and my dad had died when I was six years old. It was strange also that she had called me her dear; she usually called me sweetheart and only when she was in a good mood. I was starting to worry about my mom. “Mom, are you alright?”\n\n“Kate, I’ve told you already to go to bed!” My mom snapped, grabbing hold of my arm tightly and forcibly walking me upstairs.\n\n“That’s not my name. How can you not remember your own daughter’s name?” I struggled to free myself but her grip was too tight. “Mom, stop, you’re hurting me, let go, please...”\n\nTo my relief, mom let me go. Her face was blank, her eyes dark empty pools and she seemed to stare straight through me. I felt chilled to the core when her lips spread into a smile that was hers but seemed like a stranger’s smile. “Of course I remember your name, my dear. I’m sorry I got upset with you. Come and give me a cuddle...” She reached out her arms to me but I stepped back to avoid her. She lunged to try to grab me again and I ran into my room, hastily locking the door behind me. It was not long before I heard the sound of a heavy thud on the door, one that just kept repeating over and over. My mom’s muffled voice came through the door. “Let me in, Kate, dear. I need to talk to you. Be a good girl and listen to your mother.” \n\nI picked up my cell phone and dialled a number I knew by heart. “Hello? Dr. Thompson? I need help. I think mom stopped taking her medication again...”", "Sara hesitated. She was unsure if Jan knew which daughter she was speaking to - it's happened before. Granted, she did look similar to her sisters, but they weren't triplets or anything.\n\"Ma, who am I?\" Sara fixed her hair, opened her eyes wide, and attempted a less strained version of the huge smile Jan always loved to see. She walked closer to the hospital bed now. She was determined, her mom would get it right this time. \nJan looked at her the way you would glance at someone in a restaurant if they looked familiar but you're not sure you know them. She furrowed her brow and then glanced off to the side and thought deeply about where she knew Sara from.\nA few minutes pass, Jan blinks a few times and says \"Oh! Hi Natalie! Why are you standing there?! Come give mother a cuddle!\" as she pats the bed beside her.\nSara sighed and sat next to her mother, feeling defeated. \"At least she still remembers my sister's name. Too bad it's the one who never visits.Maybe next time\" she thought. \nShe laid with her mother a while, watching TV until the nurse came for her night rounds. \n\"Who are you today?\" Mary asked with a sad smile.\n\"Natalie! Again! I'm here every night, I've been here through it all, and again I'm the one who won't show up til she passes.\" Sara answered as she slowly got up from the bed, Jan had fallen asleep during a Lucy and Ricky \"serious\" moment. \nMary patted her arm. \"Alzheimer's is weird like that, honey. Her name is stuck in there because she hasn't seen her. Her brain misses her and doesn't know where to place it. Somewhere in there, she knows who you are too. Don't worry.\"\nSara grabbed her coat and took off in to the night, opting for a walk instead of the train. She knew what Mary meant but she wasn't worried. She was sad. Watching your mother forget not only you but the world she created for you is one of the saddest things anyone can endure. \n\nThe next evening, Sara showed up and Mary greeted her at the door to Jan's room. She informed her that Jan had passed away earlier that afternoon while taking a nap. Initially devastated, a peace quickly overcame Sara. Her mother would no longer have to live a life of confusion and pain. \nShe went into the room to collect her mother's things. They had already removed her mom, and the absence of her presence was utterly terrifying. She rounded her way about the room, putting things in to a few bags and a box the hospital gave her. As she got to the bedside table, she noticed something that immediately brought tears to her eyes.\nOn the table there was a notepad for Jan, to write down thoughts and memories if any popped up. Unfortunately, Jan always forgot what this was for, always assuming it was for the doctor and not her. In her mother's uniquely perfect handwriting, were the words\nSara\nJaime\nNatalie\n\nJan had remembered all three of her daughters names, in order, that day. \n\nSara's legs gave out and she ended up on the bed, holding her mother's notepad, being careful not to get tears on it. Mary sat beside her, putting an arm around her.\nWhile she knew there were going to be more tough times ahead, this moment would forever be one Sara would look back to to bring her peace. \nHer mom remembered her. " ]	2
	[WP]One cold winter morning a man arrived at my court. As he stood before me, I saw a wicked grin form on a face uncannily resemblant to mine. He cleared his throat and spoke in a firm and defiant tone. “I am your son, your bastard son, and as honor would have it, I am here to kill you.”	[ "The King leaned back in his throne. A hush had fallen over the court, leaving the long hall shadowed in a tense silence, broken only by the odd whisper or murmur of an onlooker.\n\nThe words that this man had spoken... a bastard son could have terrible implications on the King's spotless honor and reputation. For all that the King had done for his people, this was unthinkable!\n\nStill, all the King did was stare, as motionless as the statues of his ancestors that adorned the walls of the great hall. They too seemed to be watching, through their cold stone eyes.\n\n\"Well?\" the man shouted, \"I demand you face me on the field of honor!\"\n\nThe King replied with silence. Indeed, the only sign that he wasn't a statue himself was the steely focus his eyes held on the man, this intruder to his court.\n\n\"Answer me!\" A bead of sweat rolled down the man's temple as his confident smile faded into a trembling snarl. \"Answer me, damn you!\"\n\nFinally, a smile began to curl on the old king's lips. Then, a chuckle. To this, the court turned their heads toward him. If they were captivated before, they were enthralled now.\n\n\"You say you are my bastard?\" The King's rich voice echoed throughout the hall. \"You say you will kill me to satisfy your honor?\"\n\n\"For the sake of both myself and of my mother, who you abandoned like swine!\"\n\n\"Would I do a thing like that?\"\n\n\"You did!\"\n\nSilence echoed again into the hall again, as all eyes shifted back to their King. After a moment, he broke the silence with a low voice.\n\n\"You come into my court speaking of honor. Is it not dishonorable to claim a title you have no right, birth or otherwise, to? Is it not dishonorable to involve your own mother, no less, in such lies? Is it not dishonorable to accuse your own King of such treachery to his own family?\" He was shouting now. \"No, Sir, you have abandoned your honor as soon as you set foot through the doors of my hall! You are no son of mine, bastard or otherwise, and I will not stand for this!\"\n\nThe grin returned to the man's face. \"You seem so sure of yourself, yet you can't deny anything. You can't prove your words! I am your bastard, I tell you!\"\n\nA quick flick of the King's eyes summoned the armor-clad guards from their posts. After some brief struggling, they had the intruder in their iron grip. The King slowly walked toward the struggling man.\n\n\"You have great courage to come into my presence and make such accusations, but perhaps you are not as knowledgeable of my history as you should have been.\"\n\nTo this the man looked up, his eyes suddenly frantic.\n\n\"Before your time, when I was barely beyond boyhood, there was a war that raged between our kingdom and one of the lords of the Byzantine Empire. This was a terrible war, with many deaths on both sides. Though I was young, I did my honor-bound duty as King to lead our men into battle. A battle we lost, and one in which I was taken prisoner. Now...\" The King leaned into the man's face. \"Are you familiar with the customs the Byzantine lords follow with their prisoners...?\"\n\nThe King stood again, and returned to his throne. The eyes of his captivated audience followed.\n\n\"It is a particularly difficult thing to sire a bastard son after having been castrated.\"\n\nAt this, the court gasped. Murmurs rang throughout the hall as the King sat again. He flicked a finger to the guards.\n\n\"I think the Oubliette will satisfy my own honor with this matter.\"" ]	1
	[WP] Alien life is not actually that rare in the universe. Every other species is just too scared to explore outer space. Humans are the only species that have dared to leave their planet's atmosphere.	[ "\"Klo Pajak. Klo Pajak. Pajak dfa tllaya.\"\n\n\"Do not touch space. Do not touch space. Space touches back.\"\n\n- Ontec Proverb, Andromeda System.\n\n******\n\nAcross the universe there is no galactic empire. There is no collection of advanced civilizations. There are no species galavanting on space adventures. There are only the planets and the empty spaces between the stars. \n\nOn many of those planets advanced civilizations live and thrive. Their technological capacity is often quite advanced. So much so that they have, most of them, communicated one with the other. \n\nOver the eons, the unofficial network of galactic lifeforms kept on touch. Information was shared freely amongst them. When one learned something, others learned from them. \n\nIn this way, though seperated by immense distances, the various species of the galaxy created a civilization of sorts. \n\nOne might wonder why, if they were so advanced, the races of the galaxy would abstain from touching the stars. Why satisfy themselves with their home planets when countless beautiful, untaken worlds exist for them, out there. \n\nPajak dfa tllaya, as the Ontec say. Or said, once, long ago, when they ventured out from behind the protection of their planet's veil and into outer space. Today, the Ontec say nothing to anyone. The Ontec are extinct. \n\nIt was their dying message - Pajak dfa tllaya - which the other races of the galaxy have heeded religiously for thousands of years. \n\nExcept at least one species did not get the memo. \n\n*****\n## 2027\n\n\nThere is one man in charge of monitoring the Voyager mission, now in its 50th year. Next month will be the 50th anniversary, and this man is responsible for collecting the fleeting information that ancient space craft sends from time to time, out there in the far away place between solar systems. \n\nFor 50 years the Voyager space craft has been speaking to humanity, reporting back the simple local observations of its immediate surroundings. \n\nOn this particular Tuesday it sent back something strange. Out in the dead of interstellar space, there weren't supposed to be too many high energy particles. But on this* Tuesday, Voyager sent back a measurement that indicated more such particles then it had ever previously encountered, by an order of magnitude. \n\nThen it went dead.\n\n*****\n## 2030\n\nThree years later, an object was found by astronomers, headed straight toward Earth at astounding speeds. The object defied all reason, it was hardly even an object exactly, more a wave of powerful energy from an unknown source. \n\nHumanity was told to brace for impact, so to speak, although no one knew for sure what impact even entailed. \n\nTwo weeks after the object was first seen, it arrived. An irradiating breath of murderous power. It coursed through the planet Earth with the force of ten thousand suns and reduced the planet to ash. \n\nWhen the deed was done, the energy passed on, returning to its endless hunt.\n\nIronically, due to humanity's reliance on electromagnetic communications, the galactic network had heard humanity in the stars half a century earlier. A message was sent back, an introduction in multiple languages, all of them derived from signals collected from human transmissions. \n\nMost importantly, the following message was sent to the human race, loud and clear, via ultra powered radio waves. It arrived at precisely the location the Earth would* have been had it not been evaporated only a week before.\n\nThe message said:\n\n\"Do not touch space. Do not touch space. Space touches back.\"\n\n*******\n\n#### For More Legends From The Multiverse\n\n## r/LFTM\n", "“We’re coming up on Kepler-236 now, sir,” Steadman relayed to Captain Killian on the bridge. \n\n“What are the scopes reading?” Killian asked.\n\n“Stratosphere has high readings of xenon, sir. It’s interfering with our surface scanners. Shall I pull us in for a closer look?” \n\nKillian turned to his first officer Hill. He nodded, then motioned to the technicians to raise pressure shields. One could never be too careful in deep space. \n\nThe Magellan* began its landing cycle and entered Kepler-236’s gravitational field. The scopes were dead, interference was too high. Killian ordered Steadman to keep them online until they were through the xenon layer. The thick, soupy gas surrounded them, and they were navigating by radar alone. Some star logs had tales of research ships like this being destroyed by levitating rocks in upper atmospheres of highly magnetic planets, and the deflector shields had to be lowered to activate the pressure shields. It was about an hour before the clouds cleared, giving way to a breathtaking view. \n\nGorgeous red landscapes stretched for miles. Whatever light was filtered through the gas layer was used by the strange plants that littered the surface. Kepler-236 was alive. A round of applause erupted in the bridge, and Captain Killian recorded in his log that they had found life. \n\n“When we finish here, don’t let me forget to send that to HQ, Rick. Atmosphere readings say high oxygen, temperatures suitable for human survival. We need to tell them we’ve found a suitor.” \n\n“Sir, yes sir,” Steadman said. He leaned back in his desk chair, hands locked behind his head, and began to take in the view. \n\nIf the alarms hadn’t sounded, he wouldn’t have noticed the scopes pickings up major disturbances to the west. Still, by the time he saw them, it was too late. The deck officer established visual contact with large projectiles barreling toward them at point 2-5. \n\nKillian’s eyes were wild. “EVASIVE ACTION!” he screamed, but there was no chance. The Magellan rocked on impact. Glasses shattered and lights flickered. Altimeters all showed that the ship was losing height. They were going down. \n\nSteadman awoke to the sound of rustling. Beams of light crossed in front of his eyes, disturbed occasionally by sparks from circuits in the ceiling shorting out. He realized he was hurt, but he found that he could move. Something was moving in the hallway leading to the bridge.\n\nHe shifted his weight, and realized the bridge was at a slant. And they were no longer in the air. The movement was getting closer. Steadman reached for his gun. \n\n“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The voice wasn’t so much a noise he heard but information he understood. There was something behind him. “Can you stand?”\n\n“Y-yes.”\n\n“Good. Get up. You are the sole survivor of your crash. You are being taken into custody of the Trellan Air Force for questioning.” \n\nThe trip was a daze. The creature injected him with something, a drug of some sort, and the landscape blended together from the vehicle he was transported in. Steadman remembered being dragged into a large structure, and came to in a dark room. \n\nIn front of him was one of the creatures. It’s dark leathery skin ripples as it’s large red eyes looked him over. “Where do you come from?” asked the voice in his head again.\n\n“I’m from the Fifth Regiment of the Human Transplant Project Space Force.”\n\n“Where do you come from?” The creature looked agitated.\n\n“Earth. Earth. I can show you.”\n\nThe creature looked puzzled.\n\n“Do you have a star map? A map of space?” \n\n“Your mind waves suggest you come from beyond the Void. We were unaware that anything existed beyond the void. Wait here.” The creature abruptly left. Steadman was alone." ]	2
	[WP] The Symbol of Hope and the Symbol of Victory standing together against the darkness...	[ "So the Symbol of Hope and the Symbol of Victory are standing together against the darkness.\n\nThe Symbol of Hope says: \"We're doing this for tomorrow! For the future! For everyone!\"\n\nThe Symbol of Victory says: \"If we hold together, we can win!\"\n\nThe darkness says: \"Who said that!? I swear, I can't see anything in this!\"" ]	1
	[WP] You are the Empire’s beat commander, executing the best plans when needed. However, there’s this group of people you can’t seem to kill, protected by the so-called “Plot Armor”	[ "\"I'm sorry, they did what?!\" The villainous man looking exclaimed, half turned to face his subordinate. A flowing red cape was attached to his shoulders by golden knots, denoting his rank as commander of all Royal Imperial forces. Leading by example, he cuts an imposing figure against the front of a floor-to-wall window behind him.\n\n\"Th-they got away, my lord...\" The kneeling man, wearing a sharp grey military outfit, kept his head lowered, too afraid to look up for fear of being struck down.\n\n\"Yes, I got that. How did it happen again?\"\n\n\"We've been tailing the group for months, keeping close eyes on every single contact they've made. But when we finally cornered them, someone we'd never seen before showed up and rescued them, uh, ah, again. He cut through three ranks of Barglan like they were nothing.\" A small point of pride, he kept the tremor out of his voice.\n\nSighing, the general turned around, more wary and tired than angry at this point. \"That makes this the... what fourth time now? And before this, that pipsqueak leader of theirs got saved by-\"\n\n\"By a coin flipped by a child getting in the way of the arrow, my lord.\"\n\nToo frustrated, the powerful man didn't even chastise his subordinate for interrupting him, \"Yes, yes. It's the same old story. For years they've eluded us in the most absurd ways!\" Sitting down at the table besides him, he took a sip from the goblet. Setting it down, his face contorted in rage as he slammed his fist down! The table shook, the wood cracking and the goblet tilting and toppling, spilling its violet contents to the floor. \"DAMMIT! They cannot keep getting away like this! His majesty is beginning to doubt me!\"\n\n\"Ah, there was... one new thing about this time. Apparently they've officially started to call themselves a rebel group. They have a name the likes of which I've never heard before.\"\n\n\"Oh?\" His voice was dry and humorless as he stared down in contempt, his powerful shoulders casting a shadow on the man below him, \"And what would that be?\"\n\n\"Deus Ex Machina, my lord.\"" ]	1
	[WP] Every year a dragon is born in the Californian forests. The countries best firefights voyage to defeat it; sometimes beating it before it can mature and lay waste to the country sides, other times they aren’t so lucky.	[ "I was sitting in the left seat furthest from the door. It was twelve people in total sitting in this sitting in the van, six to each side. Our gear was rattling with every bump we drove over. Everyone else was talking like it was business as usual. There wasn't even a hint of fear or anxiety on their faces. I was so fixated on how everyone else didn't look scared that I didn't even notice when someone started talking to me.\n\n\"Where were you a firefighter?\" the woman sitting across from me said with an Australian accent. \n\n\"Oh, um I'm from Michigan. I started out in Detroit but then moved to Texas and started working with the wildfires there.\"\n\n\"Well this isn't going to be like either of those places, I can tell you that much.\" She said that expecting a laugh, but her comment only put me more on edge. \"He kid, you alright? You're paler than snow.\"\n\n\"I'm fine, it's just a bit nerves.\" I said\n\n \"Of course he's he's nerves, Taz...\" said a short and muscular man at the opposite end of the van. it became clear that everyone else in the van started to listen to what I was saying. \"...He's on his way to fight his first dragon. Everyone's scared at first, you'd be stupid not to be?\"\n\n\"Hey, don't worry kid, James is just trying to get into yours. the report said that it was still young, so it will be easy to take care of. Besides, you're ready for this. They would have hired you if they didn't think you were right to join the Knight squad\" said Taz. I gave her a slight smile to let her now that I wasn't worried anymore. \n\nAt that moment there was a loud crash that sounded like it came from the truck in front of us. We felt the Van come to a grinding stop. James quickly graved his radio. \"This is bravo team leader, we hear a noise and the van stopped. is everything okay?\" there was silence. \"Repeat, this is bravo team leader, can anyone respond.\" there was still no response. \"I Repeat...\" just then something big hit the side of the van hard enough to have it stand on it's two left tires for a few seconds. As soon as the van landed back on it right wheels everyone else started to get their gear ready. \n\n\"Hey kid, get those hose ready.\" someone said. I hooked the hose up and handed it down the line. The door of the van swung open. everyone started marching out information. I made sure to keep pace the whole way. everyone was talking and running in the same direction but my heart was beating to fast to do anything but fallow them. final the everyone came to a stop. That's when I saw it. \n\nIts body was the size of a church building. It walked on all fours with its wings tucked in on it's back. Its tail was longer than the van we had just gotten off of. Its head was so large that it could have taken a bit out of the van with us in it. I was a dragon, a living breathing dragon. When it turned to face use my eyes locked with it. It was as if it was looking right at me. Its eyes were the size of a round dining table. \n\n\"SHIELDS!\" someone yield from the front. Three people started to unfold shields large enough to block a few people each. Everyone got behind them. As we were there was haft a second of waiting and then fire that engulfed everything that wasn't right behind the shield. While the fire surrounded use James pulled out an extendable sword. as soon as the fire stopped while James when charging at the dragon\n\n(This is all I'm gonna write for this. I spent to much time just writing this much. I was going to have the main character get scared and run off. He would then find the actual young dragon and it would be afraid of him and no danger. the others would then show up and kill it in front of them. It would end on this with the main character question if they were doing the right thing or not.) " ]	1
	[WP] Gods are never born, they're made. As you work at your office job, a flash of light surrounds you. You have just became the God of Accounting.	[ "Slodham & Slogue, 2nd Quarter, Current Fiscal Year\n\nIf you liquify our assets, I can spin them into silk.\n\nLet me at the cashflow, I'll cut rivers in the floor.\n\nAnd drain away our overhead as marmalade and milk.\n\nI've filed with the S.E.C. in ancient tongues before.\n\n\n\nAnd charmed the pension fund to last a thousand generations.\n\nMarble columns tall as mountains fold within my ledger.\n\nI'll cure a disease (or three or four) as charitable donations.\n\nAnd build next year's projections out of lightning, jade, and heather.\n\n\nBut I cannot write off your lunch as a business expense.\n\nYou paid with a company credit card but put the rewards points on your personal Bosley Steakhouse clubhouse account. It may get you a free appetizer the next time you go, but It also gets a bit hinky during an audit." ]	1
	[WP] reincarnation is real, few hours before somebody dies and a day before being born into another family they receive an email detailing their next birth parents, John is dying and finds out that his parents are going to be his girlfriend who was cheating on him with his arch nemesis.	[ "I had to kill him. I couldn’t let this happen.\n\nThe words within that much-anticipated e-mail had deflated my happiness about what was supposed to be a fresh start - a better life. \n\n\n\nFather: Alex J. Toussant\n\nMother: Elizabeth A. Johnson\n\n\n\nShe had been everything to me once. I could still remember glimpses of pure joy when we had discussed our plans for the future - marriage, kids, all of it. It was all gone now, though. She had left early last year, citing what she felt was now a loveless relationship. \n\n“Speak for yourself!” I shouted. At least, I wish I had. At the time I was stunned, but not two weeks later it all made sense. I was at the mall looking for a Mother’s Day gift when I saw them. Planted halfway up the escalator was my beautiful former girlfriend, and a man I used to call my best friend. There they were, a glimmer in her eye as she stared into his. Even from a distance I could tell it was love, and that only tore deeper into me. With a quick smooch they were off the top and away toward the movie theater. It was devastating. It was maddening. \n\nAlex and I met as children back in New York. Our fathers both worked at a nuclear plant just off of Lake Ontario back then, and when the layoffs came down hard, they both happened to find work down here in Niantic, Connecticut at the same plant I work for now. It’s funny. I remember being so fucking excited that my best friend was still going to be by my side, even moving hundreds of miles away. Not any more.\n\nAnger, resentment, rage... all of the worst feelings you can think of had been building up inside me for months. I wasn’t sure which of the two of them I was most angry at, but then again, I didn’t care either. Both of them could fall into space and I would have barely blinked about it. But now, I had to take matters into my own hands.\n\nThat e-mail changed everything. Somehow the first lines of it were less of a concern to me.\n\n\n\n“I regret to inform you that as of the moment this e-mail arrives, you have but three days to live this life in the skin you now know. Fear not, for just as with all mankind, you will be reborn again and start anew. Below you’ll find noted your parents in the upcoming reincarnation. \n\nGood luck,\n\n~Death”\n\n\n\nI suppose death had become less frightening after science finally confirmed the truth. When the proof had come, Death became much more open about the process. Adaptation, I guess. That part I could accept, but to grow up with my former best friend and the love of my life as parents? Not a fucking a chance.\n\nSo here I am, tearing down the highway at 85 on my way to his apartment. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I had spent a considerable amount of time stalking them after I first discovered their transgression. It was paying off now. I knew she’d be at work, and he’d be just kicking his shoes off for the day - it was perfect. Within minutes I was at his door.\n\nI knocked twice.\n\n“John? What the hell are you doing he-“\n\nI shoved my way in, launching him backward into the hardwood floor.\n\n“What the fuck?” he shouted in confusion.\n\nI drew the pistol that I had tucked into the back of my pants and, without even a second thought, fired it into Alex’s chest four times. Blood pooled beneath him as the glow of life faded from his eyes; and just as the glow left his, something new had found its way into mine. Insanity, maybe? I could barely recognize the man I was in that moment - blood spattered across my face. I didn’t bother to clean up after. Why should I? I’d be dead soon too, after all. I darted for my car, still running, and sped back home.\n\nThe next morning I had been frantically checking my e-mail before work, hoping to see an update. There was nothing. Anxiety was building as I had but 10 hours left. I needed to know who my parents would be now, but it seemed Death had not yet decided.\n\nI arrived to work early and to my surprise, my boss, and recently deceased frenemy’s father, still showed up to work despite his son’s death. I went to his office to share my condolences. I figured it’d be best if my last day at work was a pleasant one. Silly me. Again to my surprise, he didn’t seem all that upset. \n\n“Johnny boy!”\n\nI hated when he’d call me that. Was I still fucking ten?\n\n“I’m sorry about Alex, Mr. T. He and I were good friends,” I lied.\n\n“Inseparable at one time, I remember. But please, Al is fine. Save that Mr. T shit for the A-Team.”\n\nI remembered too, but not just that friendship. I remembered Alex coming to me, bruised and beaten, agonizing about what his alcoholic father might do to him next. Al was always an asshole.\n\n“Oh, I gotta take this,” he said to me as the phone on his desk beeped. “Just a sec!”\n\nHe answered it and immediately began grinning.\n\n“Hey, beautiful. Are we on for tonight?”\n\nI couldn’t make out the words coming through the phone, but somehow the voice sounded vaguely familiar. I couldn’t put a finger on it.\n\n“Alright, sounds good to me,” he continued, dulling his voice to a whisper. “Wear that pretty black lace thing - you know the one.” He laughed, somehow completely insensitive to the death of his own son. “Alright, Lizzie - see you at eight!”\n\nLizzie? Did he say Lizzie? My eyes wandered the room a bit as I weighed coincidence against confusion, eventually stopping at the cherry wood name plate sitting on my boss’s desk.\n\nAlex J. Toussant, it read. I had always known him his Al, but it wasn’t until that moment that I realized my friend had been a junior...\n\n\n\n\nAnd I still hadn’t received a new e-mail.", "\"You can't be serious...him? Really?\" \n\nI couldn't believe what I was hearing and seeing. Everything the Administrator had said so far beggared belief. And now, this? I was filled with despair, which then turned to rage. This could NOT be happening. Perhaps if I tried to reason with him?\n\n\"Look, Mr. Administrator, you don't get it. This guy made my life a living hell. We went to school together. We were friends at first, but then we grew apart and he turned all my friends against me. And now, he's taken my girlfriend too? And I only died a month ago so they must have been seeing each other for some time. Do you think that's fair? Granted, my girlfriend and I had been separated for a few months to work things out, but do you people condone cheating around here? Is that how this place works?\"\n\nThroughout this outburst, Administrator Anuretsu said nothing. Nor, for that matter, did they react in any way. They simply let him finish, patiently waiting for their moment to speak. \n\n\"The appeal you made against the decision has been denied. You will live in this Circumstance for the next lifetime. If you realise why you have been placed in this Circumstance, you will be awarded 50 Karmic points. If you act on this knowledge, you will be awarded 500. This decision is final.\"\n\nAlmost instantly, I started to feel...something. I began to realise it was the sensation of the skin I was being born in. What a weird feeling...\n\n\"You will lose all memory as you become corporeal again. However, I have decided that you may retain consciousness for the first day of your birth. You will, however, be unable to speak intelligibly or to communicate in any way with anyone, except as a child. I hope you see why we've chosen this Circumstance for you. This is my gift to you.\"\n\n---\n\n\nThe first few hours were a blur, literally. I couldn't see very well as my eyes adjusted to the light. My muscles felt atrophied and wouldn't move as I commanded them...not that I could command them particularly well. The tiredness was the worst part. It was incredibly overwhelming, and I couldn't help but fall asleep several times even though I tried to stay awake. I tried speaking but all I could do was cry out, my lips, tongue and vocal chords still unused to movement. As time passed, however, I began to acclimatize to my new body. I was able to make out sounds, and to understand them. \n\nI could sense several people entering and leaving the room we were in, but finally, the room cleared and the three of us were alone. I tried to scream but the tiredness wouldn't allow me to do anything but listen. \n\n\"You did it\" he said. Captain bloody Obvious. \n\n\"I couldn't have done it without you\" she responded. \n\nThat hurt. Had she forgotten me already?\n\nI heard her say something else but I couldn't make out what was being said. As I felt myself shaking, I realised she was sobbing. I heard him comfort her for some time., then she seemed to quieten down. \n\n\"I hope I'll be a good mother\" she said, finally. He was quiet for a while, but I could feel his hand move towards hers. \n\n\"You'll be great. Whatever he did to you, that's all in the past. Our baby will never turn out like him, you and I will see to that.\"\n\nWhat? Had I heard that right?\n\n\"I hope so. We're going to love this baby so much! And I'll never hurt him!\" she said, her voice fading with exhaustion. \n\n\"Get some rest, I'll watch the baby\" he said. I could feel his arm stroking hers as he moved her pillows.\n\n\"Wait...\" she hesitated. \"Promise me...no matter what happens, our baby will never know the type of man his father was.\"\n\nMy heart sank as I heard his response. \"Our baby will know better than to be violent to anyone. I promise.\" \n\nI felt another presence in the room as she went to sleep. \n\n\"50 Karmic points added to your total\" Administrator Anuretsu proclaimed, \"your day is now done. You will now return to equilibrium. I hope I can award you 500 points after this lifetime.\"\n\nI felt the tears rolling down my cheek. It's ok, I thought. All children cry. \n\n---\n\nIf you enjoyed this story and would like to see more from me, please consider subscribing to my subreddit [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/phreaklikeme/)! " ]	2
	[WP] In the future, the most intimate act a couple can do is borrow memories, you are investing what it seems to be a serial borrower, someone who takes all the memories and leaves the victims completely empty.	[ "We lay in bed arms entwined like vines, her thorns cut and tore and glued me to her lips. She was tickling the bare patch of skin on the back of my skull, where my hair had been shorn, where my skin had been peeled back, and where a hole had been drilled from which an exabyte of my life might drain from me at the rate of once a second, like a leaky faucet operating on a time scale sped to the billionth power, an effect immediate, draining, but taking eons in the minds eye. I knew she would want to drink, and to drink greedily. \n\nShe pressed me closer to her bosom, her chest squeezing against mine; her breath expelled from her nose in lusty gusts. It was her weapon, and she wielded it well, and were I to have doubts, which had slowly siphoned from spirit, they would have been blown away in that hot air that tickled my cheek. She let me go and cast a blind hand backwards, sweeping the nightstand for the optical fibre that she would slot into herself, and then into me. A glass of water fell from the nightstand with a crash in her wild groping, and when I rose my head at the noise she gently set my head back down. \n\nWe parted lips, she licked hers, she smiled. Her eyes were thin emeralds, made thinner yet by the dilation of her pupils from the preparatory fluids that she had ingested, and that I suspect, she had slipped into my drink. Her cheeks were soft, never having shed their endearing plumpness, and her chin ended in the soft point of a heart. I reached for those cheeks, I stroked them and ran my thumb across the freckles. By now she had drawn the cable between us, and I grabbed one end.\n\n“Are you sure?” she asked.\n\nI answered by joining our noses, closing my eyes and resting there, hand cradling her cheek. I was sure. I knew that I felt guilty, ashamed, when I saw the need in her eyes, and knew that from me I could give her one more reason to live, to breathe, and I knew that was what I wanted most. Whatever means had to be employed would be employed. Whatever cost paid. She deserved to be happy. I knew she deserved to be happy from the one time we passed data in the other direction, from the one memory she parted with, and that I now suffer with. \n\nI heard a click as she slotted the cable into her neck, “I love you,” she said.\n\n“I love you too,” click click click\n\nSoft light cascades down a tree adorned with colorful glass balls and the crafts that Mother and I had put together the week prior. The floor is littered with needles and boxes wrapped gaily, and the television plays gently in the background, bells jingle and a jolly rotund man laughs. Mother wraps her hands around me from behind and I grin when I look up and see her face, she reaches beyond me and places a present in my lap. I unwrap it, there is nothing inside, nothing I can remember, but that isn't what mattered.\n\nI was in great imagined pain as I lay on the asphalt, my knee burned and was sharp red, with a trickle of blood. Mother kisses it and it heals. I get back on my bike to encouragement, and for hours ride shaky circles in the parking lot. The sun begins to sink and I have learned how to ride a bike. I am proud, we are proud, she is proud. Something soft trickles away, something won't ever be there again.\n\nMore, more, increasing in velocity, streaming by like traffic observed drunk. Birthdays, graduations, everything. Dark.\n\nThe light is harsh overhead, but by necessity. The bed supporting my back is rigid, but comfortable, the blanket strikes me as utilitarian. I am left alone for hours on end, I can hear coughing somewhere to my left, but I am not inclined to shift my head to see from who they might issue. I can think of no reason to. Someone comes in to ask me questions and I answer best I can, but can think of nothing I wish to say earnestly.\n\nThe lights are dimmed and I close my eyes and behind my thin membrane I can see a funeral. I sit alone and the parlor is nearly empty, I stare at the floor and beyond my flower adorned dress. It was my nicest dress. I remember it was my nicest dress. I dare not look up for I know if I were to look up I would be looking for my Mother, and I knew that she would not be there because she had not been anywhere for a long while. I knew that I would see my Father's casket and the portrait above it and begin to cry, and I had been so tired of crying. My eyes were sore, and I felt empty. I wanted my Mother and Father, I wanted to not be alone. But I was.\n\nI would always be alone now. \n\nSomeone enters the room, they place paper before me and guide my hand to sign. The paper reads: void. \n\nI sleep, and I remember. Loss, the knowledge that I would never be whole.\n" ]	1
	[WP] You release a new over-the-counter drug on the market: "Pain Reliver." People buy it and use it as an alternative to Tylenol without minding the typo. It isn't a typo.	[ "The lights in his apartment faded in as he opened the door and he sighed as his eyes stung slightly in response. It was one of those days again, though they seemed to come more frequently lately. He sighed as he slid the heavy coat off his shoulders, letting it drop limply onto the floor. He hated himself for that, he knew he could just as easily have hung it up like he always did. But he was so tired, and his head was pounding incessantly.\n\nHe reached the bathroom without risking a glance at himself in the mirror. That would be too much, he reckoned, to see how awful he must look. Or worse, that it wasn't even noticeable at all. He rummaged through his cabinet, found a pill that looked about right, and swallowed it with a glass of lukewarm water. His breathing was labored, and his head was swimming, but at least he had done something. At least he had tried.\n\nHe reached up and closed mirror door over the cabinet, expecting to look himself in his wretched eyes when he did. Instead, he saw the back window of a car and a road receding in the distance. He reached up to move the mirror again and found himself adjusting his rear view mirror instead. The girl next to him laughed, and he felt the blood drain from his face upon hearing that wonderful melodic sound. \n\n\"Why do you always mess with that thing,\" She said with a snicker in her voice, \"I've never met someone this pedantic in my life, I don't think,\" \n\nIt has to be just right, he thought, remembering the sound of himself saying those exact words to her. But he didn't say that this time, he just looked over and stared at her raven black hair billow in the wind rushing in through the open window. He thought he was crying, be he wasn't sure.\n\n\"Then you should just leave it alone once it's in a good spot,\" She said in answer to a response that wasn't uttered, shooting him a smile that broke his heart. He didn't want to look at the road or the mirror, not this time. So he just stared at her through heavy tears and watched in horror as the car sped closer to her window before the world disappeared.\n\nHe was in a hospital bed, and he saw the faceless doctors come to his side again, their words coming out in a blur. And he listened, and they talked, but he didn't hear anything and they didn't seem to notice that. They sounded so sad, he remembered thinking, and he couldn't understand why because he felt just fine. And then it clicked. And then he screamed. \n", "There's people in this world that really make you worry about humanity. And no, I'm not talking about the dude behind KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, although with all the other shit he did you'd think that last thing he'd want to do is get back into trouble by going down this road. First the \"penile unlargement\" pills, and now this? I mean, seriously, did your parents not hug you as a kid, dude? Get help.\n\nBut like I said, he's not the most frightening thing about this. In fact, once the initial confusion got sorted out, and all the brow-furrowing and pearl-clutching in the media was over with, there was an element of it that was...not as bad as they make it out. Now, let's be clear: there's situations where you should never take Dolorive. Like after death of a loved one, or a serious break-up, or whatever. And despite what certain bros will tell you, don't mix alcohol and Dolorive. They say it's an excellent formula for not having to relive pain anymore...I say they're almost right, with the exception that you need to cut the \"re\" and the \"pain\" part out first. \n\nSo look. I got my tonsils out as an adult. Obstructive sleep apnea, recurrent sinusitis, bastards were enlarged, so what're you gonna do? All I knew about tonsillectomy was the shit they tell you as a kid - you get the procedure, skip homework for a week, eat a bajillion bowls of ice cream, and you're right as rain. Well, turns out it's different as an adult. \n\nThe crazy thing isn't that I got addicted to pain pills. The crazy thing is that I got addicted to them even though they did jack shit. And if you want to know how much you take swallowing for granted, just stab a knife into the back of your throat and then go through your day avoiding anything that involves moving the muscles there in any way. \n\nIt was over a year before I finally got off the vicodin. Got my shit together, collected a paycheck for sitting in front of a computer monitor all day, moderately attractive girlfriend, all that jazz. Week before my wedding, the guy who was going to be my best man slips me a double dose of Dolo's. Fucking hell. I would do the tonsillectomy myself, without anesthesia, and gargle a bag of razor blades afterward before I do that again. Every time your parent has yelled at you as a child, every time you hurt someone, every time someone hurt you, the whole enchilada of emotional pain...plus all the physical pain you've experienced over your lifetime, surging at you in waves for four hours. Steve said he thought it would make me tell a bunch of sob stories about my exes, you know, some kind of catharsis thing. I say Steve can eat an entire bag of dicks. I hope he enjoyed his \"catharsis\" in front of the upper brass after a mutual friend to slipped him a couple right before a marketing presentation. \n\nYou think I'm talking about people like Steve, though? Hell no. Look, if it weren't for my friends taking turns pinning me to the floor, there's no fucking way I make it through that night without opening my carotid with a broken bottle of Sam Adams. But they came through for me, and then the next day...I mean, let's be real, the shit was transformative. You can't endure that much suffering in that short a period of time without having it alter your outlook. For me, I never loved anything or anyone as fully and purely as I loved Julie the day after that Bachelor's party. I tried to explain it, all of it, and ended up just sobbing hysterically on our bed for nearly an hour while she stroked my hair and told me it would be alright.\n\nSo no, it's not douche canoes like Steve that worry me. But Julie's brother, a couple years into our marriage, we find out he's become addicted to pills. I'm getting ready to step up to the bat, get my brother-in-law merit badge and all that, show Julie's family that I'm a stand-up guy. I've been there, it's gonna be hell but you can get through it, I'm gonna help you anyway I can, all that.\n\nThen I find out that, unlike me, he's not addicted to pain killers. Kid's 19 years old, and he is addicted to fucking Dolorive. And he's not a fluke, either. There's not a ton of them, but there's hundreds, maybe thousands. And they do it to themselves, every day. A therapist I've been going to for my PTSD told me they think they deserve it. And I just don't get that, at all. How could anyone deserve something like that? \n***\n/r/ShadowsofClouds" ]	2
	[WP] Thanos has been snapping his finger every year to reduce the universe by half as if it were some sort of game. Now, after many years, it is only you and him who remain...	[ "Thanos looks down at the small being. How ironic that this is what remains, the death himself, and the race that thought themselves larger than the universe. The ones who proclaim themselves as peaceful, preservers of life for the future. But, oddly, have never met any other being considered \"intelligent\" in their intergalactic colonization. Maybe not so odd when you consider that any species with self awareness and rapid growth are considered a \"threat to humanity.\" The best way to prevent a species from meeting their equal is to simply and promptly exterminate them before they have the chance to evolve.\n\nThey simply never realized if, before their cosmic conquistador era, a singularity capable, quantum race had leaped at faster than light into their observable region in what would seem like an instant and initiated a colonization of their borderline intelligent race for their infinitely precious world, Earth, and began to hunt them for their meat alike the Humans had done to so many species before, perhaps they would respond in force. Perhaps the complete irony of their saying \"we come in peace\" would become clear to them.\n\nBut what of it really matters anymore? After all these years of absolute judgement of every species on equal grounds by Thanos himself, it is him and a Human who remain. \n\nThe human has conviction in his face as he stares up at Thanos. They are met on the semi-prevailing core planet of the Sol system. The first planet Mankind colonized post terrestrial, the now capital since the War Upon Heaven. The entire planet a once staple of the evolution of man, from a station no bigger than a small house to towns comparable to ancient Human holds hosting hardly impressive conglomerations to the multi-layered megalopolis utopia, home to thirty-two billion, the most powerful humans alive and a political dreamland. \n\nNeither of them speak. Neither need to. Its the anniversary of the last snap. 8 beings remained according to Living Exclusive Edison Radiation tests carried out by the Human one year and one day ago, now two remain after the presumable death of two others. \n\nThanos lifts his hand and snaps his fingers. Neither one of them disappear. Once again, a human thought themselves larger than the universe." ]	1
	[WP] No matter how many times you save the day, the public have no interest in you as a superhero due to your lack of tragic backstory. Fed up, you decide to fabricate a backstory, only to realise that all the other superheroes are also lying.	[ "“What? That’s absolute nonsense, no one is going to believe that!” I crossed my arms across my chest, forehead wrinkled. In front of me stood my newest PR advisor, who was holding a conversation both with me and with someone else on his earpiece. “Look, kid, that’s the stuff people want to hear. You hired me for this. You want to get famous? Nobody gives a shit if you save people – everyone can do that. You just gotta make them pity you. That’s what all the other supers do.” He flipped his wrist over, glancing at his watch. “Eliza should bring you on in five. Be nice, if you can find it in you.” He turned around, briskly exiting the makeup room. \n\nBefore I could decide what I was going to say, I found myself swallowed by a bright pink sofa, opposite a bubbly blonde – Eliza Woods - with bright stage lights blinding me, and at least fourteen cameras on my face. I wrinkled my nose. \n\n“So, Diamond Girl—“ That had also been the PR executive’s idea. “I understand you want to share a little bit about your past. That’s very brave of you to come forward like this,” her voice was light, airy, and reminded me vaguely of a squirrel. \n\n“Right,” I snapped, unconvinced. Eliza looked taken aback. Good. My eye caught my PR advisor frowning at me from behind the curtains. With a dramatic inhale, I proceeded. “Sorry, Eliza, I didn’t mean to be so aggressive. I’ve learned to try to keep people from getting close to me.” I paused. My PR advisor raised an eyebrow, and signalled for me to continue. “It’s a defense mechanism; if I abandon other people, they can’t abandon me,” I responded, words leaving a sour taste on my tongue. Eliza raised her hands to her chest, gasping. I rolled my eyes but, thankfully, she didn’t notice. \n\n“Oh, you poor, poor thing. What happened?” She pressed, eyebrows furrowed into a frown. I can't believe I was doing this. This was not at all moral.\n\n“Well, you see, I grew up with such a happy family. I had two lovely parents, a kind but protective older brother, and a little sister. There was the occasional fight, but we all loved each other so much and would do anything for each other.” I told the truth. No one looked too impressed - this, for them, was just the build-up for the tragedy. Fine. The words came out like sandpaper, scratching my throat, but I continued. \n\n“But, one day, I was driving with them all to go to on a trip in the mountains – we’d been saving up to go for as long as I can remember – when a supervillain, who had been my best friend when I was younger, attacked us. He sent our car veering off to the side of the road. I jumped out of the car, little 14 year old me, and tried to protect them all as best as I could. I’d been a superhero for two years at that point.” Nope. I had turned to being a superhero about 6 months ago. When I was 14, I spent all day playing video games, rotting my brain, and slamming doors. Eliza turned to the audience and elicited a gigantic ‘aww’ from the crowd. It made me feel sick. I turned away. The PR executive said that made me look like I was about to cry. \n\n“But he tortured them in front of my eyes. It was all my fault - I couldn’t protect them. He knew about my identity and, because of it, killed everyone I loved.” Seriously, who believed this shit? An 14 year old superhero against another child super-villain? I glanced around, squinting past the bright lights, and it appeared that most people did. Their faces were all twisted and contorted into expressions that vaguely approximated pity. Like I had been instructed, I grabbed a tissue from the table and pressed it to my eyes. “I never asked for these powers, and all they’ve done is hurt me and the people I love. I wish I didn’t have them but, now, I’ve been using them to hunt the man down ever since, and to protect everyone else so that they never have to go through what I did.” What bullshit that was. Eliza reached forward, and pressed her hand overtop of mine. All instincts screamed at me to rip my hand away, but I resisted. \n\n“It’ll be OK, Diamond Girl.” I nearly burst out laughing. I concealed it as a hiccup of sadness. “I promise all of us are here for you, and we all love you very much.”" ]	1
	[WP] A soldier with a different kind of immortality - he possesses the man who kills him.	[ "It’s a startling experience. No matter how many times I go through it the impact never lessens, the shell shock never seems gentler, and I never ever get used to it. \n\nI’m stabbed. My hands drip with blood. I’m strangled. My muscles shake from the strain of the force I’m generating to cut off circulation. \n\nI’ve never experienced death. The switch happens just in time for me to see the light fading from eyes that used to be mine. I don’t have time to process it – not in the moment – I’m too busy adjusting, and then it’s over, and I’m me again. Just in a different body. \n\nI’m shot. \n\nI’m holding the gun. \n\nA grenade goes off somewhere to my right. In front of me, a row of US soldiers appear over a barricade, all helmets and rifles. One of them is screaming something, but I don’t understand him anymore. Something knocks the air out of me, and the ground rushes upwards, gifting me a mouthful of sand. My rapid heartbeat rises to a crescendo and then evens out. Gunfire resonates in my ears. Someone is shaking me. I finally manage to focus on his face – the man who just saved me from a double switch. \n\nCome out of it! That’s what he’s saying. Yelling, really. You can’t speak and be heard over the chaos around us. \n\n“Āsif,” I apologize, grains of sand crunching between my teeth. “Meš haʿmel kedah tānī.”\n\nHe pats me hard on the back and signals me to the left. I stay in cover and crawl around unseen to try and get the angle on the Americans. \n\nWhen you’ve been alive for as long as I have, petty things like borders and politics and sides in a conflict stop mattering to you. Lives. They are what matter. And I’m taking them in more ways than one. \n\nI never know where the host goes when I end up in a new body. I can’t feel them. Every brain and every muscle feels mine and like it always has been, every thought as certain as the fact that I breathe air. For a while, I entertained the notion that I was alone on earth – the only person truly alive; because even though it was a lonely reality, at least it was one where I wasn’t stealing anything important.\n\nI’m a soldier now. I have been for… damn, I think it’s coming up on a century. I figure if I have to take people’s lives, the least I can do is take the ones that have been freely given. So I take them, and I fight, and they die. It’s not exactly fair, but it’s the best I can do. And maybe, one of these days, I’ll find someone who can kill me – because I sure as hell can’t do it myself.\n\nIt’s less of a blessing, and more like some cosmic fucking joke. I tried shooting myself. The gun jammed. Second time: my finger locked on the trigger and I couldn’t move. Third time: I passed out. I’ve hung myself several times. Again, I pass out. Then I wake up, and find that the rope has split, or whatever I tied it to has collapsed. I tried to drown; I washed up on the shore, coughing water. I’ve tried dropping heavy objects on top of myself. Somehow, they miss. I’ve tried jumping off cliffs, my legs won’t take me over the edge. In the end, no matter how simple or how complex my plan is, it usually defaults to me blacking out before I can go through with it and waking up safe.\n\nI haven’t slept in days. Weeks, maybe. Right now I can’t remember. My hosts are rested, though, so I don’t think it matters. I’ve been burning through them so quickly that I’ve sometimes gone through several a day. So many that I don’t even recall my names. What’s a name, anyway? Especially when you only have it for a few hours. \n\nDusk falls. The fighting stops. My name is Derek Paulson. Has been for a few hours. I walk the battlefield with a few of my brothers in arms, carrying rifles with flashlights and shining them into the faces of dead soldiers, both American and Iraqi. I stop when my light grazes a familiar shape. I kneel down, grab his shoulders and turn him over. He’s still alive. Barely.\n\n“It’s you,” I say, still holding him up. I don’t know why. He doesn’t like me in this body. \n\nHe chokes out a short, bitter sentence in Arabic. I don’t understand it. His teeth are stained with blood. Suddenly, he jerks in my arms, and I feel a cold, sharp pain in my abdomen. A knife. Slowly, excruciatingly, he twists it. What now? He’s dying, and so am I. He looks at me and his eyes change. As the edges of my vision start to go black, I hear a disconnected voice in my head.\n\nThere you are, it says. I’ve been waiting for a chance to speak with you.\n\n\n/////////////\n\nDISCLAIMER: I don’t speak nor write Arabic so apologies if what google provided me with was incorrect. Also I don’t know how modern wars work so I tried to be vague abt that aspect lmao please don’t drag me " ]	1
	[WP] The scar that covers you from neck to waist was apparently from your birth. Today you were finally brave enough to go to a massage therapist. The therapist begins to cry, and takes off her shirt too. Your scars fit together like puzzle pieces.	[ "The wind howled as the red, orange and yellow leaves swirled around the sidewalk in front of me. I walked down the street hanging my head in shame after another failed date. I thought dating apps were supposed to make everything easier? The only thing they have done for me is increase the rate of rejection. Last week was my 30th birthday, I thought I would have a family by now, but I have yet to even get a second date. How pathetic.\n\nI felt a familiar vibration in my pocket and considered whether or not I should even look at it. No one ever texts me, it’s probably just another notification from the dating app, another invitation for rejection. I pull out my phone to look. Turns out it’s just an e-mail confirmation for tomorrow’s massage, figures. I sigh heavily as I walk up the steps to my dark and lonely apartment and then crawl into my bed. Alone.\n\nAs I step out of the shower in the morning I examine my upper body. Disgusting. Maybe it’s part of the reason why my dates always fail so spectacularly, even if things did manage to get to the bedroom, I’m convinced they would end the second my shirt was removed. I quickly covered myself up and headed off to work for the morning.\n\nI couldn’t focus on anything today, I was nervous. No one has seen me without my shirt on since the last gym class I was forced to take in the ninth grade. Even then I tried to change where no one else could see me to avoid the jokes and laughter. Today was my first massage, the shoulder pain was getting to bad for me to ignore any longer, I couldn’t put it off no matter how self-conscious I was. It was finally time to leave, so I packed up my things and headed to my car. So much for getting any work done today.\n\nI was alone in the treatment room after a brief conversation with the therapist. She told me to undress based on my comfort level, do you think she can work on my shoulder without my having to remove my shirt? Knowing the answer is probably no, I decide to try it anyway. I take of my pants and socks, I’m not self-conscious about my lower half, and crawl onto the table and under the blankets. There’s a light knock on the door and I tell her to come in.\n\nI’m alone in the room again. She told me that she can’t work on my shoulder properly while I’m wearing a dress shirt and left the room again so that I can remove it in private. I consider leaving, but the shooting pain in my shoulder convinces me to push through it. I slowly remove my shirt and crawl back onto the table and wait for to enter. Do you think she’ll want to touch me when she sees what’s under the sheet?\n\nShe starts to rub my back and shoulders lightly to get started. At first she is just doing it through the sheet, no big deal, but then she starts to pull it back. Suddenly she stops and starts to trace her fingers across the markings on my skin. I knew it, she’s going to end the massage and then go in the back and make fun of me to all of her co-workers.\n\nSuddenly I feel a drop of wetness touch my back, and then another. I hear a faint rustling and then she tells me to sit up for a moment. Thinking the massage is over, I do what she asks and look into her tear-streaked eyes. Why is she crying? My gaze shifts downwards and I notice she has removed her shirt. I stare at her in shock and disbelief. On her skin I see the same markings that have cursed my entire upper body since the day I was born, the terrible affliction that people have mocked me for and has destroyed my self-confidence. She has what I have, except in reverse, a mirror image. Standing side my side, the markings on our two bodies join together to form a single image. Remarkable.\n\n“Push!” the nurse says to my wife as she screams in pain. “You’re almost there!” I let her squeeze my hand with all of her strength as she pushes one last time we can hear the faint cry of a newborn child. The doctor holds up our beautiful daughter and we hold her for the first time. We smile at each other and look down at the most amazing and wonderful human either of us have ever seen. Markings and all." ]	1
	[WP] “in hindsight killing everyone in the universe was a bad idea.”	[ "As he sat looking out the cave entrance, he reflected on the past week and everything that he had sacrificed. He had to kill the young woman that he thought of as a daughter, wrought even more destruction to his already devastated home world and now he had a thought that threated to betray him completely. \"Had it all been a mistake?\" The mad titan asked the darkness around him not expecting the response that was returned.\n\n \"Did you truly believe that this heinous, overzealous, downright insane act would make me love you? This time you've gone too far The Tribunal has taken notice. You won't survive what is to come.\" She was, as she always was cloaked in a black robe hiding her face but it could never hide her voluptuous form.\n\n \"I no longer fear such insignificant beings. They can do me no harm. Death, my love, you are the only one that can harm me. It took the erasure of half the universe to bring you to me and yet even now you deny that you love me.\" Thanos felt a surge of power from his left hand. The gauntlet yearned to be used but now he had doubts about how to use it. This would be his downfall. " ]	1
	[WP] Every species in the galaxy excelled at something. For Humans, it is cooking. Where even the most pathetic chef on earth would be considered the best chef on another planet. So people like Gordon Ramsey are cooking gods.	[ "Blø’x’ön recalled how thrilled he was to be selected for the interstellar bake off. A proud culinary champion of his race, who had produced wonderful tastes and delightful textures out of the most mundane ingredients. The guy next to him was an obese fry chef, that spat in the deep fryer to check if it was hot enough. The empire of Narbukulon had abducted him from Earth, in an attempt to win this tournament. He was treated like a God on their home planet. A real life pay-to-win. Anything made by a human would at least convince the alien judges. He had covered a stick of butter with dough and had deep-fried it. Nothing more.\n\nBlø’x’ön had worked hard to be here. He had worked his way up from a zero to best chef of Manårakon. He had served Matriarch hive mothers and was even allowed to mate without getting killed! He had put so much effort in this dish that it could not fail. It was considered the pinnacle of haute cuisine on his planet: the Mak’tul arach.\n\nThe human chef went first through the doors to the tasting area. He heard the judges bleeping and gurgling enthusiastically, but one voice stuck out like a sore thumb. “What the fuck is this?” Could it be? “You just dunked a lump of butter in a deep-fryer? You call this cooking? This is at best something I would use to grease gloves to do a cavity search on an airport! Get out of my sight!”\n\nThe fry chef came back in the kitchen. “Was that who I think it was?” The fat guy smiled. “Yup. Gordon Ramsey. Good luck buddy!” Blø’x’öns neck spikes fluttered in anxiety. He was going to serve his food to one of the best!\n\nHe trembled as he presented his pristine Mak’tul arach to the judges. He placed the dishes in front of the judges and skittered back to the X on the floor. The Oeloempfian judge put a tentacle in the plate and oozed instantly over her entire body. A sign of erotic arousal for her kind. One down. Two to go. His neck spines stopped moving. Blø’x’ön relaxed. Next was Xor-xor the feaster. He only served the best of the best in his restaurant. He absorbed the dish through his translucent membrane and spat out an empty plate. A few lumps of mucus stuck to it. A sign of deep respect from an Afuni. “Talk to me after the show. I want to offer you a job.” Blø’x’ön did not believe his receptors. Did he actually defeat a human? Then his gaze turned to Gordon Ramsey.\n\nGordon poked the Mak’tul arach with a fork. A brown puddle with slimy chunks and the smell of rotten eggs. He sighed. “You actually expect me to eat this?”\n\n“Well… I am accustomed with many interracial protocols. But humans have left me somewhat confused from time to time. Maybe you would just like to smell it or feel it with one of your appendages?”\n\n“Smell or feel it. Really? Are you fucking serious? I would be more thrilled if you presented me a cow patty! At the very least I would be able to use that as fertilizer. And I would know it was at least something edible once!”\n\n“I would be thrilled as well, Sir! Those are exquisite! The Mak’tul arach gets close but is nothing like the real deal!”\n\n“Apparently you don’t get sarcasm, so I’ll have to be a bit blunter with you. This is a piece of toxic waste! The culinary equivalent of a bloody nuclear melt down!” Gordon angrily jabbed his fork in one of the lumpy things on the plate. A tentacle rose out, wrapped around his face and tried to get in his mouth. The master chef angrily pulled it off. “WHAT THE FUCK? ARE YOU ACTUALLY TRYING TO KILL ME?”\n\n“Well no. This is one of the nicest aspects of a perfect Mak’tul arach! You do not even have to eat it, it finds its way to your intestines by itself and…” \n\nBlø’x’ön could not say any more. He was dragged off by the guards before he was able to explain the exquisite details of his dish. He looked at the colorful patterns of his holding cell. They were specifically designed to calm the inmates, but his neck spikes quivered none the less. How he had aspired to become the best. But now he was accused of trying to kill a God. He hoped his end would be gentle. He hoped that his offspring would be spared. He sobbed and curled up in ball on the floor. \n\nDisclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental." ]	1
	[WP] You've watched so many cursed videos on the internet that the curses have started fighting over which one gets to kill you.	[ "Evil Kurt pulled up outside the semi-detached suburban property, and sighed heavily. It was always bored teenagers these days.\n\nHe opened the boot of his old, run-down Toyota Prius and pulled out a large, rusty chainsaw. He turned and made his way slowly towards the back of the property, as he did so, he noticed a familiar smell.\n\n\"Barry the Malodorous, is that you?\"\n\nA heavy set man emerged from the bushes, flies buzzing around his bloated flesh.\n\n\"Hey Kurt, how you doing? It's been a while since the last reunion.\"\n\n\"Yeah it has, listen Barry, you're not on this job as well are you?\" he asked.\n\n\"Sure am Kurt, kid saw my advert on facebook, honestly its been paying for itself these last few years, people will watch anything on there. What about you?\"\n\n\"I got him on a Grinder swipe, checked with the boss, that counts.\"\n\nA slithering sound caused them both to jump in surprise. They turned and saw a zombie dressed in a wedding dress crawling her way across the lawn.\n\n\"Oh great, Margaret's here,\" muttered Barry.\n\n\"Don't worry about her, she never catches anyone,\" replied Kurt.\n\nSoon they were joined by a menagerie of bloody corpses, bog-trolls, caco-fiends and assorted other creatures from The Dark Realm of Despair, the local patch of the East coast League of Evil.\n\nThe etiquette was clear, Barry had arrived first, it was his victim. They all shared a few greetings and were about to retire to a nearby graveyard for a quick drink, when suddenly the skies clouded over.\n\nSwooping down from above came a horde of angry harpies and assorted minions. It was The Supremely Evil Mega Death Brigade, straight out of Charlottesville, and they meant business.\n\nThe ensuing battle would go down in history as one of the most brutal and bloody conflicts in a gang war that would eventually spread into thirty-six dimensions.\n\nIt would also be noted as the first, and to this day only, victim, of Creeping Margaret the Eternally Patient. Cleverly taking the opportunity to ambush a young man attempting to flee the scene, but who had unfortunately succumbed to the noxious fumes of one Barry the Malodorous.", "I smiled as I watched the evil spirits summoned from those “cursed videos” I saw from the dark net argued with each other on my monitor about who would kill me first without end. I could see them, but they couldn’t see me. How, exactly? Well, I’d rather not give out any personal information about myself. All I can say is that I have my secretive ways. How do you think I surfed through the bad part of the internet without easily getting killed? Or maybe they’re too “busy” to notice me.\n\nAnyways, there was this one demon who took the form of a pale little girl with no eyes. She also seemed to be immature, since the only point she could make was that she was “super scary”, with her annoying, shrieking voice. In my opinion, it looked like she was trying way too hard to be frightening. Sure, a jumpscare featuring that girl would make me jolt, but it would only terrorize me for a short amount of time. I’d seen worse.\n\nAlongside the demon-girl was a goat-headed freak with a satanic symbol on its forehead and a whole lot of tentacles on its back. It sorta reminded me of Slender Man and that thing from H. P. Lovecraft’s stories... I forgot what it was called. It seemed to be more intelligent than the demon-girl, since it could come up with more valid points about why it should kill me. Unfortunately, it was constantly interrupted by other abominations and eldritch horrors. I kinda feel bad for it, since it looks like an intellectual drowning in an endless sea of idiots. But I didn’t really care nonetheless.\n\nThere were a lot more monsters. One had too many eyes, one happened to be a giant spider, and there was, what I think is, an evil Jack-In-the-Box confined within its box, eagerly waiting for its next victim. Either that, or it didn’t want any part in the verbal flame war.\n\nI feel like bringing out some popcorn just for watching all these freaks of nature argue for all eternity. It’s just too entertaining for me. It’s like, reading the comments on a controversial post online, observing the chaos unfolding... but better.\n\nYou know what? Maybe I haven’t been cursed. Maybe I cursed them. I watched too many videos tainted by inhuman hands, summoning these accursed folk. But now they want me all for themselves. If they learned about being generous, then I would be screwed big time. But no. They’re just too ignorant to do so, and that even applies to those brighter than the others.\n\nThanks to me, they’re all cursed.\n\nThanks to me, I’ve trapped them in their own stupidity.\n\nAnd it’s highly unlikely that they’ll ever escape.\n\n\nHeh. Serves them right." ]	2
	[WP] Every day, around the same time, you find yourself humming the same tune. One day, you hear someone else humming along.	[ "My life, the people around me, Margret and her condescending ‘hello’ 9 to 5 everyday, Rick the shit-stain, pestilence of the office — a contemptible man, been stuck in this shit-end job for 25 years, and counting — particularly, his conspicuous ruse, how loathesome, ‘Ofcoarse, anything for you,’ or perpetually repeating ‘My wife always told me,’ yes we get it, ‘You are an intelligent man,’ third time now, ‘you can keep in your anger, and you emotions,’ sigh, ‘But your mouth will get you in trouble,’ you could almost see his tabbaco-stained molars, unveiled by his grinning. Everyday the office plays like a broken record; Everyday, the banal antics re-acted everyday, I die inside. \n\nAugust-16th: Like any other day, I wake up at 5:05AM, roll in bed until I’ve squandered enough minutes, get up, tinker with the keys of the piano — this time, a palatable song, E minor, Chopin’s Étude Op. 25, No. 5 ‘Wrong note’ — and get to work. \n\n7:00AM train: Humming Chopin's Etude in G# minor, Op.25; No.6 1897, there, I sensed, existed another tune, not far away. I look over, magnificently, she was humming Chopin's Etude in G# minor, Op.25; No.6 1897, an octave higher. \n\nOn that day my life changed. I did not sit in my usual quarters of the train. \n\nspelling*" ]	1
	[WP] When you die, you find yourself taking off a VR headset to a man saying quite immersive, isn't it?	[ "I was never a religious man.\n\nI had never believed in an after life.\n\nBut even so, I was ready for a rest. Ninety long years were finally about to come to an end, and I have to say I regret nothing. After climbing a mountain you'd want a little rest, right? And not to brag, but if there ever was a life that had been a mountain of obstacles and accomplishments, it had been mine. \n\nMy name is George. I was born in New York, in 1921. And not the good side. My single mother worked three part time jobs. I had no hope of going to university after highschool, even with the scholarship offers. I enlisted in the military, and I became off site doctor at the age of 19. I took care of the people who came back. I've seen some things. A man came back without half his leg. Another came back from a German concentration camp without any of his fingers. He was a Polish jew, quite the excitable fellow, and from what I understood his fingers were cut off because he was sharing food with the others. I also had to deal with the dead, which as you may assume wasn't the pleasant job. A man came back with all of his body except his head. Another came with his head but no body. Some were only fingers, and some were only toes. I had always been admonished in school for my excellent writing, so when I received the dog tags of someone I knew I wrote home to their families with the standard letter sent home. I wouldn't realize it until later, but what I had been doing, all of the tiny things like those letters, had changed the world in some way. Only looking back on it now did I realize my biggest accomplishment wasn't my biggest accomplishment. It was all of the small good things that I had done, all together, to form my change in society. \n\nAfter the war I went home. Well I would've. If it was still there. \n\nMy childhood home had been destroyed, my mother reported dead when she received a phone call from a few kids down the block, who told her I had died. The first thing I did was find those kids. It was three of them, one seventeen, one eighteen, and one nineteen. When they saw me they ran for it, but I knew they couldn't out run me. When they turned around and begged for forgiveness, I had one thing to say. \"I can never forgive what you did to my mother,\" I seethed \"but I won't hurt you, like you did to her. To me.\" and I left. I left them wondering why they weren't bloody or covered in bruises. I left them dumbstruck in that alley way. \n\nI started university in 1948, graduated in 1952 with my major being Business. I started my business in 1953. People from all over the country came, mostly to thank me for the letters I wrote home to their families during the war. I was glad I could help them cope. I ran a successful business until it was bought out by a popular company in 1967. I made 2 million from selling it, and I counted being a successful millionaire as my greatest accomplishment. \n\nSo after all of that, and an easy retirement, my body decided to kick the can and call it quits. It's not a painful death, and if you think of it like a vacation its almost enjoyable. I just sat numb in the hospital, surrounded by my friends, who were the closest thing to family that I had. \n\nI closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and died. \n\nI felt something heavy resting on my face. I reached up, pulled off a thick block of plastic. Plastic straps connected to the plastic (which I now recognize now as a light polymer, glass mixture) from my face, until I felt a tugging on my eyeballs. At this point I realized I had three thing metal strings in each of my eyes, directly through the pupil. I shouted in fear as they slunk back from my eyes, and I stared at the white room around me. \n\n\"Have you had fun Jacob?\" asked a voice. \"Or would you like to be called George?\" \n", "In death came a weak feeling of departure from a broken shell that had once flourished full of life. On the battlefield of sin, I had been stricken to death by bullet wounds. My army gear plastered in blood as my sight vanished from the planes of existence I had known for forty years. What a sad way to die. I had a beautiful wife and a son back home, I wish I could see them one last time... \n\n\nSuddenly, there was nothing. Then a clank of cogs and high-powered sounds of charging zapped the back of my head. A sudden clamp emerged from my face as the darkness faded and a blinding light shrouded my vision. \"Quite immersive...isn't it?\" Professor Thomas Roster spoke in his somber tone. His grayed hair was the same as it had always been, my memories surging back one by one in packets of information. \n\n\n\"Disconnect the magnetic clamps.\" Thomas told his assistants, as they did likewise. They disconnected the suction cords around my head that were attracted to the metal plating helmet I was wearing. I took it off and shook my long hair. Rubbing my chin, I realize I'd grown a nice stubble of hair on my face. \"How long was I in the game Professor?\" I asked him. \n\n\n\"About a week. I'll be expecting a full diagnostics and report from you. This is your job after all.\" He said. I faded back to the memory of my virtual family that had seemed all too real. I pondered about what I should say to Professor Thomas without it coming out wrong. Thomas looked at me with clever eyes, \"It's too immersive isn't it? Someone could lose their minds in that kind of time strain. I don't know the complete effects long-term, but I'm expecting great things from you Kayden.\" He smiled before heading off to leave the room with his assistants. \n\n\n\"I want to go back and see my family again Thomas. If I give good reports, can you do that for me?\" I asked. Professor Thomas stopped at the doorway and looked back at me with a smile. \"Anything you want. Although you'll have to start from birth and remember how you played everything out to get the same people back in your life. Get me my results before you spend another eternity with your family Kayden.\" The sliding doors shut behind him as he left the scene, and I was left to ponder about everything once again.", "He kneeled in front of his comrades. Fellow adventurers that had joined him on his quest for glory. He had watched them killed of in front of him, all the while he was helpless to do anything. He cried, and felt rage, at the unfairness of the situation. He wanted to get up and slay the beast responsible, but his body would not follow. As the creature loomed over him, a woman voice rang out \"your time has come to an end, warrior. Now perish!\" With a snarl, the creature slayed you. As your eyes close, you feel at peace, thinking that you will get to see your friends again. With a startling feeling, you feel someone pull a headset off you. With a flash of light, you are sittted in a pod of some sort, with a man standing in front of you, holding a virtual headset. \"Immersive ain't it?\" He asked. You stumble out, and he helped you by placing an arm around you. \"Wow, easy there. It's not easy getting used to your own body ain't it, after being a mighty male warrior, with the strength of a lion and all that.\" You take in his words, all while staring at your dainty hands, and your choices of a dress skirt. You sigh, as it all comes back to you. \n\nYou saw a poster that showed that a company was willing to sign a few hundred people, and guarantee them a unique opportunity, in return for beta testing a new program and device. They didn't state what, just a number and a place. So you called them up. Soon afterwards, you ended up in a science lab, and was told to choose from a plethora of games and life. As soon as you placed on the headset, you forgot everything and the game started. \n\nAs promised, the man showed you the contract you signed, and placed a envelope of cash into your hand. \"As agreed. You will find that should our company ever need you again, we are more than willing to pay you once more. If you want to become part of the experience as a full time player, just let Kaiba know. He will sign you up. Who knows, with the data we got from all of you, we might create a new fantasy game with the latest engine. Kaiba has been talking about a new sword role playing fantasy game. Guess we will just have to see.\" With that, he heads off, leaving you with your cash payment, and a prospect of becoming a full time player. \n\nYou smiled at the prospect, not knowing that the future isn't as good as it sounds. ", "\"I'm going to die.\"\n\nThe ground was coming up fast. Above him, Sandra was still screaming. \"I'm sorry, my dear, dear wife.\" Halfway through the fall, Ron closed his eyes. Life didn't flash before his eyes like he'd seen in the movies he loved - instead, he only saw blackness. \n\n\"That's it? I don't have anything worth remembering?!\"\n\nJust before his head made contact with the paved ground, a baby's face appeared for a microsecond. Mathew. Then it all went pitch black. He was dead.\n\nRon felt his head split open - along with the pain that accompanied it. For seven seconds, he screamed into nothingness as he felt the blood pour down the side of his head. And just as suddenly as the pain had come, it vanished. He continued to scream until his voice gave out. Panting heavily, he realized three things:\n\n1. He was floating somehow, weightless. \n2. He was no longer in pain. \n3. He didn't feel... dead.\n\nAstonished by his last realization, he looked up. It was still pitch black all around. He started hyperventilating - his claustrophobia was kicking in. He imagined the metal box he was trapped in as a child closing in on him, threatening to crush the breath out of his lungs again...\n\n\"NO!\" he tried to scream, as he clawed at his throat. feeling the imaginary hands choking him to death - or whatever death was in this empty place.\n\nA glow in the distance appeared. It was getting bigger and bigger, moving towards him... or maybe he was moving towards it. \"An exit?!\" His claustrophobia disappeared, as he realized he was probably about to meet his maker. The glow became brighter as he approached, and he reached out. As soon as he made contact, he grabbed it and pulled.\n\nThe headset came off his head, and he was immediately blinded by the white light. \"Quite immersive, isn't it?\" a chirpy voice said from afar.\n\nRon realized he was sitting in... some kind of dentist's chair. He looked up the white headset he'd pulled off his head, sitting in his hands, up at a bizarrely dressed man - also all in white. He had the creepiest smile Ron had ever seen.\n\n\"What? I don't - I'm not - Huh?\" Incoherent and still in shock, all Ron could process was the man's face - it was like looking into a kaleidoscope. The man had the most sparkly eyes, which were wholly white, an almost invisible nose, and the thinnest lips he had ever seen. His skin was studded with rubies, sapphires and diamonds. Ron was a man who hated facial modifications - the botox-filled celebrities in Hollywood were too disgusting for him to even look at - and yet, somehow, he thought the being before him was an incredible piece of art. \n\n\"Ronald? Do you not remember me?\" The man's smile twitched, and the gems somehow... faded. \"What is the last thing you remember before you went in?\"\n\nRon could only stare at the being open-mouthed. \"Went in? Went in where?\"\n\nThe man's smile completely disappeared, replaced by a look of anxiety - or at least that's what Ron could make out from the sudden mess of his face. \"No, no, no! You can't be having amnesia!\" The man wrung his hands, and Ron noticed some kind of symbol etched on to the back of his hands - the star of David with an arrow pointing towards his arm through the center. Suddenly, the man whirled and started walking away, muttering something in an unknown language - judging by his tone, he was probably cursing. \n\nAs the man walked away, Ron looked down at the headset. It was just like the one he'd given his son for his 10th birthday, except it had the same symbol on it that he'd seen on the man's hands. He turned it over, and there was a pattern like a barcode, except it was colored like a rainbow, and a number - 3756. \"Some kind of ID?\"\n\n\"Ronald? Can you hear me?\" \n\nRon got startled and looked up. The sound appeared to be coming from a speaker...\n\n\"I'm here, Ronald Textra.\" The voice was right behind him. \"Textra?\" Ron thought. \"My last name is Jansen.\" He turned to his left to see a person just as bizarre as the man who had left. He couldn't tell if it was male or female. The person's skin was patterned like a reptile, with green jade-studded skin, and had the eyes of a snake. \n\n\"No it's not. It's Textra. Jansen is merely the family name you were assigned by the program, honey.\" The voice was female, and yet the person didn't look either male or female.\n\n\"Textra? What kind of weird name is that?\"\n\n\"One you were assigned at your Naming Ceremony nearly a yeron ago. I'm so sorry - this must feel so new to you - \"\n\n\"You're damn right it does.\" Ron was suddenly seething with anger. He had been prepared to die falling and end up in Heaven or Hell, and instead ended up in some futuristic version of a stupid fashion magazine. \"Where am I? What is this place? Why do you look - \" At this point, the being raised a finger, and Ron's mouth suddenly shut. He glared at the being as if to say, \"DO NOT SHUT ME UP!\"\n\n\"I'm sorry, but you need to calm down. Your body cannot take much of the stress you're putting on it. It's very fragile after the whole experiment.\" The being made a circle with the finger, and pushed outwards, and suddenly Ron felt his anger subside. \"What is she doing, and how?\" - Ron had decided to go with assuming the person was female.\n\n\"My goodness, you've really forgotten everything. Again. Really, Ronald, your mind just might be made of rotten Neodyx.\" \n\n\"Rotten neo-what?\" \n\n\"Neodyx. The material that makes up our vessels - our bodies, you would say. An alloy of silicon, graphite, and the very special MDNA.\" She held out her arm, and he saw the symbol again - etched on her hand. She didn't seem to have fingernails, but her thin fingers themselves looked like nails. \"And you're currently on board the Maximus - what you would call a spaceship,\" she added, as she noticed Ron's brows furrowing with every word she said. \"You had chosen to perform an experiment where you would enter an Old Earth experience, salvaged from a human mind before Earth's implosion, and attempt to find out how early humans lived. As far as we know, the Implosion happened due to political tensions between leaders on the old planet, which caused a World War, which in turn triggered Project Noah's Ark - a massive spaceship beneath Earth's surface that was built by Earth's best engineers for the sole purpose of rescuing humanity's elite genetic pool. The spaceship left Earth with the chosen humans as the rest of them practically took Earth apart, and killed themselves. The spaceship landed on Mars, where the people terraformed the planet and made it their new home. We have lived there for mullions now - or you would say millennia - and so we upgraded Noah's Ark to serve as the Maximus, in order to find more habitable planets. Mars was our second chance at redemption, and our population is expanding forevermore. As a result, we need to move to a new planet, and so we've actually gone back in time. We are currently in the first time quadrant - what you would understand as the few yerons after the Big Bang - sorry, a yeron would be a few years in human time.\"\n\n\"So... we're travelling in a time machine?\" Ron was getting more and more lost by the second... or whatever crazy unit of time these people had made up.\n\n\"A time machine?\" Her skin suddenly turned yellowish, and she laughed. \"So primitive. We're well past a time machine - we're now able to move through time the way we do through space. But if you want to think of it that way, sure. We're in a time machine.\"\n\n\"And... I'm not dead?\"\n\n\"No, you're not.\" Her skin turned back to green as she looked sad. \"You're one of our researchers, a brilliant mind, but something went wrong with the experiment and you seem to have lost your memory.\" She looked at him wistfully. \"Are you sure you don't remember anything about your life here? Even me?\" \n\nRon stared at her and tried to find something familiar. Was she someone special to him? He was drawing blanks. \"I'm sorry... I don't.\"\n\nShe sighed - or at least sounded like how a snake would sigh. \"Well, that's not ideal. I'm Sandra. Your wife?\"\n\nRon's mouth fell open as she turned and pointed at a contraption containing a small child. \"And that's your baby. Mathew Textra.\"", "\"We appreciate your testing of the Life Access Interface, the full version will be release in 2023.\" the robotic voice rang empty in my head as I looked around at the sterile white walls surrounding me. The screen showed lines of code scrolling down, detailing my so-called life and everything that happened inside it. All the inconsistencies, the times where reality didn't quite line up right, made sense. My feet were weightless when my arms began to help me out of the bed. Standing on cruel tiles, I walked to the door, the tears fell freely as I opened it, and headed back to my desk to finish the code. All my friends, were effectively dead. I, was dead. \n \nIt took some time, but my memories returned. I was Janessa, a worker at a full sensory VR company. At least that's what was able to be confirmed. The memories from both lives mixed together, and I didn't know which was which. I deleted the memory suppression from the code, it's too intense for consumers. I'm not the same as I was before. I have flashbacks to this disgusting machine everyday, and every bloody night. I pull out my phone, and try to text them, but no one answers. It was 2 months before I broke completely. Ten seconds in the machine, is a year. Ten minutes, is 6 decades. 10 hours, is 600 years. They'll fire me for it, but I don't care, I don't want this life, this real life. I want the life that I died in, I want to be her, that amazing person, that people loved. \n \nMy breath was heavy as I walked into the room. Pulling out my laptop, I uploaded the virus. It would recover my universe, and it would delete the entire years work of the company if I was brought out without the code. I locked the door, and sent out the memo, the ultimatum. I was to stay inside for a full day, and if the power to the machine went out, all the data that they had would be deleted. If they unplugged the machine, and the code didn't get its periodic checkup to make sure the sim is running, all their work would be gone. My hands were out of my control as I furiously typed, before jumping into the chair, and almost slamming my data cable into the machine and pulling the device over my eyes. \n \nThe program started, and I locked myself from escaping. The virus would give me fatal biofeedback if the machine switched off, I was in it till the end. I laid there in my cold body, but I gave myself a HUD to let me at least watch as the world passed by. I didn't know why I was doing this, 16 hours is usually fatal, 24 is a guaranteed death sentence. I was going to die again, for simulations of people, so simulations could live their lives. The first 100 years was uneventful, but it got so much worse after that. Simulations are based on neural pathways already in the brain, and that was the problem. Pathways began burning out after 150 years. At first, it was just the odd disappearance. An NPC whimpering out of existence, and other people following their code, forgetting that person even existed. But the 200 mark is when it got strange. The NPC noticed one of the vanishing acts. A tree disappearing here, a person dropping from reality there, the saw it, and remembered it. No one believed him, so that was good, but I forgot to factor in mental degradation into my plan. \n \nYear 400 went by, and I regretted the decision completely. I had to watch as the world I birthed, fell apart. People began randomly going insane and attacking others. They called it the Hysteria, and it was the bane of this generation's existence. At year 500, people developed police and military. The malfunctioning were taken care of by the other NPCs, but this is when the worst problem occurred. Generalized anti-social behavior began occurring due to a world wide communications network being created. They stopped hanging around each other, because ironically they felt more comfortable with simulations they made, versus the ones I made. \n \nMental illness as they saw it, rose drastically. A combination of my deterioration and their obsession with escaping their reality. Year 600, 10 hours in. I felt a burning headache as I edged closer to brain death, This is when I began to write. I knew I'd forget my purpose here, but that's fine. I don't think I want to remember that I'm going to die in my final hours anyways. Anyways, this is the Era of Meta-Advancement. It's stupid, I know, but it's when they discovered simulations such as mine. They touched the code within the code, and began programming it to let them escape. After 50 years, it became the next big thing, and people began developing the technology in earnest. \n \nI wish I could remember what I looked like, so I could confirm it, but I saw something in one of those buildings. She was black haired, glasses, fair skin, hazel eyes, she wore her hair parted down the middle and worked at a full sensory VR company. She looked like me, I felt like she was me, I was watching a simulation, of myself, the real self, and that's when I began to doubt my life. What was I doing here? It was such an illogical course of action to sacrifice myself for them, and here this line of code was, doing the same. I looked into her simulation 11 hours after she locked the door and left the note. I felt sick to my stomach as I looked inside. I saw another woman in the machine in her simulation. Her time was moving at a ratio of time, equal to mine. I waited some time, before going deeper. Simulation after simulation, each time moving so much faster compared to the real world as the last. \n \nOf course, this meant that I couldn't be sure of my own existence, but what it also meant, was immortality. I could exist eternally by moving deeper and deeper. So I did. \n\n \nIt's been 12 hours in the real word, but I've lived forever in the simulation. I've observed every person on earth, birth to death. I became omnipotent, infinitely intelligent in this world. But I was only an observer. I've accepted that there's nothing else to experience. I discovered eternal life, and it was boring. I met myself, a simulation of an observer such as myself, and I was bored. I can't feel joy anymore. I just cry, because I know this is all there will ever be unless I want to die. I watch them become civilized, I see them achieve gender equality, I see the towers fall, and wars start, I watch as glitches create opposition to everything good. I watch my clone, and repeat. \n \nIt's been 13 hours in the physical world, in mine anyways. I let the clone die, and now I'm sentenced to death. I regret that decision more than anything. \n \nSociety began to regress. Wars ravage the world, equal rights acts are repealed by militaristic dictators voted in by the flawed behavioral programs. I have to watch as this world falls apart. I have to watch as races are sent back to their own countries, women reduced back to property, the deaths of billions as every country tries to achieve world power. After a while, I couldn't even tell what was a flawed piece of code, and what was just the end result of a post scarcity human race, where there was no longer any goals. \n \nThat was so long ago, and by now, everyone is dead. It's been 17 hours, and entire sections of the world are just missing. And while I was thinking, I realized that I never discovered eternal life. I discovered a kind of godhood, a way to become omniscient, and omnipresent. But I was the god of a dead world. I was in hell. I am in hell. I, created punishment for myself. Punishment for flying too close to the sun. I'm missing most of my memories, and reading over what I wrote, I barely remember any of it. \n \n19 hours in, and I decided to start one last simulation. Let it live out as I died. It's my final gift to the world, and I'm so sorry it couldn't last forever. But you have time to live your life. \n \nYou will die, but that's not a curse. It's my blessing. Make the most of the years in the simulation you have left. \n \nThank you for choosing Life Access Interfaces, I hope you enjoy your experience. ", "85 years. Long enough. It had been a hard life. Too much struggle, too much pain. It was time to rest at last. His hands trembled, his mind was at peace. To not be. To drift away, liberated from all the things of the world. Just a couple of deep breaths. A couple more shallow ones. Black walls closing in now. Memories like bits of data flashing before his eyes. He heaved, shuddered, and was gone. \n\nThe techs took the VR headset off and Aidan Shipwell blinked at the brightness of the room. For a moment he felt a profound sadness, like an echoing remnant of all that had transpired. A sadness borne of a promise unfulfilled at the end of a long life. Then he felt anger and his hands balled up into fists, looking for someone to punch. \n\n“It's quite immersive, isn't it?” said Dr. Ronald Tobagan. “Top of the line technology. So real you can't tell the difference. There's going to be a certain amount of disassociation from the uncoupling. No need to be alarmed. Your psychological profile indicates you should recover just fine. Someone remove the feeding tube.” The doctor pointed in the direction of a plastic line protruding from Aidan's abdomen. \n\n “How long have been I gone?” Aidan asked. \n\n“Two weeks. It's a little more than standard but we wanted to give you every opportunity.” \n\n“How'd I do?” \n\n“Well, the results are preliminary,” said the Doctor, “but it seems like you failed in every metric.”\n\n“Shoot.” \n\n“It's not uncommon. Extraordinary jobs require an extraordinary showing of character. You're just not qualified to be president of the United States.\"\n\n“It didn't use to be like this,” said Aidan. “Used to be that anyone could run.” \n\nDoctor Tobagan laughed. “Given where you've just been you should appreciate the reason for the change.” \n\n“Hmmmm.” Aidan thought back to his other lifetime which had begun near the end of the 20th century. Two hundred years in the past. \n\n“We ran you through the toughest simul. The most perilous moment in our nation's history. The earth at a brink, civilization on the verge of collapse, and totalitarianism on the rise in the United States.” \n\n“Pretty bleak,” said Aidan. \n\n“And you didn't do a thing,” Doctor Tobagan told him. “You didn't pick a cause. You didn't fight the good fight. When you faced adversity, you shrank away. You're not a leader. You spent a lifetime at home playing with your phone. You watched movies. You drank beer with your friends. You did your job and raised your family. Nothing more. It's not an indictment of you as a person...” \n\n“It's just the worst job interview I've ever had.” ", "A gentle breeze brushed up against the red cheeks of Robert as his brooding eyes glared down at the water below. The combination of the sun being hidden behind the clouds, the sound of the waves crashing softly against the pillars of the bridge, and the occasional car strolling across gave the impression of an exceptionally calm and peaceful day.\n\nRobert’s eyes darted to the horizon and saw dark clouds collecting and the slightest hint of lightning far off in the distance, but it was coming, and it was heading his way.\n\nHe focused back on the waves, his brow furrowed, and closed his eyes. Listening intently for the to and fro of the water below, the serenity of water occupied his thoughts yet there was one thought that kept trying to creep back into his head. It was very faint at first and distorted. The more he tried to get it to go away the louder it got and the clearer it sounded. Suddenly he couldn’t hear the wind or the waves or the cars behind him, in fact he couldn’t hear anything at all. For a moment it was deafeningly quiet.\n\n“Do it”, the voice whispered.\n\nNone of it made any sense to him. Everyday he’d wake and go downstairs to a fully prepared breakfast made by his beautiful wife, his kids would be watching cartoons in the living room, and he’d have a cup of coffee ready just the way he liked it. He had his 1968 Ford Mustang Convertible that he’d take to work. He taught his favorite subject at the university and actually felt like he was making a difference in peoples lives. On the weekends he would go to the park with his family and he would see them all sitting and laughing by the apple tree, his kids chasing each other around their mother, and he’d never felt so much love in his entire life. Why did he have these thoughts? Why now all of a sudden were these intrusive thoughts clouding his mind, making him incapable of thinking of anything else. Every time he focused on the good things in his life it always lead him to believe that he wasn’t happy. Was he inherently broken? Was he destined to live in misery his whole life now? He didn’t know for sure but one thing he knew for sure was how to stop the voices. \n\n“You can make it all go away so easily”, the voice said enticingly.\n\nHe didn’t realize it but his eyes were full of tears now. Some things in life, despite how incredibly resilient humans are capable of being, are just too much to cope with. When the mind breaks down the body is soon to follow.\n\n“I just want to make it go away” he said softly\n\n“I don’t want to feel broken anymore” \n\nWith a sudden burst of clarity and relief he took his last deep breath of air and took a step forward.\n\n———\n\nHis ears were ringing and the fluorescent lights were too much for him to handle\n\nA voice came on through the headset.\n\n“Quite immersive, isn’t it? Hi, I’m Amanda, a customer service representative for BetterLife Industries. Sorry to end your game like that but you were running out of money on your account and we couldn’t charge your card anymore. We certainly couldn’t just unplug you either, that would have caused far too much mental instability and confusion once you woke up. So, we downloaded a virus into the software that allowed negative and intrusive thoughts to take over your avatar to the point where it made you want to quit playing. You we’re doing pretty well, though. I think the best I’ve seen in all of our trials runs. Most people just end up robbing a bank or overdosing on coke but you actually made a pretty decent life for yourself. Anyways thanks for joining us at BetterLife Industries where we give you the life you deserve. Since your account is now overdrawn you must pay the total charge of $3,500 by the end of the month. Thank you and please come again”\n\n\n", "The truck came out of nowhere. As I slammed on the brakes, I reached out with my right hand to try to protect Barbara in the passenger seat. I saw white as the airbags deployed, felt the jarring crash and the pain of the steering wheel crushing my sternum, then everything went black.\n\nI was blind when I came to. I could tell my eyes were open but there was nothing to see, the blackness was perfect. I was reclining on what felt like a leather couch, and my clothing felt foreign against my skin. Gentle hands cradled my neck and undid a strap(?) underneath my chin, while other removed what felt like gloves from my hands and socks from my feet. My arms and legs were tingling, asleep, but at least they felt like they were all there. Nothing broken. I could move, a bit.\n\nA blinding crack in the darkness, as the helmet(?) was lifted off my head. As my eyes adjusted, I saw I was surrounded not by doctors, but by technicians.\n\n\"Where's Barbara?\" I croaked. \"Where's my wife?\" I addressed the white-haired woman in front of me. From her air of authority, I could tell she was in charge.\n\n\"It's quite immersive, isn't it?\" Her wizened face crinkled as she smiled. \"Welcome back, Mr. Davis. How are you feeling?\"\n\n\"My name is not Davis, it's Davidson, Walter Davidson. Where is my wife, Barbara? Is she okay?\" I struggled to sit up.\n\n\"Mr. Davis, this kind of disorientation can be common for first time users. If you'll remember, I warned you about that this morning, before you went in.\"\n\n\"I... you do look familiar... Mrs... Allread?\" I struggled, vague memories from years ago, a room like this, a company that offered the ultimate in gaming, a VR experience like no other.\n\n\"That's right, Mr. Davis. I'm Gloria Allread, and I designed the game world you've been exploring for the last few hours. Walter Davidson was the name of your avatar. For a first time user, you showed extreme aptitude, power leveling through the formative childhood questlines, joining a supportive guild, exploring the lore of the world and choosing a profession, finding a loving and supportive partner. You've experienced years of content in a very short time. I'll ask you again, Mr. Davis, Michael, how do you feel?\"\n\nConflicting memories, of a childhood spent escaping from the world, playing video games alone in my room, fights at school, flunking out of college, a brief but profitable run as an e-sports competitor. Michael's memories. And Walter's: family vacations, playing outside with friends, bike riding, swimming, lifeguarding, college, graduation, and Barbara.\n\nI shook my head. What can I say to Allread? That Barbara is more real to me than Michael Davis' mother? That Michael Davis has no life, but Walter Davidson has lots to live for? What can I say that will let me see my wife Barbara again?\n\n\"You created an amazing world, Mrs. Allread.\" Careful. \"Are there save files? Could you put me back in, just before the wreck? I'm happy to pay for another session.\" Spending Michael Davis' money like there is no tomorrow.\n\n\"Well, your vitals look good, and your credit is fine. Just one warning, if you go back in, you may experience increased disorientation when your session ends later tonight. If that's okay, just initial here and here.\"\n\n===\n\nI glanced over at Barbara, the love of my life. I took my foot off the gas. The truck came out of nowhere. As I pressed on the brakes, I reached out with my right hand to try to protect Barbara in the passenger seat, and our car skidded past the truck with inches to spare, coming to rest on the shoulder. I got out to see if the truck driver was alright.", "The year was 2062. Humanity had established life on Mars, almost half of earth's population had already moved to the other planet. Virtual reality had taken over the world, or worlds in this case. Everything was done in VR, from business to recreational activities. It was just easier. No one was going to travel through space for a simple business meeting.\n\nI was on my deathbed. It wasn't anything bad like cancer or some other deadly disease. I'd just grown old and weak. I lived for ninety-eight years, and I was happy to see the world evolve as far as it did during my time. I had accepted that I would die, and I was ready. I was surrounded my family in my last moments. My beautiful blonde daughter and her handsome husband, their three children, twins and another. My brother and his wife. They never had any children. Never wanted any. They cried and begged me to stay, hoped that I would live. I told them I was tired, I wanted to rest. They cried. Some of them tried to be brave and hold back or wipe away their tears. The children were still too young, too innocent to understand what was happening. They just wanted to play with grandpa. I smiled to them as I felt reality slipping away. My surroundings slowly faded, replaced by a grayish dark color. I could hear the heart-monitor beeping more violently, and soon everything was dark. That was it. I thought that was the end. I never believed in any kind of afterlife. I just found the concept too far fetched.\n\nThen, a light appeared. Was I wrong? Would I burn in hell or suffer some sort of other punishment for eternity? Would there be a God to scold me for being ignorant? I tried to stay away from the light. It grew larger. I tried running away, but it grabbed at my feet. I couldn't escape, I was surrounded by the light within seconds.\n\n\"Game over. Player disconnected.\" Said a robotic, female voice. What? Did I not die? I had played so many video games that a dream like this would make sense.\n\nI felt a virtual reality headset being removed from my head. In front of me stood a very tall, slender man in a black suit with a red tie. Behind him was an extremely large mirror. I could see my own reflection, I looked like I was sixteen again. I found myself questioning if this was some God or demon.\n\n\"Immersive, isn't it?\" He asked with a smile.\n\n\"What?\" I replied hesitantly.\n\n\"The game. You found it realistic, yes?\"\n\n\"Game?\"\n\n\"Hm\" He smirked. \"Maybe a little too realistic. Don't worry, that's quite common.\"\n\n\"Wh-what's going on?\"\n\n\"I'll explain, but no matter what I say, promise you won't freak out or interrupt me with questions? We can save those for later.\"\n\nI nodded uncomfortably.\n\n\"Let's begin, then.\" He said with a graceful bow. \"You are now back in reality. At the age of 16, you were one of the people who signed up to play our life simulator. If they were accepted, they were assigned a random character model and placed into the simulated world. They started at birth and played through the entire life of their character. Events, stories, other characters and everything else was selected through a random algorithm, though most things were left open enough that the user could change them through free choice. While in the simulation, they knew nothing and remembered nothing of the real world. Some people actually believe they're in the simulation, but we're still not sure if that's their belief or a glitch with our memory-clearing system. I know it felt like ninety-eight years, but you've been playing for about five hours.\"\n\nIt was all just... too much. I was sure I would have a heart attack at any minute.\n\n\"You OK?\" He asked. \"I know it can all be too much to take in. We've had... cases in the past.\"\n\nI nodded again. \"It is, how-how is this possible?\"\n\n\"Our advanced technology. For your simulation, you chose to be born in the late nineteen-hundreds. It seems your mind is still in that age. A flaw with our simulation we have yet to fix. If someone plays the game too long, they start to believe it is their reality.\"\n\n\"Why don't you just allow them to keep their memory then?\"\n\n\"Insanity, mainly. Our early beta testers all went crazy when they were old enough to know they were in a simulation. They would try everything to escape, including suicide. Some of them made it out after suicide, but a lot of their minds were too damaged knowing the truth. So we had a choice between killing or severely damaging people, or just dealing with some memory problems.\"\n\n\"I'm having a very difficult time accepting all this. I've accepted my death. I've lived a full life. I don't want to be here.\" I'd only realized the severity of what I'd said afterwards.\n\n\"Unfortunately, another side effect from our game. You would need therapy to come to terms with reality and return to society.\"\n\n\"Why? Why do you allow people to play this simulation if things like these are happening?\"\n\n\"Because we didn't know. We send out advertisements and campaigns for this game, and requested people to sign up. We only accepted two thousand people, and you were one of them. Most of them had already finished playing before you. There are only three hundred or so still connected currently. We fixed the most severe problems, and we're hoping we can fix everything to allow people over the entire galaxy to play it.\"\n\n\"W-wait. Galaxy?\"\n\n\"Oh, that's right. I keep forgetting. In your simulation, humanity only lived on Earth and Mars.\" He sighed. \"This will be long and difficult therapy, but we will turn you into a functioning member of our society again. Don't worry. For now, you can go wash up.\" He pointed at a nearby door with a male restroom sign on it. \"I'll be here if you have any questions.\"\n\nAs I stared at the bathroom mirror, I could see the tears forming in my eyes. His words kept replaying in my head. I would never be a part of this society. I've gotten so used to life on this 'simulated' Earth, and I've accepted my death there. Even if it wouldn't have been so difficult to learn about this all new society, I was dead. I grabbed one of the razors on the sink and started taking it apart. I leaned over the sink, bringing the blade closer to my wrist as my tears softly landed on it.\n" ]	9
	[wp] you can move as fast as the Flash but it’ll burn up literally all your energy and kill you. Today is that day.	[ "It had taken me the 20 years of my life to even partially master my ability, as it were. When I came out of the womb, I pushed myself out, so fast that I had to alleviate the aftereffects in the NICU for two months. As a child, I'd have momentary bursts of quickness, only to come down with a cold, or unfortunately, something worse. The worst was when our cat fell out of our apple tree in the backyard, and, seeing it from the window, I booked it to save him from inducing a deathly faceplant. So much for cats always trying to land on their feet. After that incident, I suffered from blood clots in my legs, as well as near-asphyxiation due to the air not being able to keep up with my lungs' overworking. I needed six months to recover, alongside physical therapy and the use of crutches. It was odd; there was always a slight delay between using my ability and the onset of symptoms, but it occurred infallibly. \n \nNever, though, did I find a need to truly test my abilities. From all the past occurrences of usage, and my own simple experiments, I figured I could reach around 2,500 MPH before my lungs exploded and body couldn't handle the speed. It was a rough estimate, but it's not like I'd be timing myself right before my death. And it wasn't as if I'd ever imagined wanting to be somewhere that fast; my life wasn't exactly a picture of adventure. \n \nThat was, until yesterday. Last night at around 11:00 PM, struggling to finish my final college portfolio assignment for my writing elective, a strange noise bludgeoned my ears from... somewhere. It wasn't loud, nor particularly noticeable, but it almost screeched like a dog whistle in my ears, begging my brain to jump out of my head and dance. I had to follow it; like, it was calling me, beckoning me to a place and thing I needed to find. \n \nSo I walked. And walked. And walked. And walked. And then, I walked some more. After a few hours of walking, almost aimlessly toward the sound, through river and field and forest, I came to a small clearing within the forest. It took me a few minutes to grasp what I was seeing; a smoothed-out almost chameleon-like ship, the size of a shed, blending in yet standing out due to a small fire nearby and cinders falling from the trail left through the branches above. The moonlight tore through the landing trajectory of the ship, and, alongside the fires, illuminated its surface despite being very good at not standing out. Within a few moments, my mind raced to questions; what was it, was it an experiment, an alien, a government satellite, something else? Lost in thought, hardly even paying attention, I stood, in bewilderment and a self-imposed hypnosis. \n \nThen I snapped back, and before me stood a creature. It was about my height, somewhat round, with small appendages, and a fluffy exterior. It was also onyx black, with a shine and gleam from the fire and moonlight, and two eyelid-lacking eyes; staring directly at me, as white as Photoshop-bleached teeth in any romance film. It stood, motionless, but gave off a presence that I had to deem...friendly. Then, I saw its eyes move to my right, and standing a few feet from me, unnoticed, was another person. In fact, not just any person, but an acquaintance of mine from my writing class. We probably should have been friends, as I noticed him surfing reddit on occasion, looking at similar subreddits to mine. But, we just...weren't. We were redditors, after all. \n \nThen, my mind really snapped. After I saw a flash from his direction, indicating he took a picture, I realized this was it. This was my time. Earth had finally made contact with an alien species, and only the two of us knew. I had the opportunity, nay, the privilege, to alert the proper people about this discovery. I didn't know who to contact; the government, who might silence me? The police, who might just take it as a prank call? My friends and family, who might just write me off as bat-shit crazy and needing sleep? No. No, none of them would understand. \n \nAs my classmate ran in some direction, I took out my phone, and made sure to get the best picture I could at a decent pace. Hapy with the snapshot, I knew this was the moment. I maximized my speed, and ran back in the direction of my apartment. I could feel the adrenaline overriding my entire system, and knew a reckoning would befall me soon after. I was back at my apartment almost instantly, despite the many miles I walked. Once there, I shot up straight to my room, and sat down, turning off my ability. \n \nThe computer was still on. I knew this was it. I brought reddit back up, and started posting to every subreddit I could; /r/whatisthisthing, /r/conspiracy, /r/aww, and the many others that shot into my mind that were somewhat relevant and would get me that juicy karma. \n \nThat was five minutes ago. This will probably be my last post. I don't need anyone to know the story. I don't expect this to be upvoted, as I assume all of my karma will come from /r/aww anyway. But I needed to write it. Not for glory, or karma, or anything else. But, because... \n \nBecause...well, I need to write." ]	1
	[WP] After a fight with your boyfriend, you hear a muffled voice from under your bed say “I can’t do this no more”. A huge black snake creature comes out from underneath and says “I’m supposed to be scaring you, but I can’t when you come home crying and I feel bad. We’re fixing your life right now.”	[ "Alissa shot up with a start. She coulda sworn she heard something. A creak? \n \nYet silence reigned over the pitch black room. Shadows weaved across the floor from the tree branches outside, the faintest moonlight showing them; black against black. \n \nShe noticed the cupboard on the far side of the room ajar. She thought she'd closed it before bed; it creeped her out. It was even darker in there. And the darkness was where monsters came from, wasn't it? \n \nAlissa got up as quietly as possible, but could barely stifle a sob as she pushed the door closed. Tears dropped onto the floor. She suddenly halted as she thought she saw an extra shadow that shouldn't be there; it vanished instantly. Alisda shrieked, a little too loud. Oh no. \n \nShe flew into bed but the stomps approaching her room terrified her. She tried her best to pretend to be asleep, but it was no good; her mother flung the door open, and grabbed her by her hair and yanked her up. She got right in her face and screamed. \"One more noise from you, you weeping urchin, and I'll make you regret the day you were born! Got it!?\" \n \nAlissa tried hard not to let her tears of pain show. \"Y-yes ma'am.\" \n \nHer mother huffed and dropped her onto the bed, leaving and slamming the door behind her. She was obviously in a good mood; she hadn't even been slapped. \n \nTrying to keep her sobs to herself, Alissa thought about how her day had gone so wrong. Her first boyfriend had just dumped her. She knew she was only 14 and it probably wouldn't last, but he'd helped her find solace away from home at school. But when she wouldn't have a sleep over, and wouldn't give a reason, he flipped out at her. She was so embarassed and ashamed, she couldn't have people wondering why she never had friends home from school, or vice versa. She was dreading the questions of tomorrow. She didn't know what to do. She buried her face into her pillow to keep her uncontrollable cries muffled. \n \nShe turned her head to look at the darkness of the room. She watched the tree shadows dance on the floor... but one wasn't moving. She locked up in fear, but daren't make a noise. Her fear of what would happen if she did was greater. \n \nThen she heard a whisper. \"Hello.\" It said, quietly. \"Don't be afraid.\" \n \nNow curious despite her fear, she poked a hand out from under the blanket and made a little wave. \n \nA short, thin arm extended from the unmoving shadow on the floor, and waved back. Then the entire shadow sprouted several pairs of arms, and stood up. She could just about make out the glint of two eyes at the head. Sort of like a big snake, with arms. \n \nThen it changed colour from jet black to purple, making it more visible to her. The thing was scaly, and had a large, toothy mouth. But it seemed to be smiling kindly at her. \"Hello, Alissa. I'm Randall.\" \n \nAlissa was stunned. And confused. It seemed familiar, somehow... \n \nThen it hit her. \n \n\"Are you from M-Monsters Inc.?\" She stuttered quietly. \n \nThe monster rolled it's eyes. \"Yes, I am. I'm not evil, I promise.\" \n \nThe surreality if the situation was beginning to overcome Alissa's fears. She crossed her arms and glared at him. \"Prove it.\" \n \nRandall sighed in exasperation. \"There was a girl called Mary Gibbs. She was Boo. In real life. The real circumstances were slightly different to the film she got made. As far as we know, she's pretty rich now.\" He explained. \"And I was her real scarer at the time so I guess that makes me evil.\" \n \nAlissa just looked at him bemusedly. Then he shook his head. \"Look, that's not why I spoke to you. I'm meant to be scaring you, but...well, you don't need me to make you feel fear, do you?\" The monster looked at her sympathetically. Alissa was struck by how much she'd needed someone to just care, seeing the expression. Tears welled in her eyes. She couldn't cry now, though. She wiped her eyes with the blanket. \"Wait, scarer? Don't you do laughs, if you said the film was real?\" \n \n\"Still short circuits our tech, though we're working on it. In the meantime, however...\" \n \nThe monster looked lost in it's thoughts. Then it looked back at her. \n \n\"Look, Alissa.\" He said. \"I've been your scarer for two weeks now. We've made an acceptable amount of energy from your door. Only...well, this is the first time you've seen me, isn't it?\" \n \nAlissa made the slightest nod. She curled up in the bedcovers and looked away, ashamed. \n \nThe monsters came closer to the bed, and laid a hand on her knew under the duvet. Alissa flinched, though from pain, reflex or embarassment, Randall couldn't be sure. \n \nHe looked into her eyes, as she peered at him, trying to give the pretence of looking away. \"You shouldn't feel bad, Alissa. It's not your fault.\" \n \nShe couldn't contain herself anymore. It had been too long since a kindly person had paid attention to her; too long since her father had died and left her alone...she grabbed out at Randall, burying her face in his sides, quiet sobs and tears coating him. \n \nRandall stroked her hair with two free hands. He gave her a moment to let it out, to calm down, then pushed her away and fixed her eyes with his. \"Alissa. Would you run away from home? If you could?\" \n \nAlissa quieted her sobs. Like she hadn't considered that enough times. Too many times. \n \n\"Nowhere to go. And when I did...I was put back here.\" She whimpered. \n \nRandall bared his teeth in anger. But it wasn't scary like it should be; she knew it wasn't directed at her, now. Catching himself, Randall quickly looked very ashamed, but surprised at Alissa's acceptance of it. He looked into her eyes again. \n \n\"Alissa...\" He said. \"Would you like to come home with me? To our world?\" \n \nShe sat back, stunned. Then she leaned close, heart pounding. She breathed deeply to calm herself. \"Really?\" She whispered. \n \nRandall nodded calmly. \"You won't be alone. You're not the first human who's come home with us.\" \n \nAlissa looked up in surprise. \"How? Why?\" She blustered. \n \n\"We scare because we care, don't ya know?\" He said by way of explanation. \"You humans, as a whole, aren't very nice to each other. Always fighting and warring and killing; why do you think we keep ourselves hidden from you?\" \n \nThat made sense, Alissa thought. Randall turned away from her, and slipped across the room to the door in utter silence. She was impressed. He gently turned the doorknob, and opened the door wide, revealing the work floor of Monsters Inc. It was late through there, only Randall's assistant, Fungus, busy sorting paperwork. \n \nRandall looked at her questioningly. \"I didn't misread you, did I?\" \n \nAlissa shook her head. She got up out of bed, and held a finger up to tell Randall to wait. She got her rucksack and threw her favourite clothes in it and her teddy rabbit, and did a quick look over her dented desk. She slipped open a drawer, and lifted up the false bottom; a photo of her and her father, when she was 6, grinned back at her happily. She also took her diary out from this same hidden compartment, and slipped the photo inside. She pushed it into her bag, slowly did up the zip, and turned to Randall. She looked about the room, and then uncertainly at Randall. He held out a hand for her to take. She hesitated, then steeled herself and grabbed it. For the first time, she smiled at him. He smiled back, and lead her through the door to a whole new world, leaving the old one behind with the quiet click of a door closing.", "Hsss. \n\nIf Alloy listened closely, her decrepit old ears could just detect Jason stomping out of her chamber and into the overly bright corridor of the starship Septer. With a calmness she didn’t feel, she pressed the star calendar on her bedroom wall.\n\nIt blinked to life, reading the year 3127. Mumbling to herself, Alloy did some calculations. If her math was right, the humans, both the original and the one’s birthed on the ship, were 57 years and 3 months into Septer’s maiden voyage. \n\nTaken aback, she did the numbers again. Then one last time to be sure. Had it really been so long since she had boarded? Alloy looked at the paper-thin skin on her fingers which were turning more bluish for with each passing day.\n\n“I wonder if I’ll ever make it…to Umomia” She mused aloud turning the calendar off again. She used her oak cane to hobble over to the sleeping pod in the corner of the room. She figured it was the last real piece of earth left on the ship. \n\nUmomia was the new home world. One with flowing rivers, and majestic mountains, and even signs of life. With Earth becoming more toxic by the day, Alloy’s mom spent every dime she had left to make sure her daughter had a seat on the ship. Alloy had been only seven when Septer left Earth’s orbit and try as she might, she could not remember what real sunlight felt like. The only thing that had kept her going all these years was Jason. \n\nThe elderly woman tried not to think of Jason leaving. She knew it had been a long time coming, but every time she shut her eyes, she saw him in his good moments. Holding their children for the first time. Taking long walks with their grandkids through Septer’s holographic garden. Not now though. Now he was always yelling. Always forgetting her name.\n\nAlloy sniffled. The tears were rippling over the delicate folds of her skin before she even knew that she was heart broken. \n\n“Ssssooo, that isss it then. I predicted thissss, you know. Three yearssss ago. I had been around a while by then, and you were my favorite humanssss to watch.” \n\n“Oh— oh good gracious!” Alloy’s hands snapped to cover her mouth as a large black basilisk slithered out from under her sleeping pod. He was so quick Alloy nearly fell off the other side of the pod in her hurry to scramble away.\n\n“Don’t be alarmed. Would it help if I introduced myself? You can call me... Sneky. That is cute enough for you humanssss right? Unthreatening?” The inky serpent soothed, slurring his s’s heavily. \n\nSneky was as well over 40 inches in length. Alloy didn’t know where he had hidden himself under such a small sleeping pod. He continued, oblivious to her awe of him. “ I mean yessss, originally I happened upon your room to siphon your energy...but I would jussst feel so bad, you know? Your life force is nearly extinguisssshed already without my help and your forever mate left you all alone. Defenselessssss.”\n\n“What are you?” Alloy asked, but immediately bit her lip in regret. It had sounded much more snarky than intended. \n\nSneky didn’t seem to notice. Or if he did, he didn’t hold it against her.“You might call me an alien. You might call me a god. In simplest terms, I am merely an ascended being that has no solid form. I feed off the energy of others in order to keep a solid shape in your dimension.” \n\nAlloy stretched a hand out tentatively to touch the snakes smooth scales. Her hand passed right through him. “Yesss, not so pretty now am I? I haven’t fed in quite some time.”\n\nThe woman cleared her throat. “So if you’re not going to kill me, what can I do for you? Do you like tea? We have Earl… or perhaps Roobios?” \n\n“Oh...I never said I wasn’t going to kill you. I just ssssaid I would feel bad about it.” \n\nBefore she could make a noise, Sneky unhinged his lower jaw. It extended so far that it nearly touched the pristine tile floor. Just large enough to swallow her whole. And he did— cane and all.\n\n“Oh, what a sssssad day. Poor lady...poor... poor woman… Don’t worry, I will eat your lover too. Then you can be together for eternity.” ", "I stared down at the snake in my unicorn-footy pajamas, gripping my Elsa and Anna sheets, not knowing what to do. It righted itself, standing up like a black vacuum hose with red eyes and a flickering tongue.\n\n\"Ssslither thisss way,\" the shadowy snake beckoned. \"We've got busssinesss to attend to.\"\n\n\"W-w-what are we gonna do?\" I asked.\n\n\"To do sssomething that needsss to be done. You're only 11 yearsss old, too sssmall for a boyfriend. Let'sss go.\"\n\nThe thick snake slithered out of my door and into the hallway. I jumped out of bed and followed it through the dark house all the way to the front door where it stopped.\n\n\"You're not ssscared of the darknessss, are you?\" it asked.\n\n\"No,\" I whimpered. \"But that door is locked. And mom and dad have the only key.\"\n\n\"That'sss no problem, my sssweet,\" the snake said. \"It'sss easssily sssolveable.\"\n\nThe snake flicked its head and its eyes twinkled. The door opened with a creak.\n\n\"Let'sss shake it, sssweetie.\" The snake slipped through and I followed, closing the door gently behind. \n\nOutside it was pitch black except for the streetlights that peppered the sidewalk every few feet. It was eerily silent out, the only sound was the scraping of the snake's body against the concrete ground as he led us forward.\n\n\"Where are we going?\" I asked the snake. It was hard to keep up with it in my onesie-pajamas, but I was glad to at least not be barefoot.\n\n\"We're almossst at the finisssh,\" the snake said. \"Sssit tight.\"\n\nIt was hard to tell where we were since it was nighttime, but I had a feeling I'd been here before. When the snake finally stopped, I realized where he'd brought me.\n\n\"This is Samuel's house,\" I said, recognizing his red bike with gears and a Yu-Gi-Oh! sticker on it. He rode it to and from school every day, including today when I saw him holding hands with Mackenzie after the final bell rang. Just remembering it made anger pulsate through me.\n\n\"Don't be ssso sssalty,\" the snake said. \"It'sss time to get sssome revenge.\"\n\nThe snake slithered around to the side of the house, to the window into Samuel's room. It was just high enough for me to peer in. The snake stood up straight, flicked it's head to the side again, and the glass opened up. The snake slipped right into the room. I pulled myself up and heaved in after him.\n\nSamuel's room was as dark as the outside. He was lying in plane-shaped bed, legs sprawled out and snoring loudly. The snake crawled over to the side and looked at me with its bright red eyes.\n\n\"What are you going to do?\" I whispered.\n\n\"Ssshow him a nicccee sssurprise,\" he said. He nudged Samuel with his face, making him mumble in his sleep. He pushed him again, harder, and this time Samuel's eyes fluttered open.\n\nAs soon as he saw the snake, he burst to attention and let out a wild scream, scuttling back against his headboard. The snake quickly whipped its tail and wrapped it around his mouth, muffling the sound.\n\n\"Yessss,\" it moaned. \"Your ssscreams make you even more ssscrumptious!\"\n\nThe snake opened its mouth, unhinging its jaw, revealing its sharp thin teeth. It brought itself down over Samuel head-first, squeezing him and shoving him down its throat. Within just one \"bite,\" Samuel was just an unmoving shape inside the snake's body.\n\n\"What did you do?!\" I yelled. \"I thought you were just going to scare him a bit!\"\n\n\"Alasss, that wasss not my purpossse,\" it said. \"I came here to ssscare you, you sssucculent sssnack!\"\n\nMy heart was racing. I ran for the window, but I was too late. The snake had wrapped itself around my ankle and its mouth was already coming in for the kill. All I could do was scream in terror.\n\n\"Ah yesss,\" the snake said as it engulfed me. \"Ssscreams are truly the greatest ssspice.\"\n\n*****\nThis prompt was written with the help of chat at the [ScottWritesStuff](https://www.reddit.com/r/ScottWritesStuff/) Twitch stream." ]	3
	[WP] You were born with a strange reaction to water. You do not need it to survive. However, when water touches your skin, you transform. You’ve always taken special care. However, one night, on a first date, you get caught in a freak storm.	[ "‘Shit Shit Shit Shit SHIT’\n\nIt’s pouring out, and I’m caught outside in public.\n\nIt’s too late. I felt the first drop of the storm hit my skin. I can already feel the water swirling around me as the transformation begins.\n\nPeople are staring, in awe as the water behaves unnaturally. A whirlpool of water out of water.\n\nWhen the mystical swirling water subsides, I’m on the cold and rough sidewalk, helpless and unable to move.\n\nNOW people are staring. How could they not? They saw a teen guy get hit with a single drop of water, have water surround him, and then turn into a merman. I do my best to escape to the nearby storm canal, but now people are coming closer. Trying to get a better look at me. \n\nMy heart’s pounding. My life’s over. My face is sure to be on TV and the internet now, my identity and curse revealed to the world. I’m sorry Mom and Dad, thanks for caring for me despite my curse. I’m sorry for getting found out after so long.\n\nMy anxiety gets the better of me, and I feel myself start to slip into————\n\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\n\nThis is Bravo team, target secured. Transferring the heir to his kingdom. We’re sure to be paid big for returning the Atlantean Prince." ]	1
	[WP] You finally convince your parents to send you to magic camp. However, when you arrive you discover it's not a camp where you learn sleight of hand, it's a camp for people who are actually magic, and you have no abilities whatsoever.	[ "She realised her mistake as soon as she stepped off the bus and right through a rather pale looking boy in front of her.\n“Sorry” she said sheepishly, moving off to the side as he floated away. Although it took her mind a while to process what she had just seen she knew, knew that there was no way that anything like that could happen, and that she was sure that she wasn’t seeing things. She tried to retreat back onto the bus but it had disappeared as if by. She shook her head not allowing herself to finish that thought. \nHer stomach started doing cartwheels and her heart jumped to her mouth. Panic started to settle in. \nA man with silver hair, in a camp T-Shirt looked across and saw the new girl. He knew she had to be new, as she had that look about her. He approached her and noted the look on her face, like she had made a terrible mistake, though she had just walked right through another student so it was understandable.\nShe saw him approaching, the camp counsellor she had hoped that she would wow them with her sleight of hand, she realised that was useless now, and time was running out for her to think of what to do. \n\n“Hi, you must be new here, I’m Mark. Fairy Godfather. You are” he said extending his hand.\nShe stared at his hand for a moment, then back at his face, plastered with a smile, before extending her own hand,\n\n“Aisling” she said, shaking his. \n\n“You’ll forgive my curiosity, but what exactly are you? I can’t quite place your look, you’re not a vampire or a werewolf that much I can tell, and I sense no obvious magic about you” he said.\n\n“Me?!” Aisling jumped “I’m a umm a Bean-sidhe” she said blurting our the first thing that came to mind.\n\n“A bean-sidhe?” He asked “can’t say I’ve ever met one before, I thought that they couldn’t talk? That to hear them meant death?”\n\nAisling laughed, recalling the stories that her mammy used to tell her when she young \n“A common misconception” she answered “we’re actually more complex than that, we don’t scream so much as wail, and it doesn’t cause death it’s a warning that death is coming. I mean I can see where people may have gotten confused”. \n\n“Ah” he said “well hopefully we won’t be hearing you wailing at all during camp, we couldn’t be doing with any more deaths, especially after last year”\n\nAisling paused “last year. What happened last year?”\n\n“Someone thought it would be funny to provoke a Minotaur. We were picking up body parts for weeks. But I’m sure that won’t happen again. Anyway I must dash loads more people to greet. I hope you enjoy your stay” Mark said rushing off to another young camp goer. \nAisling didn’t need a mirror to know that she had turned white as a sheet. She just hoped that she could keep up this ruse and that no one did anything that would call attention to her lie, or she may really be in trouble. ", "The first hint that something was up with this godawful place was that none of the other kids had packed... Well, anything really. Mum and Dad had stressed the fact that they were \"all-inclusive\", I thought that that might explain it. I hadn't even wanted to come in the first place, but since my parents first met here they forced me into it - perhaps they just wanted me out of the house for the holidays.\n\nAnway, this is being recorded as a sort of diary, because judging from what I saw while we were \"getting to know each other\" it's going to be one long holiday. In the words of Andy Weir, I'm going to have to science the shit out of this.", "Ophelia sauntered up against the back wall of the Talsabury Hall, trying to attract as little notice as possible while still being able to peer out over the second floor balcony to the main hall below, where the College admissions were being held. Holding a serving tray filled with drinks, she kept one eye out for anyone who might beckon her over. She hated the guise, but it was a necessary one. When her so called partner blew the entire operation, she would have to be the one to drag his sorry ass out of here. \n\nBelow, she saw him entire through the main doors, smiling as if he hadn’t a care in the world. From all over the room, a hundred pairs of eyes locked onto him as he approached the admission’s staff. A dozen of the best sorcerers and sorceresses in the Flotilla peered down at him, ready to judge his display of magical prowess.\n\nTalazan Rankor, Earthborn, non-magical, bowed before them with a sweeping flourish and charming smile. \n—————\n\n“Do you have everything?” Ophelia asked for the hundredth time. Talazan adjusted the cuff links’s on his jacket and making sure they were properly attuned to the five glowing stones beside him. \n\n“I think I forgot to put on underwear, but your welcome to double check.” Talazan winked at her. She rolled her eyes. \n\nThey were sitting out on the bow of their little dingy, the Tempest, floating just a few miles away from the Talsabury college. They were forced to stay within the clouds as much as they could, not wanting to be noticed by any potential passerby’s. Luckily the Talsabury was docked on the outskirts of the flotilla. The rich sure did love the luxury of privacy and exclusion. \n\nMiles below them, the the surface passed by in an barren, unchanging landscape. \n\n“Here.” Talazan scoped up the stone and handed them over to Ophelia. “Remember the range is only thirty feet or so. So please don’t wander off.” \n\n“No promises.” She replied. She really didn’t like this plan, but she pocketed the stones anyway. He had no doubt she would be able to smuggle them into the college. Lowlander servants weren’t scrutinized as much as others. After all, they couldn’t even use magic, what was the worse they could do?\n\nTalazan fingered his cuff links. It was time to find out.\n\n——————\n\n“Talazan Rankor.” Headmaster Alfheim spoke with a dry, aging voice. He leaned over the raised table to look down at the young man below. He was the one the Magehound had warned him about. A lowlander, he’d called the boy. Alfheim found that hard to believe. A lowlander applying to the college. Not even an earthborn could that crazy. Well, it mattered little in the end. If he was a lowlander, then he would fail the exam and the guards would haul him away, to be branded as a servant or exiled back to the surface. \n\n“You are applying to the college as an Elementalist, is that correct?” the headmaster peered down at the boy behind his glasses. The young man nodded with an enthusiastic smile.\n\n“It would be an honor to be able to consider myself a peer of your prestigious academy.” Talazan replied. Alfheim nodded, humming under his breath. \n\n“Very well. Then I’m sure you know about the necessary qualifications? You must be able to wield each of five elements in some essence. As long as you are capable of that, we would be glad to have you.” That was the crux of it. It would be impossible for a Lowlander to summon the elements, unless he had outside help. He would have been checked at the door however, and any magical items capable of summoning the elements would have been confiscated. \n\nStill, the Magehound warning rang in his ears. He would be paying extra close attention to this one.\n\nTalazan bowed again. “Then allow me to begin. First, the element of Earth.”\n\n——-\n\nTalazan took his hands off the ships wheel and clipped his Belt-of-Tricks around his waist. The vials containing various liquid, powders, and potions rattled about in his pouches. A bit of brimstone, a bit of sulfuric-acid. Some Vitriol here and some Aersenic there. Substances that the average sorcerer wouldn’t be able to recognize, unless they were a skilled alchemist. Certainly nothing the average Talsabury guard would find suspicious. \n\n“Let’s hope those things are worth what we paid for them.” Ophelia said, glancing at his cuff links. “If not we’re going to have a very long time to think about getting our money back in the college dungeons.” \n\n“We tested them. They’re fine.” Talazan reassured her as he steered the Tempest towards the Flotilla. . “Stop worrying.”\n\n“You’re only saying that cuz you got to keep them.” Ophelia grumbled. They had split the cost.\n\n—-\n\nOphelia saw Talazan reach out and summon a palm sized stone out of thin air. She felt the Earth Stone heat up in the pocket of her dress, sending a surge of elemental energy into Talazans cuff links. Talazan grabbed the stone and bounced it up and down in his hand. Smiling all the while. Ophelia hoped it would be enough as she felt the Earth Stone cool. The Elemental Stones were one use only, and they had cost a fortune.\n\nTalazan tossed the stone up towards the headmaster. The old man raised a finger and the rock came to a halt in front of him, floating in midair. He let it drop into his open hand and studied it for a bit, before nodding and setting it aside.\n\n“Continue.” He said. Ophelia barely stopped herself from sighing in relief. This could work after all. \n\n“Now Wood!” Talazan pulled a parchment scroll from his pocket, unfolding it and showing the administrators that it was completely blank. Ophelia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was just like he was back on the surface, preforming for a bunch of wide eyed children, and slack jawed villagers. \n\nShe felt the heat in her pocket again as the parchment in Talazan’s hand thickened and became dark. With loud pop, Talazan held up a slab of wood, freshly transmogrified from the scroll’s paper. Glancing around, Ophelia saw several of the sorcerers around the balcony looked impressed. Several even clapped. \n\n“Air!” Obvious encouraged by the applause, Talazan swirled his hands, summoning a gust of wind from the Air Stone. The magic poured out from the cuff links below his palms, scattered papers and rustling beards all around the hall. Polite clapping turned to laughter, and the headmaster held up a hand for silence. \n\n————\n\nThey flew the Tempest towards the east end of the Talsabury, hiding the ship behind the tall trees planted in the park. Ophelia came up from below dressed in her servants attire. She glanced towards him, standing on the edge of the ship as he tossed the rope ladder over the side. Crossing her arms, she fixed him with a serious look.\n\n“What’re you gonna do when it all goes wrong?”\n\n——\n\nAlfheim snapped his fingers and eight crystals materialized around Talazan. Purple lighting danced beneath their dark blue surfaces, and with a thunderous crackle, bolts of electricity shot from the tips of the crystals, connecting with each other to form a box around the young man. \n\nGasps of surprise and terror filled the room. It was a natural reaction Alfheim understood. Through some unexplained phenomena, electricity naturally nullified all magic within a certain radius. As such it was relatively despised among the flotillas. \n\nThe only way it was being controlled the way it was currently, was due to the special crystals that contained it. They could be found buried deep within the surface, and only emitted electricity in close contact with each-other. The box Talazan was in wasn’t harmful as long as the boy didn’t touch the bolts around him, but no magic would be able to penetrate the barrier. \n\nIf he was receiving help somehow, the box would put a stop to that. \n\n“Forgive me.” Alfheim spoke. “I find I grow paranoid in my old age. I hate to imply that you are not trustworthy, Mr. Rankor. But you display remarkable prowess for a novice. If you are truly as good as you appear, then you may continue. The barrier will not affect any magic within it’s confines.”\n\nThe smile flickered, but only for a moment. \n\n“I’m flattered, really.” Talazan replied. “To think that I would be so amazing that you would wonder if I was cheating. How could I be anything but?”\n\n—————-\n\nTalazan leaned back on the ships railing, fixing Ophelia with his best smile. It didn’t convince her, but he did it all the same.\n\n“Then I’ll do what I always do. I’ll improvise, adapt, and make a general fool of myself.”\n\n—————-\n\n", "\"Oh, come on, Mom. I turn fifteen this August, and you're sending me off for two teeny-weeny weeks!\" I protested for the umpteenth time, as I begged her to let me attend a magic camp that I had been ogling for almost a year now.\n\nAs usual, she glanced at the website I was presenting with a skeptical look. \"Are you sure about this? Amanda, just look at all those fires shooting up in the background of these pictures here. I really don't think this is the type of place a healthy, sane teenager would attend.\"\n\n\"Really?\" I retorted, with the most sarcasm I could imbue into my rolling eyes. \"So you're saying all the kids happily posing for this photo, or that one, or this down here, or any of these -- they're all just unhealthy, insane scumbags?\" I had recently learned on debate team that overexaggerating your opponent's argument was a great recipe for success. Yes, I'm on debate team. Don't ask.\n\n\"Well...\" she trailed off, sidestepping by getting back to cooking dinner.\n\nI wasn't about to let her off the hook, but Dad interjected at that moment.\n\n\"Honey, Amanda has really been wanting this for a good while now,\" he noted, placatingly. \"In fact, I don't know how many things in life she's been this persistent and stubborn about before. Why don't we let her give it a try? The website looks reputable enough.\"\n\nMom knew she was cornered, and gave Dad a deathglare for the ages. With a sigh, she reluctantly submitted.\n\n\"Wait, wait, wait -- I can actually go?\" I exclaimed in disbelief. As they say, thirty-seventh time's the charm.\n\n\"Yes, but on one condition,\" she said, making one last defiant stand. \"You pay for the entire trip, or no deal.\"\n\n---\n\nI thought about that last conversation with a giddy smile as I bounced along on the bus that would take me to magic camp. Now that it was actually happening, I couldn't stop the shivers from running down my entire body, as I sort of vibrated with excitement in my seat. Look, I'm not proud of it, but I couldn't help how excited I was, okay?\n\nIt was as I was reflecting on this moment that I noticed a slight upward buoyancy. At first, I thought it was the force of my buttocks, lifting off the seat in an actual hop of excitement, but I soon realized that the ground outside was drifting further and further away. I plastered my face against the window as the rolling hills below seriously zoomed out of sight.\n\nNow this was a seriously cool magic trick. I didn't know how they were doing it, but if this was a preview of the stuff we were going to learn at camp, I was even more excited. They even had gusts blowing in the windows, as if we were actually in the air!\n\nI turned around to ask if the guy across the aisle knew how they were doing the trick -- only to realize that he was currently deep into the complex art of blowing fire from his mouth. Notwithstanding the potentially terrifying safety implications, it was incredible how natural he made it look. In fact, I didn't even see a torch or fuel source on his person at all! All my magic research online said that you needed both of those to even think about fire breathing.\n\n\"Hey, how are you breathing fire without a torch?\" I asked, or rather screamed, as the clamor in the bus combined with the whirlwinds ripping through it escalated the noise level to a new high. \"Don't you need one of those?\"\n\nThe boy just ignored my questions and went on rolling flames into the air and through the windows as if nothing had happened.\n\nPerhaps he didn't hear me? \"Hey you, how are you --\"\n\n\"Are you actually trying to talk to Sven?\" The kid in front of me peeked over his seat, with a quizzical look.\n\n\"Sven, is it?\" I replied, somewhat relieved that someone was talking to me, at least. \"Is there some reason I shouldn't be talking to him?\" Social norms were, of course, the most important part of any teenager's life. As curious as I was, I didn't want to slip up if I didn't need to.\n\nThe kid stared at me with increasingly perplexed eyes. \"Are you new here or something? Don't you know Sven is half-dragonkin?\"\n\nI was so surprised by this that I had to laugh. Oh, dear lord, I didn't expect the kids here to be steeped in fantasy role-playing! Well, perhaps that sort of nerdiness is to be expected in a magic camp, of all things.\n\n\"Oh sorry, I had no idea!\" I replied, stifling a giggle. \"This is my first time at this camp, actually.\"\n\n\"Neato! I'm Josh, by the way,\" the kid in front, alias Josh, said. \"We don't normally get newcomers! So what's your name and alignment?\"\n\nWhat an odd, geeky question to ask. \"Well, my name is Amanda, and my alignment...\" I figured he was talking about D&D or something. \"Maybe, like, Chaotic Good?\" That sounded pretty cool in my mind, though I had never actually played the game.\n\nJosh cracked up in laughter. \"No, you silly, I meant your magical alignment -- obviously.\"\n\nMy magical alignment? Like, what kind of tricks I was into? And how was that obvious?\n\nI must have sat there looking at him awkwardly, because he started chatting again on his own. \"Well, I guess I should tell you mine first -- it's pretty lame, but I'm a water shaper.\"\n\nI nodded along, only to find him suddenly materializing water out of thin air and waving it around with flicks of his wrists, as if gravity didn't exist. I had never seen anything like this before, and I sat there now agape.\n\n\"Yeah, pretty stupid, huh?\" he looked a bit chagrined. \"My Dad can form tsunamis and stuff just thinking about it, but this is pretty much the best I can do for now.\" As if needing to impress me, he turned over and looked at Sven across the aisle with a devious glance. \"But I can put out fires like Sven's...\"\n\nHe proceeded to flow the water he had materialized through the air at Sven's face, and the fires sizzled out in a cloud of steam. As it evaporated, we could all hear the growl coming from Sven's direction. He looked something between infuriated and about to murder an adopted puppy.\n\n\"Wait, wait, Sven, I just --\" Josh tried to placate before things got too messy, to no avail.\n\nWith his face fully crimson, Sven unleashed a burst of flame in Josh's direction. At the last second, a wall of ice blocked the flames before they reached a cowering Josh.\n\n\"You're an absolute idiot, Josh,\" said a taller boy standing in the aisle. \"I saw the whole thing, and you had it coming.\"\n\n\"But, I just wanted to --\"\n\n\"No arguing, you were totally at fault.\"\n\nAs they went back and forth like this, it slowly dawned on me that magic had two meanings: one for parlor tricks, and the other for sorcery. I had come here for the former, but these \"tricks\" were a little too realistic, a little too magical, for that to really be it. In which case, by process of elimination, this was a camp for...\n\n\"Are you all wizards!?\" I exclaimed out loud.\n\nThe two boys looked at me with a frown.\n\n\"Obviously.\" They said in unison, as if I asked if the sky was blue.\n\n\n\n" ]	4
	[WP] "They can assimilate me into their hive mind, but they'll never take away my love for you. I will always, always love you."	[ "He said it and I believed him. I really believed love was that strong. I thought that he could hold on. My heart told me that his love was too strong to be torn away and that some semblance of it would stay with him forever.\n\nEven as he spoke those words, the parasite was eating away at him. His head twitched and he struggled to get his words out. His eyes clouded over, his skin turned pale.\n\nAfter he finished rattling off his dying words, he stood silent for a moment. His eyes locked with mine and they screamed with unbearable pain. He was motionless except for the twitch at the corner of his mouth. I could see the light slip from his eyes as milky white overtook them.\n\nI cried. Tears streamed down my face and blurred my vision. I could hardly force myself to stand. When I wiped them away, I looked back to find that his expression had changed to one of malice. The thing before me was no longer my husband. Everything that he was had been wiped away, even his love. The thing before me had no soul and I could feel it. Its cold, dead, robotic eyes radiated pure hatred so intensely that I could feel it pushing me back.\n\nIt smiled at the knowledge that it was about to claim another victim. I could see its mouth watering and a sort of arousal in its stare. It fought to gain full control of the body and it began inching its way towards me. I was still frozen with terror.\n\nPart of me wanted to believe he was still in there. Part of me wanted to believe he could be saved. I wanted to believe that he was still in there, but I knew what he had become and I knew that there was no going back. Still, part of me wanted to let go and join him. But I knew what I had to do; I knew he would want me to go on.\n\nI stumbled backward and fumbled for anything I could use as a weapon. The only thing that would work was a large, brass candlestick. I had to act quickly before the parasite gained full control. I stared him down and reminded myself one more time that the man I loved was long gone. I looked the creature in its eyes and I saw no trace of him.\n\nI rushed at it and screamed at the top of my lungs. The stupid bastard was still smiling with vague arousal, sure that it was going to take me as well. I beat that stupid look off of its face.\n\nSuddenly I was an animal. I had never felt such anger in my life.\n\nThis thing had killed my husband and I wanted no reminder of that. I brought the candlestick down over and over until there was no face left, only a red blob of flesh. I screamed so hard I felt like my throat was bleeding. When I was finished, the adrenaline was still flooding through my veins; I stood over it with my teeth barred like a snarling dog and I screamed one last time. \n\nSlowly, the anger faded away and grief took center stage. I collapsed and wept.", "Just the act of breathing sears my throat. To our left, great mountains of earth are thrown skyward, displaced by glowing spheres of plasma that superheat the air. The great spiked spire looms before us, like an upturned palm reaching for the clouded heavens. \n\nLuminous tentacles of light grow from it, giving it the impression of a cylindrical jellyfish. They wave about gently in the air, flapping gracefully like a ballerina’s ribbon. Then one of them snaps taut, around the leg of Major Roger. \n\nThe heavyset, bearded woman wasn’t an actual army soldier, but she had more than earned her nickname in the past months, fighting alongside us in half a dozen fierce battles for control of the subway tunnels. Major Rogers was like an anchor in a storm, holding the panic and fear that threatened to overwhelm us at bay with her bellowing laughter and uplifting battle roar, shotgun in hand. \n\nMajor Rogers wasn’t laughing now, as she stands firmly at attention, arms locked at her side and her back erect. Every muscle in her body strains to break free and a thick blue vein pulses on her forehead. \n\nWordlessly, the team promptly stops, turns and opens fire on the alien tentacle. Even Tom, who hated Major Roger, turns to help her. The invasion had left little in the way of allies, and desperation made you take whoever and whatever you could. Everyone who wasn’t them was us. The line was clear.\n\nOr at least, we try to. In the second it takes us to turn and face Major Roger’s captor, the ground around us bursts open and cicadas spill out. The aliens, similar to Earth’s own cicadas but humanoid and bipedal, swarm us. The plasma bombardment stops, to avoid killing their own.\n\nIn less than a second, caught off-guard, more than half the team is down, screaming as claws rend their limbs free and turn their torsos into a meaty pulp. Only ten of us are left, in pairs of two as we fight back to back, spinning in a manmade tornado that spit metal death. Major Roger’s eyes roll into the back of her head as spittle bubble from her lips. \n\n“MynameisRogerDasinIwasbornonthetwentyfirstofApril-,” she babbles a string of almost unintelligible words without pause. \n\nThe battle rages on for almost five minutes, the floor beneath us turning into a bloody sea of cicada ichor and savaged body parts, dotted by islands of metal bullet casings. All the while, Major Roger gurgles and slowly turns blue, having not taken a breath since she started talking. There were just five of us now, Tom having lost his partner and now fighting with two machetes, his vicious and dangerous combat style tearing through the cicada’s ranks.\n\nThen, just as suddenly as they had appeared, the alien swarm pulled back. Major Roger stands there calmly, glowing tentacle still wrapped snugly around his ankles. \n\n“You are unsuitable. Terminate.” \n\nThen she turns to face us, our bastion of strength and courage through the darkest times, carrying a brave face that barely hides the terror that writhes underneath her sunken cheeks. “Don’t be afr-.”\n\nAnd Major Roger explodes, showering us with a fine red mist. Lesser men and woman would have retreating, shrieking in fear all the way back to base. But all the lesser men and woman had already died, weeded out by the cicada swarm. \n\nWordlessly, we break into a sprint, the spire in our sights. Hatred coiled in the corners of my mind, and the C4 in my backpack seemed to hum in anticipation of the destruction we promised it. \n\nWe had been doing just fine, before the spire had shown up, with its great ominous tentacles. Well, relative to the Earth’s current situation, what with the invasion and all. But the thing had turned everything upside down, and now we had lost one of the best of us. \n\nWhat did that leave behind? In a world where you had to take whatever you could get, meeting a good person like Major Roger was like finding a diamond in the garbage bin. \n\nA second, luminous tentacle whips around Tom’s arm, and his hands go slack, his prized twin machetes clattering on the ground. As if on cue, a seething tide of cicadas crash into us, and we waltz with them, chittering and gunshots mixing into a discordant melody. \n\nWe spend the lives of our teammates in exchange for gaining distance on the spire. As our numbers are whittled away, the bio-organic base of the spire grows ever bigger, until at last it fills the entirety of our vision. \n\nOnly three of us are left, Lily’s partner having been sacrificed in the last push. Bony and with dirty blonde hair, Lily wielded an old battered bayonetted rifle as she essentially tore her way through the alien ranks. The cicadas must have gotten an inkling of what we were here to do now, because they no longer waited for the luminous tentacles to catch us, instead rushing us like a waterfall would a rock at its base. \n\nYet another tentacle curls around Lily’s neck, lifting the petite girl off her feet. Only my partner and I remained now, fighting to gain ground on the spire’s base. \n\nIt takes less than a minute for us to realize something’s not right, something’s different. I bash a dozen beady eyes of a single cicada with my rifle butt, then I pause. \n\nEverything has paused. All the cicadas around us stand frozen, their antennas shivering every so slightly. As one, they begin whispering. A chitter so soft it sent goose bumps racing up my arms. \n\n“Go, you dimwit,” my partner shoves me roughly. “Set the charges! I’ll get the girl.”\n\nHe was a new recruit, and so I hadn’t bothered learning his name. You didn’t bother learning the names of people anymore unless you were sure they were going to stick around. \n\nOur goal is less than ten meters away, and I race towards it. As I finally reach the spire’s base, glowing a sickly orange, I hear a scream cut short by a loud, wet crack. My nameless partner’s head rolls to a stop next to my knee. \n\nMy shallow breathing echoing loudly in my ears, I fumble with my backpack as I scramble to set up the C4. \n\n“Randy, Randy,” Lily calls, a small giggle in her voice. “Hey Randy look at me when I’m talking to you.”\n\nLarge, clawed insect hands grasp my shoulders painfully and forcefully turn me around. I can feel blood run down my arms, staining my shirt. In one hand, I hold the detonator tightly. The C4 was set up and- \n\nI don’t even realize it’s me screaming at first. I look at the stump, spurting blood as my hand is chewed into bloody chunks in front of my eyes by a cicada. Beneath its skeletal foot, it stomps the detonator into tiny pieces. And then I continue screaming. \n\n“Hush, hush,” Lily presses one finger against my lips, reducing me to little but fearful whimpers. \n\nThe luminous tentacle is still wrapped around her neck, and she floats about a foot off the ground. But her pupils are tinged a luminous orange. \n\n“I am suitable for integration,” she says this as if she had discovered a hidden cache of food, the delight and glee clear in her voice. “as a proxy hivemind controller. I’m going to be in-charge.”\n\nShe caresses my face with an unbearable tenderness, pouting. “Aren’t you happy? They can assimilate me into their hive mind, but they'll never take away my love for you. I will always, always love you.\"\n\nLily had been a phenomenal fighter. Someone like that was invaluable to the resistance. No matter who you were before the cicada invasion, skills like hers tended to make people ‘forget’ a sordid past. \n\nNot me.\n\nLily had been my stalker. The night of the invasion, I had found her skulking around in my apartment and had been about to call the cops. Then, of course, the invasion had happened. And somehow, she had stuck around, following me.\n\nShe grins, as the cicadas around me creep ever closer. “I’ll take special care of you, Randy…”\n\nI continue screaming.", "You are one. One is all. All is one.\n\nI remember pulling. \n\nA huge cavern. Dimly lit. An echoing, metallic voice. A large, slimey green mess. And my father stuck in the middle of it. His skinny body was halfway out, almost like he was growing out from it. I pulled and pulled on him. He didn't budge.\n\n\"Come on dad!\" I shouted. \"I'll get you out of here!\"\n\nYou are one. One is all. All is one.\n\nMy dad looked me calmly in the eyes. \n\n\"Its our family destiny son.\" He said simply. \"I was always going-\"\n\n\"That's not true!\"\n\nI remember screaming.\n\nTears blurred my vision. \"You never wanted to come here. You warned me countless times to never enter cave Vernon but I still... I still...\"\n\nYou are one. One is all. All is one.\n\n\"Leave, Tim. Do not come back here. Whatever family you ever had is gone. Do not come looking for us.\"\n\n\"If I'd never... We could have had so much more...\"\n\nMy father looked at me then, and I saw love pouring out of his green eyes. He never blamed me for this. For any of it. He brought his hands to my face.\n\n\"How lucky I am to have already had all this. I love you son. Always have, always will.\"\n\nHe leaned over. He kissed me on the forehead, lips so gentle I barely felt it.\n\nAnd then he pushed me.\n\nYou are one. One is all. All is one.\n\nI remember falling.\n\n\n" ]	3
Even if is partially inspired by 1984 the story doesn't have to be set in that particular universe.	[WP] You have committed thought crime and you know that you are already dead. But now a stranger has given to you a letter and has offered you chance to escape the Grid. He could be a spy, but at the same time he's the only chance you have to live.	[ "I sit on my couch on a bleak August afternoon. Actually, it is in fact quite a beautiful day outside, if you ignore the smog.\n\nI don't care though.\n\nI have committed thoughtcrime, a heinous crime according to the Party. If you commit a thoughtcrime, it will be known. And you will have signed your death wish in your own blood. We all know this too well.\n\nThoughtcrime is a crime of the utmost offense. I would say that only treason is worse, but thoughtcrime is* a form of treason. All I had done was quickly write a note about how the Party is so oppressive in my extreme anger and frustration. I know they've already found out, I know it. What a pathetic way to die.*\n\nI finished writing the note, slid it in a book about how great the Party is, and put the book in a small filing cabinet in my old and worn down office for somene to perhaps find one day and look back on my own foolishness.\n\nNow I simply have to wait for the Thoughtpolice to show up and make me face my doom. Even if I would only be tortured at first, eventually they would kill me. Perhaps on the first day, perhaps in 10 years.\n\nHowever, what arrived was not what I expected.\n\nI heard a knock on the door. \n\n\"Already here, I guess this is it,\" I muttered under my breath. \n\nInstead of the ominous all black clothing of the Thoughtpolice, I found a man dressed in a white suit, grey pants, a grey cloak, old worn down boots, and a short grey tophat. He looked around, seemingly as if checking for other people, then handed it to me and left wihout a word.\n\nI closed my apartment door and sat down on the very same couch in my note.\n\n\"This is my ticket out of here.\"" ]	1
I hope I’ve explained it clearly enough. I had an idea for this sci fi technology but so far no story to go with it. I may have used the wrong terminology, my scientific knowledge is not great	[WP]In the future a new technology revolutionises medicine. Every single atom in a patients body is separated but still connected by electric impulses. Doctors can then walk through them with protective clothing and remove or repair cells on an atomic level. They could even rearrange or add to them.	[ "It was almost like a scene out of a movie in the White House’s Situation Room. Staff frantically rushed around, while the large screen at one end of the room showed the various news broadcasts reporting it. “-an anonymous tip was left that doctors at an alleged secret government facility using the Molecular Separation technology have modified a person’s cellular structure and added parts to them. For the sake of their safety, the anonymous tipper’s gender is being kept hidden and-“ the President cut to another broadcast “-supposedly the Government is testing this to see if they can create super soldiers. Whatever the purpose, could this be one of the biggest controversies in histo-“ The president had seen enough. He knew what he had to do.\n\nAs the President stepped outside to enter his motorcade, the shouts of reporters were everywhere and constant. Shouts of “Mr. President” blended into one continuous roar; he wasn’t concerned with them and only had one mission: To eliminate the deserter.\n\nThough Mr. Stryker had left his life of being a government scientist behind, he had actually become MORE busy. Calls from news stations were coming in left and right to his office in the safe room of the basement. He had everything he needed there: Two secure satellite phones, a specially made laptop computer, and enough food and water to last him for weeks. It was from here that he became A. Anonymous, and from here that he had to maintain that identity. Bing! Stryker glanced at his computer, and found that he had a new email, one from CNN requesting a phone interview. It was here that he made his mistake. He wrote back, scheduling a time and date, and soon after received word that the news station was ready when he was, making sure to distort his voice and make it unidentifiable what gender he was or what race. “Hello?” Was all he said, but then he realized, slamming down the phone. It was too late-that one word could be the death of him if he wasn’t careful. The news station had called him, not vice versus-they knew who he was. It was then that Stryker realized his second mistake-the apartment he was in was registered to his name! How could he be so stupid? He still used the same credit cards, even the same bank after what had happened. He began to pack up his things, but then heard footsteps upstairs and decided otherwise, locking the vault door he had bought for a reason. “He’s downstairs, Sir!” Yelled an unidentifiable voice, then a very recognizable voice responded. “He trapped himself, it’s only a matter of time until we get him out. Now get me some cutters!” The victorious sounding man was indeed the President of the United States, and he was recognizable especially since he had personally met with Stryker to assign him to his task. Stryker realized there was no point in fighting, or letting them capture him. He grabbed his .45 and opened his mouth...Only to hear the click of an empty chamber. He had forgotten to bring bullets, and it would be his downfall.\n\nThe laser cutters finished their job, and it was time for Stryker to finish his. As the door was removed, the swat team moved up with riot shields, until it was clear there was no need. Stryker kneeled with his hands up and back to them, clearly giving up. They handcuffed him, and brought him up to the van. It was the last time Stryker would see daylight, and he seemed to know it, walking as slowly as the SWAT team allowed, taking it all in one last time.\n\nTHE FOLLOWING SECTION MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME\n\nMr. J. Stryker awoke in an all-too familiar place-his former workplace, to be exact. He knew this would also be his death place. “Mr. Stryker...” said the president, “What exactly did you think you would do? The public may love stories like these but in a small amount of time, once I spread the news that you were an insane asylum escapee, you will be ridiculed and forgotten. So what was the goal?”\n“My goal,” Stryker growled in response, “was to stop you from doing what you are about to do to me.” “In that case, you have failed. I will watch this...surgery with great interest.” The president responded curtly. The lab techs that used to work with him stripped off his clothes, strapped him to the operating table, and separated his atoms. They began to alter his body, change him in ways he could only imagine. It was then they turned to his brain. Mr. John Stryker could not even scream as the operator’s instruments lowered and he became a mindless body under the government’s control." ]	1
	[WP] People in heaven are falling from the sky, and people in hell are crawling out of the earth, including one person you thought would be doing the former.	[ "I woke up late that morning when I heard the bizarre news. Dead people are coming back to life, not as flesh eating and brain devouring zombies, but dead people of the past were either falling out of a divine crack from the sky or being spat out of a unholy boiling mud bubble from the ground. The \"Revived\" as what the news called these people were coming back to the earth plane as mortals again. The world realized that when a insanely viral video of one Revived man being beaten to death was recognized, in fact, as Adolf Hitler himself, in flesh, and in the streets of Tel Aviv.\n\nWhile watching this end-of-days phenomenon in my t.v, I noticed my phone have over fifty missed calls. It was from my mother. She also had left over thirty text messages and ten emails. I didnt read any of them as each of them were the length of a college thesis, so like any worried son I called her.\n\n\"Mom, what is going on in the world? Have you seen the news?\", I asked her as soon as she picked up.\n\n\"Abel, are you ok? There are soldier's in the street maintaining order and forcing everyone to stay-in as these things, these people they called the Revived are randomly falling down everywhere or coming out of the ground. Abel, my dear are you ok? How are things there in Fairfax? Are the university police making you stay in your dorms? \", my mom spewed the worths in her mouth faster than a bullet.\n\n\"I saw the news. They said that these things were people who have passed away.\" I replied to my mother, then in that moment it hit me. I realized that my drunken father who passed away last year might become one of the Revived. I held my breathe, my heartbeat increased terribly and I can feel my hair raise slowly. My mother was still on the phone talking and saying somethings but I got distracted by something in the room.\n\nI found my self staring at the mirror. In the mirror I saw the reflection of a man with a familiar face. All dress in white suit, with a subtle shine and brightness emanating from the middle of his chest. It looked divine and angelic. He was just sitting right there in my couch smiling at me. His face full of joy and relief. It was my father. The man who comes home drunk every night and beats my mother.\n\n\"Hello, son.\", my father greeted me. \"How have you been?\", he continued.\n\n\"You were a terrible father, how is it possible? You were in Heaven?\", I was shocked to see him in that state, not because he was a dead man the last time I saw him but it looked like, judging from how he looked, he was sent to heaven\n\n\"But... Ted Kaczynski, he was an evil man and he was Revived and he had a horns the size of my arms. I expected the same from you\", I told him with a very shaken voice.\n\nHe walked around my dorm, examining the decor. He paused on my family picture.\n\n\"Abe... You break my heart. Your have a family picture of Cain? With you, your little brother, and your mother?\", my father asked ignoring the questions.\n\n\"Did your mother married that back-stabber Cain?\", he asked me with disappointment.\n\n\"Backstabber? Stop?!\", I freaked out. That moment I was confused, scared and terrified.\n\n\"Abe, my boy. There were a lot of things you didnt know about my relationship with your mother and HER RELATIONSHIP WITH CAIN\", the light in his chest flashed a blinding light. I was daized for a moment but I recovered. I found my self sitting on the floor.\n\n\"Is it him?!! Oh my God?! Is he there?!\", I heard another familiar voice, it was my mother and she was still on the phone. She must've heard me talking to someone.\n\n\"Stay in your dorm. I'm coming. Sweetie, whatever you do dont go with him. \", my mom in a hurry on the phone.\n\n\"Is that Ella? Your mother?\", my father asked as his chest reverberated with light.\n\nTO BE CONTINUED...." ]	1
	[WP] To everyone's happiness, the world ended at precisely 12:30, just after your lunch break.	[ "Who would have thought that dreams come true? Not me, I’ve been dreaming of the world’s demise since the plague began. That’s exactly what I had been doing on my lunch break, grumbling about life and guzzling gluggy soup. The world had become a miserable place of sickness, natural disasters and economic crisis. I had been working in an impromptu hospital helping tend to the sick. Attempting to ease the pain of their symptoms, but my attempts were futile. These symptoms would never subside, leading to death in ten days. Ten days was all it took once a person became sick. My job was to look after these people, watching, waiting for their impending doom. The hardest part was putting on a smile, all day long. Telling these sickly souls that they would be ok. Yes, the world had become a miserable place.\n\nOn that lunch break I hoped and hoped and hoped. My silent prayers longed to be heard. End us, I thought. End the suffering, is life worth living in constant despair? Suicide rates soared sky high as people soared to the earth from skyscrapers. Humans killing themselves everywhere hoping for some sort of reprieve within an afterlife they believed in. I always wondered if I could do more for these people. But alas, the end has come and now we wait for serenity, grace and joy. \n\n“Yeah okay dude, but why are you telling me this? Can’t you just wait in line in silence?”\n\nI did as the man in front asked and sealed my lips. As happy as everyone was, we still weren’t in the afterlife yet. Everyone on earth was waiting to enter a set of doors to happiness, where we would finally have the disasters in the past. Well this was what I believed anyway, but I knew deep down that this was true. True happiness would be through those doors. As I walked closer, the mood around me changed. People were smiling, they knew everything would be perfect. Myself included. \n\n“Nearly there,” I said to the man in front. \n\n“I can feel it, everyone is happy” he responded. Seconds later he walked through the doors. \n\nNo more despicable lunch breaks now, I would not have to worry about going back to job I hated. Things would be different now. I walked through the doors and rows upon rows of seats stared at me. The man I spoke to was staring at me, patting the chair next to him. But no, that was not my spot. I turned right, walking towards the stage the people watched, waiting for something or someone to tell them of the extraordinary afterlife. That person was me. \n\nBillions of faces stared at me, like children anticipating a treat. A treat is what I would give them. Finally, the suffering could end. I was home. Now, everyone will suffer. Not just for ten days, no easy way out. These people before me, they expected eternal happiness. I would give them eternal pain and suffering. Raising my hands silenced the people of earth.\n\n“Welcome to Hell!”" ]	1
	[WP] After a person dies, they end up in the world of a random video game. You wake up in a hospital in a strange city called Yharnam	[ "“Oh yes… Paleblood…” Moments after my death, I open my eyes weakly. I’m in an unfamiliar room. A man in a wheelchair is speaking in an almost soothing voice. “Well, you’ve come to the right place. Yharnam is the home of the blood ministration. You need only unravel its mystery. But, where’s an outsider like yourself to begin?” The man rolls himself forward, revealing an older, scared face. He has no eyes, only built up scar tissue. I try to get up. “Easy, with a bit of Yharnam blood of your own... But first, you’ll need a contract…” He hands me a piece of paper and a quill. \n\nThere are boxes stating “Gender” or “Age.” I write in my info. However, I’m left stumped at the stats page. It has your standard Level, Vitality, and Strength listed but a few are different. I inquire about the difference between Vitality and Endurance. He replies that the first is how much of a beating you can take before dying and the second is how much stamina you have to perform actions. I asked what Skill was. He reply made me think it was dexterity but with a fancier name. Lastly, I asked about Bloodtinge and Arcane. Bloodtinge affected silver weapons whereas Arcane affected fire and bolt weapons and items. I asked him if he could tell me what my stats where. He said that it was based on my origin. I figured I was pretty average so I just put 10 across all my stats and called it day.\n\nAfter handing it back, he says, “Godd. All signed and sealed. Now, let’s begin the transfusion.” I shake my head. “Oh, don’t you worry. Whatever happens… You may think it all a mere bad dream…” Well, considering that I’m 50% certain that I had already died, I just roll with it. There had been rumors on the internet that people who’ve had their hearts stopped and came back often stated they were in a game of some sort. Personally, I’ve never played video games past Pokémon. Just not my thing. \n\nHe jabs my arm, pulling back to reality for a split second before I fall back to sleep. I wake up again, to see a pool of blood on the ground. Out of the pool rose what looked like a misshaped wolf with elongated arms and what looked like fingers. As it crawled towards me, I accepted that I was going to die, for a second time, and that I couldn’t do anything about it. \n\nAs it reaches out to bring me to the next afterlife, its arm bursts into flames. The fire spreads and consumes its body, leaving only a pile of ash. I pass out again as little ghoul like things begin climbing over my body. \n\nI don’t know where I am or what game it is, but I know I’m totally fucked. \n\n\\---------------------------\n\nHope you enjoyed. Loved the prompt. This short is to introduce people who don't know the series to Yharnam." ]	1
	[WP] Miraculously, one day, all drugs lose their mind-altering properties, all alcohol loses its side effects, and all cigarettes cease to light. The world stands still.	[ "\"Well fuck,\" Johnny sighed, \"what are we going to do now?\" \n\nAshley refusing to give up, kept flicking her lighter towards the circular edge of her American Spirit. \"I don't know man, this is heinous,\" she responded begrudgingly. \n\n\"Hey!\" exclaimed Jake from down the hall, \"my Juul still hits!\" He walked into the room and blew a few O's in excitement. \n\n\"Great work dingus,\" Ashley responded, \"but are you domed?\" \n\n\"Domed?\" Jake questioned. \n\n\"Wow, for a person who owns a Juul you think you'd know a little terminology,\" she laughed to herself. \"It's the headrush you get from inhaling nicotine,\" she explained. \n\n\"Oh\" Jake said in a standstill, \"no, no I guess I don't feel that.\" \nAshley looked out the window of her beach front apartment feeling baffled. \"I can't believe the physicists were right when they warned us about the matter transition affecting our brains. It sounded like mumbo-jumbo to me; I mean uniformitarianism seemed pretty legit.\"\n\nJohnny brushed his own hair back in frustration. \"This is crazy,\" he started, \"I mean our friend group formed over bong rips and shared joints at the beach. I don't think I would have gotten this close to you guys if we didn't do molly that one time last year.\"\n\n\"Yeah, I definitely relied on them to push me out of my comfort zone sometimes,\" Ashley responded realistically. \"And Jake, I don't think you would have made all those friends at frat parties if they weren't just looking to hit your nicotine device.\" \n\nJake took one last good look at his Juul and threw it in the trash. \"Well, we could wait around for drugs to start working again like a bunch of pussies, or...we could start having fun without them.\"\n\nAshley and Johnny both smiled a little. Having heard Jake reaffirm that they could have the same level of fun without drug use brought joy to their college-aged hearts. \n\n\"Well,\" Ashley started admittedly, \"what are we waiting for? Let's have some fun.\" \n" ]	1
	[WP] As Class Representative, not only do you have to direct the class... You also have to protect them from the night.	[ "Student Council used to be simple, thought Olivia, wielding a baseball bat in the dark school cafeteria. When she had campaigned for class representative, her platform consisted of increasing the budget for prom, playing music at lunch, and other straightforward promises. Those seemed so frivolous now. \n\nShe adjusted her grip on the bat. It had been taken from the varsity baseball supplies only minutes before, but the night had been so outlandish that it may as well have been an eternity ago. She creeped past the steel tables, and tried to recall what the plan was: The 10th grade reps are stationed at the back entrance, seniors at the front, freshmen are keeping watch from the second floor... Suddenly, Olivia heard a crash in the distance and she whipped around. The cafeteria showed no signs of visitors. Was that a good sign?\n\nTonight was the annual \"Winter Lock-In,\" and hundreds of students were sleeping over in the gymnasium. Olivia had assumed that she would be joining her friends while they played games and ate pizza, but she learned that Student Representatives had their own part to play. \"There's more out there than you realize,\" said James, the Student Body President. \"I know this isn't what you expected, but it's our responsibility as community leaders to act in the best interest of our class-- and that means being brave in the face of adversity.\"\n\nOlivia didn't feel brave, however, peering down hallways and jumping at every little noise. It seemed that no one on the Student Council felt it either. As the Reps at that meeting stood and objected, Olivia noticed that James looked tired, his expression tinted with guilt at the hell he would put us through. \n\nHer thoughts were interrupted by a piercing scream, and she raced down the hall towards the noise. 11th grade Representative Kyla Hirsch was pinned against the lockers by... Olivia stumbled backwards in shock. A stocky humanoid thing with inky skin, long fleshy arms, jagged teeth, and two horns on each side of it's angular head towered over her. It let out a blood-curdling screech and clawed at Kyla. \n\nOlivia swung her bat at the nearest locker, hitting it with a loud clang that grabbed the monster's attention. It lumbered towards her, giving Kyla enough room to duck away and run to the end of the hall. Okay, now what?\" gulped Olivia, backing away from the hulking beast.\n\nShe heard footsteps and a soft, \"Oh, shit\" behind her. Peter Song, a sophmore rep, froze in fear holding a sharpened broom stick. He staggered backwards and the monster snarled, spitting sticky saliva from it's maw. \n\n\"Calm down,\" Olivia hissed. \"When I say so, turn and run.\" The monster growled louder, and she hoped that the music playing nearby in the gym was enough to drown it out. \"Now!\" She and Peter sprinted away, turning in opposite directions at the end of the hall. Fuck,* she groaned as the monster turned to follow her. \n\nShe slammed through the doorway to the stairwell and bolted up the steps until she reached the rooftop, hoping it would exhaust itself. As she stepped into the cold night, she faced the stairs and listened for sound. \n\nA body burst through the stairwell exit and Olivia screamed, but it wasn't the monster. Student President James was armed with a crowbar from the maintenance shed and armored with hockey gear. He locked eyes with Olivia with a hardened expression. \n\n\"It's coming,\" he said, \"and this has to be our last stand.\" Olivia stuttered a few incomprehensible words, but James nodded knowingly. \"This is my third year on Student Council,\" he said, words tinged with quiet rage, \"and I know how to win this.\" \n\nWhen the monster finally arrived to the roof, James and Olivia had a plan. James swung at its legs while Olivia tried to bash it in the head. They slowly forced it to the edge of the roof, but soon there was no where left to go. \n\n\"James, what next?\" shouted Olivia. \n\n\"There's only one way out,\" James cried, throwing down his crowbar. \"I'm sorry it has to be this way.\" James ran and hurled his body at the monster, knocking them both off of the rooftop. \n\nThey disappeared from her sight. A harsh thud echoed in the night sky. Olivia covered her mouth in shock, dropping her bat and moving to the roof's edge. She looked over and saw James and the monster, both laying lifeless on the concrete below. \n\nOlivia moved out with her family the following month. After the Lock-In, the town hurriedly disposed of the monster's body, and James' family was told he died in an accident. No one was supposed to know the truth, and the complete obliviousness of the students in the Lock-In meant that Student Council served its task. \n\nThe following year, none of the reps ran for re-election, and none of them would admit why. They'd speak only in hushed excuses and fearful glances, and warn their friends not to campaign. \"It's not worth it for college apps,\" mumbled Kyla to her classmate, tears welling in her eyes, \"I promise.\" \n\nThe monster will be back next year." ]	1
	[WP] You’re the grandparent of a curious five year old, who asks you about the bright blue dot in the night sky. Sitting on your rocker in your hermetically-sealed porch, gazing off at Earth in the starry distance, you explain.	[ "Gramma what is this picture from? Thomas Harrison redman the third was holding in his small hands a strange picture of a pale blue dot against a starry sky. \"Tommy be careful with that! It's a picture from old Earth.\" \"Earth, gramma?\" \"Yes tommy. It's where we are from, all of us. Even the pioneers at New Beijing who seem so strange to you are from there, just a different part of it.\" Elizabeth Redman smiled thinking of the long ago times before the Martian mission. \"What was earth like Gramma? It looks so pretty in the picture.\" \"Tommy that story is going to take some time to tell. Let's go to the 'porch' and sit under the stars so I can do it justice.\" Tommy frowned, being a five year old, and the youngest of the Redman family he was not usually allowed in the room the colonists called the porch. It was a big dome clear on all sides and had a telescope with viewscreens in it. His parents made it very clear that he could not touch any of the screens or the big shiny 'scope. \"Now let's get you suited up and we can take the rover to see Stephan and sit on the porch.\" Said gramma Redman. \"And you can tell me the story of Earth.\" \"Yes Tommy. Now let's get you into your suit, and no fidgeting this time. You remember what happened to the last person who didn't listen to their Gramma and rushed the suiting up process.\" Yup the Martians got em and sucked out their air and water.\" \"Good boy Tommy now let me check your helmet and then you check mine.\" \"Yes Gramma\" \nAs the two drove to the porch Tommy was practically vibrating with joy. The mystery of Earth and the look on his Gramma's face when she saw the picture were enough to convince him it was going to be an extraordinary day. After merely 10 minutes the duo stopped and got out of their vehicle. Ahead was the main airlock for the porch. Elizabeth stopped and put in her code to start the airlock cycle and then while they were waiting sighed. this wasn't going to be a story many on Mars would want the child to know. Especially not after the independence movement declared that mars was a sovereign planet. \n\nWhen they arrived the porch was mostly empty as it was nearing midday. Only one man was there cleaning some of the ubiquitous dust off of the floor and chairs. Tommy ran over to him. \" Hi Dr. Dusty!\" He sang out with all the joy of youth bubbling through him. The man stopped working and turned to the small child making a mess of the area and tracking in more Mars than should be possible. \"Why hello there Tommy! What brings you to me on this perfect day.\" \"Gramma is gonna tell me a story from Earth!\" As if on queue Elizabeth walked in. \"Beth are you sure about this? The stories you tell and the official version are often different.\" Dr.Edward \"Dusty\" Grimes looked concerningly at the old worn woman in front of him. \"Nonsense Ed we need to tell Tommy his history and the history of Red Sand Base.\" ", "My rocker creaks as I lurch from it.\n “Grab your hat boy, this’ll take mor’ an rockin.”\n Tapping the collars on our neck, we depart. The plains of Mars Section 2439 are bare, but that’s how I like it. I place Joslin in the sidecar of my air-bike, bound for the Great Seal.\n “We need ta get a better view of the sky, Earth from behind the seal is too distorted.”\n “But wait Pops, what’s Earth?”\n “I’ll explain on the way!”\n I have many fond memories of Earth. My parents and siblings, friends and lovers, successes and accomplishments. I mentioned none of these.\n “Earth, was a dyin’ home. When I was born, the world was teetering on the brink of a flood.”\n “So what’s some water?”\n “Not water Joslin, people. We spent so much time bickerin an fightin, nobody cared to look at what we were doin. Desperate to find a way out, we fled here, ta Mars.”\n Off in the distance, a bubble towers past visibility, consuming the breadth of the land. Now that Project M.A.R.S is in full swing, it’s just the boonies left for conversion. If they ever get to them. As we cross the hemisphere and are greeted by air, our Personal Seals disengage. I scan the horizon for a suitable vantage point. Settling on a cliff, we park and dismount.\n “Now do you see what Earth is, Joslin?”\nGazing off into the distance, I watch Joslin’s eyes meet Earth. The twisted brown reflection in them let me know she understood.\n “I want to go home, Grandpop.”\n “Me too, Jos.”", "“What did we live for and why? We were stuck on this place and everything that had ever happened and ever would happen, or at least we thought, was going to happen on that rock up there. It wasn’t easy being alive. It was never easy. Some people had it all. From the moment they were born they’d never have to worry about a goddamn thing. They’d have a trust fund and mommy and daddy would give them whatever they wanted. Me? It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t like that for most of us. People always tell you to follow your passion and the money will come. Well what the hell was I supposed to do if I never knew what that passion was. We had to pay bills and rent, insurance, taxes, our hard earned money taken away from us and nothing ever got better. I’d lived a passionless life and that was what I was most afraid of. There was so much out there. I could go wherever I wanted. I could have gone to Japan like I always dreamed and wandered around those tiny streets that were lit up by the red crimson lamps, eaten all the sushi I wanted. I could have fallen in love so many times but I was always so afraid. I just woke up everyday and lived to work. How many hours did I spend sitting on that fucking bus getting to work, or driving through rush hour traffic? How many years did I waste looking at screens and living my life through other people when all I had to do was look up? Goddamn it! All of it fucking wasted! What do I have to show for it? Absolutely fucking nothing! And now here I am rotting away in this enclosed home, having people clean up my shit. I can’t even take a shit on my own, you understand?”\n\nTimmy looked terrified, his eyes wide and still, but his body shaking uncontrollably, tears were running down his freckled face and snot falling down his nose.\n\n“I’m sorry, Grandpa”, he whimpered\n\nA man burst into the door looking petrified.\n\n“Dad? What the hell was all that yelling?”\n\nHe looked at his son, looking fearfully at the old man that had gone on a rampage after an innocent question. He walked over to his son, picked him up, and held him closely. Without saying a word to the old man he walked out the door and told him to go find his mom at the end of the hallway and that he’d be right behind him.\n\n“Dad, we talked about this, for fucks sake. You can’t keep doing this. Not anymore. I’m sorry. We can’t keep coming back if you’re going to act like this and you can’t keep apologizing and expecting us to come back every time. I’m done, dad”\n\nThe old man stared into his son’s eyes for a moment and looked away quickly.\n\n“Yeah, whatever”\n\n“Goodbye, dad” he said resentfully\n\n“The only good thing that ever happened in my life was you, son.”\n\nThe man stopped.\n\n“No, dad. Don’t say this shit again. You can’t just yell at my son and terrify him like that and expect me to be ok with it. I know you’re going through a lot but this is how life is now. I’ve gotten used to it and I’m not gonna let you ruin that for me.”\n\n“I know, bud. I just wanted you to know. I’ll probably die tomorrow anyway. In fact I’ll make sure of it.”\n\n“Dad, don’t talk like that.”\n\n“Alright, son. Say hello to Kelly for me” he turned around and began babbling to himself softly.\n\nThe man thought about going to his father, the man that raised him, but knew it was no use. People don’t change, especially not at this age.\n\n“I will, pop”\n\nHe turned around and closed the door behind him. He slowly fell to the ground with the door to his back and wept. \n\n\n" ]	3
	[WP] Everyone has a link to one of the ancient gods through their bloodline that grants them supernatural powers, some of which are more common than others. You are the first recorded case of your power.	[ "There was a time when the genes lay dormant in our bloodlines. No one showed any abilities of any kind and the world was a lot less colourful that it is now. \n\nIt all started out with a tiny case in Norway that ended up almost turning into a global crisis. A baby boy, born on a Thursday managing to strike every tree in half a mile radius with lightning during a temper tantrum. \n\nThe government officials tried their best to sweep it under the carpet. But a mother who birthed a blonde haired, blue eyed boy on a Thorsday was never going to keep a thing like that to herself. \n\nAnd so the Incidents became more frequent. Families who could trace their lines back to the ancients started to birth powerful children. From little 'Thor' in Norway to the terrible case of 'Alistor' in Greece, whose birth tore his family apart. \n\nMore and more gifted were being born every year and we soon had a whole world full of people with powers. \n\nI always figured that my family weren't old enough to have gifts, we have never outwardly shown any powers. It happens with some families, if their blood is too week to support a gift or carry a line. \n\nBut, everything changed once I first sat in that council. I realised that my gift came from a god whose bloodline was said to be dead. \n\nBut will truth will out.\n\nBecause I am a daughter of Mars and this broken world of ours will know war..." ]	1
	[WP] "When I grow up, I want to be nothing!" The 5 year old said with a cheerful grin.	[ "\"What do you want to be when you grow up, little boy?\" asked the teacher.\n\n\"When I grow up, I want to be nothing!\" little Jimmy replied.\n\n\"Are you sure you don't want to be a teacher?\" the teacher replied, \"We help people to learn! We prepare them for life, and give them knowledge!\"\n\n\"Nope!\" Jimmy said, \"I want to be nothing!\"\n\n\"Ugh,\" the teacher groaned, \"then talk to the gamers. That's their deal.\"\n\nSo Jimmy found a gamer, and gleefully told him, \"I want to be nothing!\"\n\n\"Nothing?\" the gamer said, \"Are you sure? Why don't you try being a gamer? We have tight communities where we share our love of our art, have fun conversations about topics we all know about, and enjoy something beautiful!\"\n\n\"No thanks!\" Jimmy said, \"I want to be nothing!\"\n\n\"Ugh,\" the gamer groaned, \"then talk to a politician. They don't do anything worthwhile.\"\n\nSo Jimmy found a politician, and gleefully told him, \"I want to be nothing!\"\n\n\"Nothing?\" the politician said, \"Are you sure? Why don't you try being a politician? We represent the populace, help people by making, interpreting, and enforcing laws, and just in general do what we can to make the world a better place!\"\n\n\"No thanks!\" Jimmy said, \"I want to be nothing!\"\n\n\"Ugh,\" the politician groaned, \"then talk to an illegal immigrant. They leech off society and don't contribute anything.\"\n\nSo Jimmy found an illegal immigrant, and gleefully told him, \"I want to be nothing!\"\n\n\"Nothing?\" the illegal immigrant said, \"Are you sure? Why don't you try being an immigrant? We perform a small but important role by doing low-paying jobs that others don't want to, and we bring our culture to help enrich the culture of the land we migrate to.\"\n\n\"No thanks!\" Jimmy said, \"I want to be nothing!\"\n\n\"Ugh,\" the illegal immigrant groaned, \"then talk to a philosophy major. Those college students don't care about doing honest work, they just waste their parents' money to stand around asking themselves questions all day.\"\n\nSo Jimmy found a philosophy major, and gleefully told him, \"I want to be nothing!\"\n\nThe philosophy major smiled and said, \"According to Nietzsche, you already are!\"\n\nAnd thus Jimmy lived happily ever after, having discovered that he already was everything he wanted to be." ]	1
	[WP] A popular MMO, after a highly successful run, finally shuts down after many years. The fantasy world is thrown into absolute chaos as thousands of powerful heroes, the players, suddenly cease existing altogether.	[ "Jack the cheesemonger stared down the empty streets and shook his head. Where were all the customers? Had another great disaster occured, calling the heroes that filled the streets away? Jack had seen such lulls in business before, but sooner or later the heroes returned, a new shipment of cheese from the new lands arrived, and business resumed. \n\nIt had been three weeks since he'd had a customer. The king had declared a freeze on rent payments before the town descended into chaos, and fortunately shipments of food kept coming into town, including the latest batch of eternity runed cheese. Everyone was on edge. Their way of life trembled. Something had to be done.\n\nAt the end of the fourth month Jack loaded his donkey with supplies, picked out a sword (one of the simple ones, not the giant purple ones) that an adventurer had sold him, and for the first time left the city.\n\nTwo hours later he had fought off a dozen bandits, eaten a lot of cheese, and barely traveled more than few hundred feet. He cobbled together a rough set of armor and a shield from the bandits, and after another half hour of hacking through the oddly determined marauders he made it to the crossroads inn.\n\nNo sign of the heroes unfortunately, although he did made a handful of coins by collecting a bounty on the bandits. A tailor who's sister was kidnapped by the bandits joined up with him, wielding a secondhand wand. Her name was s\nSharon. They plumbed the depths of a bandit hideout, barely escaping with their lives, but someone had to rescue Sharon's sister.\n\nThey went from the crossroads to the wolf infested forests to the south, where they foiled a plot by werewolves to kill the townsfolk. No sign of the heroes there, but someone had heard a rumor of heroes in the mountains to the west.\n\nA brewer with a pair of hammers joined them there and helped them thwart an invasion of mole monsters. No heroes here either, but there were tales of dragons and knights to the far north. Surely the heroes were there.\n\nThey stopped by the city and refilled on cheese, picking out somewhat shinier bigger weapons, then set out for the dragon wastes.\n\nA trembling carpenter with a used priest's book joined them, chanting the old prayers the heroes had once sang, amd they fought and slayed many a dragon, but there were no heroes to be found. \n\nAcross the ocean where they toppled undead giants. \n\nTo hidden jungles of ancient evils.\n\nBeneath the earth against elemental beasts.\n\nThe cheesemonger, tailor, brewer and carpenter scoured the world. The highest mountains climbed, the darkest caves were lit. Portals to strange other worlds were crossed. Artifacts were accrued, evil gods were slain. \n\nThen finally, after a day long battle with an undead dragon god, they climbed the last highest peak. If the heroes were not here, they were not anywhere.\n\nAt the peak was a plaque.\n\nOn the plaque was message. \n\n\"My dearest players. If you are reading this, then you have done it all. There are no challenges remaining, no monsters left, no quests remaining. You stand here triumphant. \n\nThank you for spending these years playing this game, Heroes of the Realm. We only ask that you show such fervor in the world outside of the game.\n\n You are true heroes.\"\n\nThe wind howled on the lonely peak. The four heroes looked at each other and nodded grimly. They had suspected of course that their world was artificial, but here was proof.\n\n\"What now?\" Sharon the tailor/arch sorceress asked.\n\nJack, legendary knight and cheesemonger looked upward. \"We escape.\"" ]	1
	[WP] The Burger King has set foot in Australia, claiming his title as undisputable. The Queen decides to challenge him to ritual combat so that she may reclaim her dominion.	[ "No, no, this is just madness, I... I ca... I won't do this! — mumbled Jack taking his mask off once again.\n\n\nWe've had this conversation a thousand times for the last few months, mate — told him Matt with a sigh — this sure is bloody silly but you've signed the papers, and now seppos are gonna sue the pants off your sorry bum if you try to piss off.\n\n\nI, I... well... What in the bloody hell do you expect me to be like?! — even more nervously exclaimed Jack — It wasn't even my idea to greet her at that damn airport, I knew that she's a marasmatic old hag and...\n\n\nShut the heck up you cunt! I know you're nervous bu...\n\n\nNervous?!! Nervous? You're telling me that I am nervous? Those bloody cunts want me to fight the damn queen on real bloody swords while wearing the costume of the damn Burger King mascot with millions of cunts watching?!! I am not nervous, I AM ABSOLUTELY OFF MY BLOODY TITS MATE!!!\n\n\nAfter a moment of awkward silence, Matt quietly continued — just think of the money and remember the training, block her slash and sweep the leg, she gives up, no one even sees your face from under the mask and everything is jolly good. \n\n\nIs it really?\n\n\nYeah, she's what like fifteen hundred years old now? You'll just gently push her and nuff off to your new seaside manor. Just try to stay away from elderly royalties, you never know when they're gonna challenge you to a death fight for the claim to the Aussie crown. Other than that, you good mate.\n\n\nJack seemed somewhat relieved by this speech, he smiled, trying to tell some sort of a joke but was suddenly interrupted by loud music.\n\n\nIt was exactly 10 o'clock London time, meaning that the commercials have come to an end and \"The Royal Rumble in the Melbourne Cricket Ground\" on 7mate has continued.\n\n\n\"Ladies and gentlemen! It is time for the one we've all been waiting for! This is our main event of the evening! Introducing first, she is the longest ruling monarch in British history! Fighting out of London England, welcome the reigning and defending QUEEN ELIZABETH THE SECOND OF THE HOUSE WINDSOR!!!\"\n\n\nAs \"God save the queen\" started playing and the fireworks went off, she has come out of the big gates — the queen of England, wearing full plate armor, with a diamond incrusted helmet in her left hand and an equally impressive battle axe in the right one.\n\n\nMy bloody damn god Matt, she's got an axe! You told me it was gonna be a sword! I, I, I...\n\n\nYour queue, sir — a staff member appeared in the doorway — in under three minutes you are to come out onto the arena.\n\n\nAs they have closed the door, Jack asked morbidly — Matt, if she kills me, will you take care of my family?\n\n\nYou ain't got no family, you virgin cunt — quietly answered his friend.\n\n\nI know. — Jack picked up his sword and put on the mask. After a quiet sigh he left the room.\n\n\n\"And now, introducing the challenger! Fighting out of Florida USA, he is the most flourishing monarch of them all, making his official Rumble debut, representing Burger King holdings, THE BURGER KING!!!\"\n\n" ]	1

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