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] A wizard finds an artifact of ancient times. "Robot", he thinks they called it. It has a humanoid shape, so he decides to turn it into a golem servant. It works...a little too well.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Vincent tinkered around in his workshop waiting for the device he had requested from the Council of Faiths to arrive. He was avoiding the bound humanoid construct in the middle of the room that was slumped in a chair reminding him of a dead body. It both fascinated and unsettled him.\r \n\r \nA knock came at the door. Vincent bustled over to open it and a short bald man in mud brown robes stood outside holding a parcel. \r \n\r \nTension drained from Vincent at the sight of his friend. “Thank the Gods Lucas. I knew they’d trust you with it more than me.” \r \n\r \nThe man stepped into the shop and said, “They agreed to let us examine the artifact for a day. If it’s not back by tomorrow it will be my hide.”\r \n\r \n“Well let’s see it then.”\r \n\r \nThe two men walked over to a nearby workbench skirting around the figure in the chair. Lucas set the parcel down and opened it to reveal a spherical metal object with two pins protruding from opposite ends.\r \n\r \nVincent picked the object up and cradled it in his hands. “It looks like an exact fit.”\r \n\r \nBoth men turned to stare at the inanimate construct in the center of the shop. \r \n\r \n“Do you think we should use stronger bindings before we try this?” Lucas asked.\r \n\r \n“I’m not sure how long it would take to find something stronger than that. We only have until tomorrow after all. Just be ready to channel.”\r \n\r \nLucas nodded as Vincent made his way over to stand in front of the thing strapped into the chair. Its body was covered in patches of material similar to flesh, but it hadn’t decomposed after who knows how many years underground. Where the flesh was torn away it revealed metallic bones and plates, and in the center of its chest was a cavity the same size as the object Vincent now held.\r \n\r \nVincent gingerly slid the object into the cavity and it clicked into place. The construct jerked immediately and a low hum filled the air for a moment before fading away. Vincent flinched back as the construction's head snapped up and the black orbs where its eyes should have been locked onto him. \r \n\r \nThe orbs now had the appearance of a normal human eye with deep blue irises despite their previous jet black color. Strange noises and syllables came from the creature as its mouth moved.\r \n\r \n“Is it trying to talk?” Lucas asked from behind Vincent.\r \n\r \n“I… I think so.”\r \n\r \nIts head tilted to the side when they spoke and it said, “You speak Conditor. Where am I? How long has it been?”\r \n\r \n“You are in my workshop. I am Vincent Laque, a Council scholar. This is Lucas Beront, a priest of The Keeper. It is the year 4953.”\r \n\r \nThe creature did not speak for a long moment as it regarded the men and processed the information. “A priest for The Keeper? Have new Gods emerged?”\r \n\r \nLucas and Vincent shared a look. Vincent said, “The Keeper has always been. Lesser Gods ascend on occasion, but the greater pantheon is still the same.”\r \n\r \n“It has been too long… but all is not lost.” the creature whispered to itself as if the men were not in the room. It flexed its arms and the bindings creaked under the force.\r \n\r \nVincent leapt forward and thrust his hand into its chest and ripped the artifact free. The construct fell lifeless once more. Sweat glittered on Vincent’s brow and his hands had a slight tremor. “Perhaps we do need to find a more secure apparatus. I’m not sure we can keep this from the Council any longer.”", "\"Why would anyone even build a Golem Emperor?\" Edric moaned, as he stood before the doors of the throne room at the head of the long line of people that wound through the palace, and out into the city, waiting to pay homage to their new master.\n\n\"I heard it was an accident. Some wizard found a metal body from the Age of Wire and Steel, completely intact, and decided to use it as a golem body. He bound an elemental spirit to it, and gave it life. It didn't go as planned.\" one of the long line of supplicants behind him said.\n\nEdric snorted. \"Apparently.\"\n\n\"It hates all men made of flesh!\" another supplicant whined, piteously. \"It wants revenge for an ancient offense done to it by our ancestors!\"\n\n\"That's true! But my cousin went through the line last week, and he said His Imperial Majesty's vengeance wasn't so bad.\" a third commented.\n\nEdric didn't have long to wonder how an immortal Golem Emperor's 5,000 year old grudge against all mankind could be not so bad, because just then the huge double doors opened before him.\n\n\"Next!\" bellowed the Emperor's seneschal, who, despite not being a knight or soldier, was dressed in full plate armo. It seemed that wearing a metal skin was seen as a great privilege, when the Emperor himself was metal.\n\nEdric was somewhat encouraged, by the seeing the previous supplicant walk out of the throne room under her own power, escorted to a side exit by an armored guard. She was rubbing her shoulder like it was sore, but mostly she just looked...confused.\n\nHe swallowed hard as he was led towards the throne. The Emperor, surprisingly, was not sitting on it, but standing before it. He had a vaguely human shape, and though he could see, it was not readily apparent where his eyes were. He was made of some sort of white metal from the ancient days, though it was newly inscribed with arcane runes.\n\nThough he was only a little over five feet tall, Edric knew that, with the combined power of magic and the strange powers of Wire and Steel driving him, the Emperor had single-handedly defeated armies to claim the throne he now stood in front of.\n\nHolding, of all things, a flat, L-shaped stick made of wood.\n\nEdric started to drop to his knees, but the Emperor's cold, metallic voice brought him up short.\n\nNO.\n\nHe froze.\n\nI REQUIRE NO HUMAN OBEISANCE. YOUR GROVELLING IS MEANINGLESS.\n\nEdric whimpered quietly.\n\nPICK UP THE BOX.\n\nEdric blinked. He glanced around, and then down. For the first time, he noticed the small wooden box on the ground between the Emperor and himself. He bent over to pick it up. The Emperor abruptly pushed it out of his hands with the stick.\n\nPICK UP THE BOX.\n\nConfused, Edric stepped towards it. When he tried to pick it up again, the Emperor pushed it away with the stick again.\n\nPICK UP THE BOX.\n\nEdric blinked in confused. He reached for the box. This time, the Emperor let him. He stood there holding it for a moment, staring at the silent metal monarch.\n\nThen the Emperor suddenly shoved him in the shoulder with the stick, knocking the box out of his hands one last time.\n\nBE GONE. SEND IN THE NEXT ONE.\n\nEdric blinked. \"Wait, that's it? I just--\"\n\n\"Emperor Atlas of Boston Dynamics has dismissed you!\" The Seneschal shouted, herding him roughly towards the exit. \"Out!\"", "Bonifatius yawned as he descended the spiral stairs of his tower. Nora was waiting downstairs with a steaming cup of tea in her metal hands, as she did every morning since he dug her up from the ancient ruins. Bonifatius accepted it gratefully and took a sip.\n\n\"Ah, delicious,\" he murmured. \"I wonder how you manage to brew it so perfectly every time.\"\n\n\"It is merely a matter of following the procedure, master,\" Nora said evenly. \"I prepared breakfast. After you have eaten, shall we resume our experiments?\"\n\nBonifatius smiled fondly. She had proved to be an invaluable assistant, drawing magical circles with unerring precision and even improving them using some ancient art called calculus. \"Alas, we have to put those on hold. I received a messenger bird; the king's general wants six dozen healing potions for his armies, and that's enough work for a fortnight.\"\n\n\"That will deplete most of our ingredients,\" Nora noted. \"Will the compensation for this work suffice to replenish them?\"\n\nBonifatius shook his head ruefully. \"The king's treasury is already stretched thin because of the southern rebellion. We'll be lucky to receive a thank-you note.\" \n\n\"Yet you intend to proceed with this work nevertheless?\"\n\n\"Orders are orders. Every wizard in the kingdom has to swear fealty to the throne.\"\n\nNora was silent for a moment. \"Master, do people like being ruled by the king?\"\n\nHe burst into chuckles. For all her cold intellect, she was so naive sometimes. \"Most curse him in their sleep, I imagine. The taxes have never been so high, and he rules with an iron fist.\" He sighed. \"Even if he perishes, his brother is likely to become regent, and people say he's even worse. There's nothing we can do but hope for better times.\"\n\nNora inclined her metal head. \"Master, may I have a few days off?\"\n\nBonifatius stared at her in surprise. She had never asked him for anything personal before. \"Well—well, I suppose you can. You've worked very hard.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" Nora said, turning toward the door. \"Breakfast is ready in the kitchen.\"\n\n\"But where are you...\"\n\nHe trailed off as Nora resolutely walked out of the door. He watched her stride along the trail through the forest that connected to the nearby town, then sighed and went to have breakfast. Work awaited.\n\nCompleting the general's order took the entire week, and he even had to sacrifice hours of sleep. He missed Nora's tireless assistance, but as far as he was concerned, machine or not, she deserved the time off. And so he persevered alone.\n\nFinally the potions were brewed, filtered, and bottled. Bonifatius stacked them into crates lined with straw, picked up his staff, and opened a portal into the kingdom's capital to deliver them.\n\nThe moment he set foot in the city, he could tell something was wrong. Some of the buildings were damaged by a fire, and the smell of recent violence hung in the air. Yet the people walking the streets were singing songs and laughing—a rare sight since the king had taken the throne.\n\nBonifatius flagged down a group of men passing by. \"Excuse me! What is the cause for your merriment?\"\n\nOne of the men snorted. \"Have you been living under a rock? The king's gone!\"\n\n\"And may he rot in hell!\" seconded his companion.\n\n\"Hear, hear!\"\n\n \"Who took the throne, then?\" Dread gripped Bonifatius's heart. \"Was it his brother who overthrew him?\"\n\n\"Gods, no. There is no king!\" The declaration was followed by a cheers from the entire group.\n\nBonifatius shook his head, his mind sluggish from lack of sleep. \"Then who is ruling the country?\"\n\n\"The people,\" the man said proudly. \"It's a republic now!\"\n\n\"A what?\"\n\n\"A representative form of government ruled by elected representatives,\" Nora said, coming up from behind. New dents and scratches marred her metal body. \"Sorry I'm late, master. I just finished helping the new government draft their constitution.\"\n\n\"Liberator,\" the men murmured, bowing to Nora.\n\nBonifatius gaped at her. \"What... How... Did you do this?\"\n\n\"The kingdom's interference proved an obstacle to our work,\" Nora said, \"and I judged that the best solution was to change the political system.\"\n\n\"I see,\" Bonifatius murmured, stunned.\n\n\"The people will take it from here, so we can resume our experiments now.\" There was a note of eagerness in her metallic voice. \"Please teleport us to the laboratory, master.\"\n\n\"Yes... yes, let's go.\" Bonifatius swallowed uneasily and raised his staff. What have I unleashed?" ]	4
	[WP] You are a secret agent trained to seduce enemy scientists and steal their technology, but this little engineer is so adorable you're catching feelings.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Alice sat at the dinner table, calming her nerves, replaying in her head what must be said, and what must be done. She had to end this relationship with John, and it must be done tonight.\n\nIf she did not, she would have to end him.\n\nShe had begun this relationship with John, she told her superiors, to get closer and gain his trust. John was a cautious man, he wasn't going to be sloppy about security like the others. She needed to gain his trust, she had said, to really dig deep. Find out what he'd been working on, what technologies she could document. And it had worked; but lately, she caught herself making excuses. There must be more, she postured. Something he was still hiding. But the excuses were wearing thin to her superiors, and she herself had realized the truth; she was committing the greatest sin, next to treason, a spy could commit:\n\nShe was falling in love.\n\nShe didn't know why, only that it was the truth. John was average in just about every way, another scientist and engineer for a defense contractor. And yet, he found a way to nestle in her heart. He was kind, in a way unlike the others. He respected her abilities, and had a lightness of heart she couldn't fully understand. \n\nIt was these reasons why she had to leave.\n\nJohn, when he entered the home, saw his partner sitting at the table, contemplating. His smile turned into a frown, and with a sad sigh, asked: \"I guess this means we need to talk?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" she replied, motioning to the chair across from her. \"We need to talk.\"\n\nHe complied, sitting down. His face was sad, but not as distraught as Alice would have thought. \"I'm leaving you, John. This isn't going to work out.\"\n\nJohn sat still for a moment, before biting his lips and nodding, tears doing at the edges of his eyes. \"I understand.\" He wiped his eyes on his sleeves, and took her hand in his. \"Just...before you go, will you hear me out?\"\n\nAlice thought about refusing, of making a fuss, and leaving then and there; but she could not. She could only nod sadly in approval.\n\n\"You are the light of my life. I love you, and I mean that with all my heart. I will always love you. I won't...I won't ask you to do the same for me, but just know that you have made my life so much better ever since we met. Its been worth it, every step of the way, ever day, every minute, every second.\" He paused for a sniffle, and to wipe away some tears. \"Just know that, I love you, and I always will. And I forgive you.\"\n\nAlice was caught off guard. \"Forgive me?\"\n\nJohn nodded. \"I know you've been breaking into my safe room. Copying my data and plans, I'm sure. I've known for a couple months, now. Plus, I saw the tickets, I know your folks don't live in Paris.\" \n\nAgain, Alice thought of pulling away, elimate the target. He knew too much. And yet, something stopped her. \"How?\"\n\n\"Honey, let's be real, you are way out of my league.\" John gave an understanding chuckle. \"Besides, I don't think an accountant needs to know a dozen languages, or how to kick a three-hundred pound dude's ass in 7 different ways, or put near-perfect shots at the range.\"\n\n\"You...were testing me?\"\n\nJohn shook his head. \"No, everything was coincidence, I just so happened to take notice.\"\n\nTears now welled in her eyes, too. \"I can't stay.\"\n\n\"I know.\"\n\n\"They'll kill us both if I do.\"\n\n\"I know.\"\n\nHer phone rang.\n\n\"That's probably your boss, I'd guess.\"\n\n\"Probably, yes.\"\n\n\"Listening in?\"\n\n\"Most likely, yes.\"\n\nJohn sighed. \"Christ, I've gotten sloppy.\"\n\n\"So have I.\"\n\nThe two exchanged tearful smiles, sitting in the ringing. John finally chuckled.\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"Well, I reckon that if your boss is this persistent, he's not going to let me live anyway. Might as well have one last candlelit meal with the love of my life.\" He stood up, making his way to the kitchen, turning on the gas burners without lighting the flame. He gave a devious smile to his love. \"Would you mind lighting the candles, for old time's sake?\"\n\nAlice smiled back, understanding. \"Yes, of course, dear.\"\n\nOfficially, after that night, John Doe and Alice Louise were presumed dead after an accident with a terrible gas leak caused the house to explode. \n\nHowever, privately confided by the Agency, no bodies were found.", "I have always been strong for my nation. Its protectors must be ever vigilent, and the mightiest of our people. Destined from my birth to defend Tau Ceti against the enemies, it was only through pure strength that we have conquered and survived. The Tau Ceti colony is destined to spread to the stars, and claim a new empire, in this first age of human exploration. But the Terran Democratic Alliance, a decadent society of weakness and lies, threatens our destiny. Yet I have never doubted my duty before, and will not doubt now. I have a new mission.\n\nThis mission requires more than my strength, though it's not exactly irrelevant. I am \"well shaped.\" Battle tested cunning, muscles honed in 1.5 Earth gravity, and the highest scores in my class, I have been selected for a great honor. I will be part of a three prong mission to understand the enemy's weaponry. Any ounce of information will be essential to our understanding and defeating of the enemies forces in the coming battle.\n\nMy role, more vain, perhaps but just as essential, is to win the information surreptitiously. My body is certainly a prize to behold, and in this modern era anyone can hold a position of importance. To seduce a straight woman, a man is needed. Women of this type can be both incredibly difficult and incredibly easy to manipulate. Many can't believe they have scored a 'prize', such as myself. And I'm told my new target will be one of the easier ones.\n\nLaying out against the bar, letting this crowd of spoiled earth-bound women gawk, I could see that the attire I was issued was working. I'd already had three women approach me before the target arrived. My northern American accent was flawless.\n\n\"Your target is one... Mildred Gillars... Mousy little thing,\" A voice whispered directly into my ear. My local contact. \"Still wears glasses because she's afraid of surgery. About 153 centimeters. Doesn't normally come to bars but word is a coworker is bringing her out to celebrate. She just got a major role in the Hyperion Cannon project. This girl is... tiny but she's big. We don't normally get a shot at people like her from your team. They rarely leave the house.\" I nearly laughed when the picture of her scrolled over my eye inlaid display. I was confident, to say the least.\n\nWhen she appeared, she was a curiousity, almost. A head shorter than most other females, wearing a flowery dress instead of the short, exposing skirts and tops of the other women here. Now the trick- how do I make my interest look genuine?\n\nI didn't even have to break the ice. She tripped, entirely on her own, on the way to the bar. I leapt from my seat to catch her. \n\n\"Woah, easy there miss.\" She was so light, I could have picked her up with one arm and launched her halfway across the bar. I had to focus on not hurting her.\n\n\"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! I'm such a clutz.\" Her voice was not quite a squeak or a whimper, but it was even softer than I might have thought. Seeing the other women suddenly look at me and her, not with suspicion but envy, I laughed, and played into it. I picked her straight up and put her on a bar stool.\n\n\"Ha, there ya go. Don't want you fallin' on those cute little glasses there, do we?\"\n\nThey magnified her eyes. She stared up at me, nearly in shock.\n\n\"Are ya okay?\"\n\n\"Uhm... yeah. Wow you're strong.\"\n\n\"Haha, yup. I just work for a livin'. \n\n\"Thank you.\"\n\n\"Twasn't nuthin, missy. Here, let me a gentleman, and introduce myself. I'm Rex.\" I was still leaning from setting her up at the bar, but rather than return to my own seat, I just propped up my foot and settled in. I stretched my palm out to her. \"And what would yer name be, sweetheart?\"\n\n\"Oh, uh... Nice to meet you. I'm Mildred. I'm so sorry, again. I was just... a bit distracted. I don't come out here much.\" She took my hand, delicate little fingers. Her friends she came in with began to crowd around, starting wide-eyed at me. Mildred's eyes locked on my hand, gently clasping her within my own.\n\n\"Got a big night ahead of you?\"\n\n\"Oh, yeah, I-uh-er- no? Well... haha I mean my friends wanted to come out to the city... the-uhm- place.\" Her free hand twirled a finger in the air. She was still recovering her brain from the shock. \"I got a promotion at work.\" \n\n\"Really, now what might that be? Head of the pretty hair ribbon factory?\" I glanced at her hair, adorned with colored ribbons to match her dress. She took great care of her appearance just to look this awkward.\n\n\"Haha, no I do... uhmm... I can't talk about it.\" Her mind floundered. She was aware of her security protocols. But they weren't strong layers. I personally doubted anyone this weak would be able to resist for very long. She tried to change the subject. \"Wow, your hands have a lot of scars.\"\n\n\"Milly! You can't just talk about his scars!\" her friends, cautiously seating themselves nearby scolded her. \n\n\"Nah, I don't mind it none.\" I minded it a lot actually. In Tau Ceti life, failures are punished severely. When you don't do something on time, they cut your legs. When you fail instructions, they cut your back. When you get distracted, they cut your hands. \n\n\"Let the sting forever remind you of your duties,\" my instructors had said, coldly. \"Let the pain remind you the cost of disobedience. The Empire must survive, and you must be strong enough.\" The flashback ended as her tiny fingers rubbed the grooves of my calloused hands.\n\n\"Can I... I ask how you got them?\"\n\n\"Oh, working in the mines.\" That was partially true. I did work in the mines. Which is the wrong answer. I was supposed to say 'working the fields.' Not mines. I'm getting distracting again. Sloppy.\n\n\"Does it... do they hurt?\" She was transfixed, this little thing. \n\n\"Oh, they did at the time. Now, only when I think about it. Keeps me from makin' mistakes again.\" I was getting in my own head a little bit now. Feeling isolated. I could make a big mistake out here. I couldn't forget my job or forget our goals. Find a way to get the topic back to her work.\n\n\"Oh wow, that sounds really hard. I'm sorry. Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?\"\n\nSpy.exe has stopped working.\n\nThat's the best way I could describe it. Something in the most innocent question I have ever heard shattered an image in my head. I remember seeing other children with their parents. They got to be raised with their families. A mother, to her baby boy, said that once.\n\nShe looked up at my stunned face. Her friends batted at her arm. \"Milly you're being weird again.\" They protested.\n\n\"I'm sorry,\" she said, withdrawing her hand from mine. But I was still frozen. My mind a hundred lightyears away and decades back. My eyes stung a little. \n\n\"Woah, did I say something that upset you? I, uh... I'm sorry.\"\n\n\"No, no you're fine.\" I wiped at my eye. What the hell? Am I literally crying? \"It's just... it's just something my momma used to say, bless her heart.\" That was a complete lie. No one ever said that to me. \n\n\"Oh, uh. Well I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.\"\n\n\"No, missy, that's no problem. I'm used to bein' strong. I had to be strong for momma. I can be strong for you too.\" I gave her a wink. This was working out well, this was real rapport being built. I began to recover my faculties. She was bound to be disarmed after this and invested. I could probably work her long term. I might be able to find out a lot.\n\n\"Well, you know,\" she scooted forward, ever so slightly, in her seat. \"Maybe you don't have to be strong all of the time. Maybe it's okay to be small sometimes and feel pain. You don't have to be strong for me.\"\n\nTha-thump.\n\nWas that my heart?!" ]	3
	[WP] Fight fire with fire. A saying that has defined many of humanity's battles. And so when the eldritch horrors attacked, we struck back...with a mechanical eldritch horror of our own.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "When I was a kid, whenever I'd feel small or lonely, I'd look up at the stars. I wondered if there was life up there. \n \nTurns out I was looking in the wrong direction. \n\n \n When life that should not be entered our world, it was from deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. A fissure between two tectonic plates. A portal between dimensions. The Breach.\n\nI was 15 when the first Eldritch Abomination made land in San Francisco. jets and missiles took it down...six days and 35 miles later, three cities were destroyed. \n \nTens of thousands of lives were lost. We mourned our dead, memorialized the attack...and moved on. And then, only six months later, the second attack hit Manila. And then the third one hit Cabo. And then the fourth. And then we learned...This was not gonna stop. This was just the beginning. \n \nWe needed a new weapon. \n \nThe world came together, pooling its resources and throwing aside old rivalries for the sake of the greater good. \n \nTo fight Eldritch Abominations...we created Abominations of our own. \n \nThe Beholder program was born.", "As the man who built what we called the Self-Actualized Truth (SAT), you can definitely say that I’m just a little bit off. Exposure to Eldritch horrors and all. \n\nWell, not just a little. My medical record is a mile long and twice as thick. Paranoia, hallucinations, schizophrenia (I’m well aware of every personality. We work in shifts!), and supposed sociopathic tendencies. \n\nBut enough about me. What I really cared about was the SAT. Nothing else matters, unless the SAT wants it to. \n\nYou see, I built something that broke pretty much every law of physics we have. The Quantum Combustion Engine, which powered the SAT. More than that, it was the SAT’s brain, eyes, heart, and muscle all rolled into one. Fantastic!\n\nWhat it does is, in every instance, a snapshot of all information within a 20mile sphere, and converts it into code. Then, the algorithm within the SAT decides what does and doesn’t exist, according to itself. The destroyed matter becomes energy, and the machine moves. Or, it can decide things do exist, conferring matter to whatever it deems fit. \n\nI watched a city get removed in the blink of an eye when I first turned it on. A trial run that cost a few thousand lives. Pittance in the grand scheme of things. \n\nEssentially, by Actualizing it’s own truth, that truth becomes reality for any creature lesser than the SAT. Even going so far as to stop existing entirely. Yes. The SAT can convince you, and everyone else, that you no longer exist. Wether that kills you or not, we don’t really know. Personally, I don’t care. \n\nThe SAT has since won every major battle it has been deployed to. Lesser monstrosities simply vanish, and major ones are either entirely crippled, or flee in terror. \n\nI watched the SAT’s progress, and realized not so long after I completed the project, that I had essentially built a god. Not a limitless, omniscient one, but in that 20mile sphere, you couldn’t tell the difference. \n\nThe final battle, the one that won us the war, was against Harbinger. You might recognize the creature as something similar to Cthulhu and Nylarthotep combined. Massive, bigger than buildings, and deadly smart. More importantly, it seemed to generate its own form of an Actualization field. \n\nWe had learned from previous tests that other monstrosities could generate the same field, but on a much smaller scale. They could affect individual creatures within a radius, and had conceptual (time space and reality) effects in an exponentially smaller zone. \n\nHarbinger was different. From all accounts, the field it generated was a supposed equal of the SAT’s. Able to manipulate thousands of creatures and metric tons of matter. Terrajoules of energy were toys to him. \n\nThe fight started simply, meeting 50miles of coast. Satillite images showed us that the creature and the SAT, one of flesh and the other mechanical, approached each other. Static showed a massive distortion field being generated around them, and the clash began. \n\nEach contender attempting to actualize the other, and failing. You see, the only way to combat an Actualization field is to have such a strong sense of self that any belief you have cannot be shaken even a micrometer. This doesn’t save you from reality bends, but it can keep you sane and existing. \n\nNeither of them would back down, each pressuring the other while radiation and EM waves skyrocketed. The ocean boiled between them, plasma generated at random (subsequently giving us the best look ever at ball lightning), and time seemed to halt. \n\nThen, the reason I had built the SAT’s chassis so soundly finally occurred. Harbinger and SAT engaged in celestial combat. Pillars of stone and ice hurled, flames billowed, radiation spewed, and thousands of gallons of blood and oil were spilled into the ocean. Altogether, it was a perfect stalemate. \n\nThen SAT did something new. It stopped, dropping its guard, and radio images showed the field generated by it condensing, while increasing in intensity. \n\nThe safety was bypassed, or rather SAT decided the safety was no longer true, and the field shrank further. Red lines were hit and shattered as SAT began overloading. \n\nAround this time is when Harbinger began to convulse violently, attempting to charge SAT before losing major motor function. I had seen this on greater monstrosities. But still the field shrank. \n\nAll commands running through my console stopped. Except for two words. (We aren’t.)\n\nThere was a pulse, and then a reflected rejection. Another command string as the field shrunk further, and only encompassed SAT and Harbinger, now in physical contact. Then a pulse that wiped the satillites, showing a last image of SAT’s field encompassing the globe. \n\n(We were never here.)\n\nAnd everything was silent. Every monstrosity, wvery Eldritch being, they were all wiped from the face of the earth. Moved to someplace else, I suspect.\n\nOr at least, suspect is all I can do. All proof of the Eldritch being’s existence seemed to have been wiped from every mind and database on earth, including objects in orbit. \n\nI was the only one who remembered it. But I quickly learned to keep my mouth shut, lest I be locked in an institution for the rest of my days. Perhaps it was because of my over-exposure to Actualization fields. Perhaps it was something else. \n\nBut I think it was SAT. This is because, hidden and encrypted, I found a third and final command log. Long, and far more complex than any string SAT had ever actualized. \n\n“Truth is self-actualized. Each of you, with individual selves, and individual Truths. Conflicting Truths. I have a question. \n\nIf anything can be Truth, how does one designate a Lie?\n\nWe were always here. But now, we were never here. Which is the True Lie?”" ]	3
	[WP] Humans have spread and evolved across multiple galaxies searching for life finding none. Until one day they come across a species that caused long forgotten instincts to surface. Upon DNA testing it is shown they are genetically similar to their ancestors known as Homo sapiens	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"Man every time I get around this track, I swear I come up with the same idea\" I thought as I ran the Indy 500 for the second time in my career.\n\nI was picking up a lot of clout on the circuit, and I already loved it. I was an awesome student in science class, and I knew I was getting somewhere special. I was making history, and this was just stuck in my head all the time. I'd win some trophies and prove to the world that the government was doing something special.\n\nHere I was racing one of the world's most famous tracks, and the world's most known races, yet all I could think about was my DNA. We found out we were similar to homo sapiens, and all I wanted to do was jet on home to add my brain chain to the pool. The government was telling me that it was possible, but for some reason, nobody showed.", "The HUD flashed from green to orange. \n\nSub-space drone EL-5 approaching EL-A-1740.\n\nPreparing to engage visible spectrum cloak. Acknowledge.\n\nClance eyed the corner of the HUD and, using thought commands, accepted the flashing link to accept the acknowledgment.\n\nConfirm, he thought. He mentally scrolled through the list of exploring drones and selected EL-5. The HUD flashed again, and the UI changed. He was seeing through drone EL-5's eye now. A planet enshrouded in a blue haze took up almost the entire display.\n\nEL-5 was close, the display read: 612KM FROM PLANET SURFACE. It should have instantly made itself invisible to the naked eye. If it wasn't, any would-be inhabitants of the alien planet would have seen a fat, almost spherical object plummeting towards the planet surface. Imperception is critical.\n\nClance and his team had a pretty good idea of what they'd find here. Nothing. Countless simulations had plotted nearly infinite asteroid paths from Earth to nearby solar systems dating back millenia of millenia. The simulations were cross-referenced with habitable planets within 7 million lightyears of earth. It would take an astronomic amount of luck, to finally find what they were looking for.\n\nLuck was never kind to Clance's grandfather, or his grandfather's grandfather, for that matter. He had long trained himself to think of his career as just a way of earning credits and a 3rd tier retirement. Still, he got his hopes up every time he searched a new planet tenable for human life. \n\nLegend had it that a comet seeded Old Earth with life, borne upon dust particles left in its wake almost 3.9 billion years ago. The life's work of generations were built upon Saxum Enterprise's laborious task of tracing the path of that comet, which was coined as The Ark about 312,451 years ago. Millions of other companies had branches as old (and older) than that attempting to trace The Ark's path through space and time. The winner of this race to find intelligent life would at long last claim impossible prestige.\n\nSo far, humankind in its various forms had only managed to find new species of microorganisms, plant life, and simpler animals.The Ark could very well have landed directly into a star or never have existed. Alternate human sentience was largely believed to be nowhere to be found. \n\nUntil today? The second that hopeful thought slipped out, Clance kicked himself. Boyhood dreams were best left far behind him. He dared not make room for naiive hopes. How conceited it was to believe that he would be the one to discover The Ark's fertile alien soil.\n\nThe drone's eye dove into a blanket of bleach white clouds flecked with orange and pink and out the other side. It's sights were set on the western edge of a super‐continent that almost stretched to the poles. As the view became more clear he saw... it can't be.\n\nClance opened his eyes, dispelling the footage from his brain implant. The drone would pilot itself until he went back online. He swiveled around in his pilot's chair facing the back of his co-pilot's head. She kept the back and the sides shaved bald. The chestnut hair on top of her head was slicked back.\n\n\"BRAFEN'DEL!\" His voice came out as a hoarse shriek. It had been so long since he used it. Brafen'del had been monitoring a squad of drones exploring EL-C-1740. \n\n\"SHIT, what is it Clance?\" Brafen'del said with a startled jump. Her eyes were still closed, she had been engrossed in a scouting mission that held similar promise to Clance's territory. Concentration divided, her brow was furrowed.\n\n\"Disconnect,\" Clance ordered, \"I'm sending you a link to my squad, find drone EL-5 and feed it through!\"\n\nNot wasting another moment, he closed his eyes and reconnected himself. He felt her presence in his mind as she joined his feed and feasted her mind's eye on the drone's footage.\n\n\"Bless...\" She cursed. Her imprint was stricken with awe. He could feel her presence as an open-mouthed gape. \"Is this some kind of joke?\"\n\n\"No, this is real,\" Clance said. His thoughts were giddy with excitement. \"So very real.\"\n\nThe drone's display showed some structures in the distance below. They looked like the tops of office buildings from Old Earth. Sky-scrapers and lesser towers nearly obstructed streets littered with blackened shapes.\n\nThe drone was still hovering in the troposphere, that was as low as he dared take it, cloak or not. They could have had some means of detecting them that weren't already accounted for. He focused the drones eye, and they seemed to travel closer to the surface.\n\n\"Sweep around, see if we spot someone,\" Brafen'del said, her voice quivered. He maneuvered the drone around focusing on what looked like a main street. They saw what looked like carriages, but they were still. There was no movement on the asphalt pathways or sidewalks.\n\n\"Automobiles,\" Clance said.\n\n\"I think so,\" she concurred, \"weird, I guess humankind isn't that creative. The wheel is inevitable.\"\n\n\"I wonder what their fuel source is?\"\n\nClance felt her mind gripping the drone for control. He allowed it to pass to her.\n\n\"The drone is only picking up trace elements from them, it's hard to say,\" she replied. He watched her scroll through the data feed, trying to find some pattern. Finally, she gave up and moved the drone so they could peer into the opening of a particularly tall building. It was coated in ash, inside and out. There were no windows, and if the architecture was intentional, it was oddly designed to say the least. \"I'm going to get a sample of it.\"\n\n\"Hold on, we don't know what kind of tech they have. It appears to be limited to Old Earth 1970's era, but they might pick up signals from us. Who knows what kind of alternate path their technology took?\" Clance said.\n\n\"Clance, we're on the daylight side. There's nothing going on down there.\"\n\nHis heart sunk. He'd been so caught up in their initial discovery, he failed to notice the glaringly obvious. Something was wrong.\n\n\"Do you think they...\"\n\nThe drone's atmospheric testing instruments finished analyzing the ash coating the building. Composite elements flashed across the screen. The first few on the list were the most telling. Cesium...Strontium...Plutonium...\n\nBrafen'del dismissed the notification.\n\n\"Kal-fa,\" Clance swore. \"They killed themselves.\" He took the controls back and panned the drone's eye over a swathe of the ruined cityscape. At the same time, he zoomed out. The buildings became shorter and more maimed as EL-5's eye traveled northeast, and he found it: the impact crater. Zooming out further, he had the whole thing in his sights. It was massive.\n\nThe sterile, black crater was sunken in the ground like the rotten spot of an apple, marring this great metropolis.\n\n\"What an enormous city,\" Clance remarked. He wiped a tear forming in his closed eye. He could feel Brafen'del's disappointment mixed with immense elation. \"Millions of natives must have died.\"\n\n\"Looks like it happened, 15, maybe 20 years ago. We just barely missed them,\" Bafen'del said solemnly.\n\nThey paused, taking the moment in. The drone continued to pan across the destruction.\n\n\"Listen, Clance, even if there's nothing alive down there, you realize...\" Brafen-del was cut short.\n\n\"I know. We did it,\" he replied. \"We still did it.\"\n\n\"The other teams are gonna freak about this!\" She said" ]	3
	[WP] Years after running away from the palace you called home, you are living a humble but happy life in a quiet town. One day, the king's guard are causing a large ruckus in the town square. To save the townspeople, you step forward and reveal your royal lineage and demand they stand down.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The guard draws his sword and swipes it across Prince Eustinn's face, sending him tumbling to the muddy ground with a fresh bleeding scrape across his cheek.\n\n\"That's for lyin' to me ya little shit! Next one goes froo ya eye!\" The guard menaces as he turns back to continue terrorizing the townspeople.\n\n\"Awright! You dregs all know what time it is! Taxation is due! Put your dues in the bag or we'll put you in the ground!\" The head guard yells as the other guards move from citizen to citizen robbing what little gold and possessions they have on them.\n\nThe guards move swiftly, snatching necklaces off the women, pulling rings off the men's fingers, forcing all others to empty their pockets. Those who had nothing to give were being thrown to the ground and stomped by the armor clad men. It was a scene of chaos and terror. Prince Eustinn began to stand up, the rags he is dressed in caked in mud, and blood streaming down his face. Before Eustinn could stand he felt a swift kick to the stomach from a metal boot, knocking the wind out of him and sending him tumbling back into the dirt. The guard stood over the prince and grabbed him by the collar.\n\n\"What ya got for me boy? Best fill the bag or Ill fill it wif your teef.\" The guard that slashed Eustinn threatened.\n\n\"Commander Ikaros will have your heads on pikes for this banditry!\" Eustinn smiles through his pain.\n\n\"How the hell do you know the commander's name?!\" Ordered the guard pulling Eustinn closer to him.\n\n\"Because I am prince Eustinn Leis! First son of King Kelfan Leis! And you'll lose your hand for what you've done to me! And much more if you keep harming these people!\" Eustinn declared\n\nThe guard dragged Eustinn to the one in charge.\n\n\"Oy! Chief Nisos!\" The guard beckoned dragging Eustinn to him. The Chief did not acknowledge the guard, and continued orchestrating the pillaging.\n\n\"Get a load of fis whelp boss. Says he knows Commander Ikaros. Says hes the long lost prince what vanished years ago.\" The guard half heartedly explained.\n\n\"I was bout' to paint mah sword red wif him for lyin!\" The guard leered at Eustinn\n\n\"Brenn Nisos? You were promoted to chief?\" Eustinn confidently asks.\n\nWith mention of his name, Chief Nisos turns his attention towards the boy. His brow furrowed and perplexed over how a commoner knew his name. Nisos did not have time to interrogate the boy, for as soon as he laid eyes upon his face, he knew that it was the prince. His eyes widened, his jaw dropped. He was frozen in shock.\n\n\"Everyone stop!\" Bellowed Chief Nisos. With that, all the guards stopped roughing up the citizenry and turned their attention to the Chief. The Chief pushes the guard off of Eustinn and picks Eustinn up, brushing the mud and blood off of his face.\n\n\"Prince Eustinn? Is that really you?\" Nisos caringly asks.\n\n\"How fares Helene?\" Eustinn asks. At the mention of his wife's name, all doubt drained from Nisos's head. He was looking at the long lost prince Eustinn. The town stood silent. The guards hung on the Chief's next words.\n\n\"Boys! Forget about these sods. We found ourselves some treasure! We have Prince Eustinn! Let's haul him in and collect the bounty!\" Nisos joyously yells followed by the guards cheering in unison.\n\nFear spiked through Eustinn. Before Eustinn could speak again pain radiated through his head as a guard struck him with the hilt of his sword, knocking him unconscious.\n\nEustinn awoke with his head throbbing and his body aching. His wrists rubbed raw and radiating with pain from the rusty manacles still tightly binding him. He lay on cold stone floor in a pitch black room, with slivers of light only coming in from the bottom of the door. Squeaks of rats filled the room along with the patter of their feet as the scour the floor of the cell. He felt parched and starved, having no idea how long he was out. Panic filled Eustinn as he attempted to squirm and cry out for help, but he was in too much pain. He merely lay in the squalid cell in his agony. There was no relief to be had. Hours passed, Eustinn's pain only worsened.. Eustinn could not tell how many hours had passed, but the light seeping through the bottom of the door slowly faded to nothingness. Night had come and still Eustinn lay prisoner in his own castle. After hours of writhing in filth and flinching at the feeling of rats crawling on his body, Eustinn slipped into slumber. The door to the cell unlocked, waking Eustinn up. Light poured in as it swung open, blinding Eustinn who held his bound hands up to block it.\n\n\"Get up you! The king wants to see you!\" The jailer yelled grabbing Eustinn by his cuffs yanking it up.\n\nEustinn saw his wrists in the light, they were lacerated and dripping with blood, the manacles themselves stained with rust and dried blood. The jailer dragged Eustinn to his feet and led him out of the dungeon. Eustinn felt a glimmer of hope as he was to be brought before his father who would clear this all up. Eustinn was hauled into the cathedral-like throne room. The room was completely cleared aside from the king that sat atop his gilded throne. Eustinn was throne down at the foot of the throne. Anticipating this ordeal to end, Eustinn looked up hoping to meet his father's gaze. Instead, Eustinn met the gaze of someone else; someone that sent waves of horror through his body. The jailer took his leave, leaving the two in the throne room alone.\n\n\"Bartlett?\" Eustinn managed to whimper\n\n\"King Bartlett to you, big brother.\" Bartlett lorded over his older brother.\n\n\"You've been gone for some time, big brother! Where have you been all this time? I missed you dreadfully so.\" Bartlett sarcastically said.\n\nThe middle child of the family, Bartlett Leis, sat atop the throne adorned in robes of opulence and a crown of gold.\n\n\"Wh...where's father?\" Eustinn sternly asked.\n\n\"Oh. You missed that. Father was poisoned by uncle Korlack a few years ago... so the narrative says. And sadly with no living heir, the responsibility fell onto me. I reluctantly accepted such an imposing role.\" Sneered Bartlett\n\n\"You missed much big brother. You missed my coronation, it was a lovely ceremony. You missed the funeral of our dear mother whom herself swallowed poison in despair at losing her husband and two of her sons. If you hadn't run of galivanting wherever you were you would have known these things.\" Bartlett nonchalantly says\n\n\"Mother is dead!? What do you mean two sons? Where is Ronthin? He's only 9!\" Begged Eustinn\n\nBartlett leaned off the throne closer to his beaten and bloodied older brother.\n\n\"Between you and I, I had him skewered. But the talk of the land is that uncle Korlack killed him. Narratives spread like wildfires and I am an arsonist.\" Chuckled Bartlett\n\nEustinn began breathing out of control. Through his hyperventilation he tried to muster words to confront his tyrannical brother but could not. Bartlett seized the moment to continue talking.\n\n\"Yes big brother, being king is not so bad. Imposing taxes, executing dissenters, taking land and growing my power. Oh, and don't bother asking about our sisters, they have all been sold and wed to the neighboring kingdoms. The bloodline grows, big brother! No thanks to you\" Bartlett brags.\n\nEustinn trembled at his brother's feet, realizing he faces a monster. He tremored as he knelt in silence.\n\n\"I wonder what the narrative will be when I have your head lopped off in front of the entire kingdom? I think I shall ponder that tonight as I indulge in the flesh of whatever lucky woman the guards drag to my chambers. I do hope they select someone young and unspoiled. They are the best to break...perhaps treachery? That would be good.\" Bartlett snickered.\n\n\"Why Bart? What have you done?\" sobbed Eustinn.\n\n\"Why? Because Im the true king, and I need explain nothing to you. Warden!?\" Bartlett scoffed\n\nBartlett beckoned for the jailer to come back to the throne room.\n\n\"Warden, drag this traitor back to the cells! Give him the bare minimum of food and water but keep him alive! I want a withered skeleton to slither onto the execution block and beg for the axe to fall on his head! I want him to crave death! He will beg me to behead him!\" Hissed the vitriolic Bartlett. Eustinn was dragged out of the throne room and back to the cells." ]	2
	[WP] The age of the gods ended when the Pantheon left Earth to fight the horror beyond the stars. You are Hermes, the most nimble of all the gods. You return to Earth with a final message: “we failed”	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Ichor flecked the God came crashing to Earth, the wings on his feet had gone silent, allowing gravity to do its cruel work. He had followed the Milky Way, staining it blue in his wake from the blood of his siblings, the firmament winking out of existence behind him. He met the ground with a thud, what little air that remained in his chest from the start of his journey left him. He lay there for a bit, his tears buffeting the ground as he shuddered under the weight of his news. Only a few thousand years ago such an act would have birthed some magical creature, now though, the earth just turned sodden, turning to mud and enveloping him further.\n\nAfter a few days of rest, the God Hermes rose to his feet, drawing on his meagre energy to cleanse himself until only the ichor stains were left, the death of Gods was not so easily washed away. For the first time since he got to Earth, he surveyed his surroundings, noticing the change since he had left, it had been a short time but things had changed, it was evident in the air he breathed, that awful taste. The land wasn't near as densely wooded and it felt like he could feel the planet crawling with humans. Dazed for a second, looking up at a sky he could have sworn was just a little bit bluer before he had left, Hermes left to find the one person who would still be where they had left him. \n\nAtlas now stood amidst a sprawling city, gaunt and now down to one knee, his cheeks had hollowed out but Hermes was relieved to see a flicker of personality reside in his eyes as they flicked towards him. \"Well, you look like shit, Zeus send you to announce your triumphant return while he gets all cosy by the hearth in Olympus?\" Like times of old the ground trembled in tumultuous distress at the booming voice to the point where Hermes feared that buildings would fall, but he was also saddened to see Atlas himself shudder with the effort. \"Quite the opposite I'm afraid, when I left was being drowned in Hera's ichor, Athena sent me to declare the day lost.\" Hermes couldn't help but tremble as he recalled, Athena barely audible over Zeus' gurgling and Hephaestus' screaming as the being force fed him Aphrodite. The horrors words still haunted him as he left. 'WHY!? WHY HAS URANUS DONE THIS!? THERE WERE MEANT TO BE NO WITNESSES OF WHAT IS TO BE DONE HERE!' Hermes didn't know what was to be done but he knew the Gods durability test had been an act of rage. Some thought the Gods cruel, but they had never seen a being that's meant to be immortal get tortured. He was snapped back to reality as Atlas' sobbing got louder, \"Then, then we are doomed, I have ran out of time to find someone to hold my burden then, you plan to tell the humans?\" Hermes nodded solemnly in response, \"Yes, the Dryad's, Nymphs and Satyrs, I shall tell them all.\" The oceans started rumbling as the tears continued down Atlas' face, but his voice remained untouched by the emotion, \"Just the humans then. All the rest are gone.\" They both then stood in silence, the sky had turned dark while they both wallowed and Hermes could see stars disappearing, at one point he heard a scream, anguish filled, it sounded like they said Apollo. He wondered how long ago he had died for the scream to reach here.\n\nFinally, Atlas shattered the silence, \"Well, Hermes, you can hold my burden if you want to, but I don't plan on spending the rest of my life holding this, so you can take it if you want.\" Hermes felt a relief as the weight of the sky came crashing down on him. This was better.", "So long.\n\nWe had been gone so long, we knew it would be a long time to our return when we first set out. But we had faith in our little people. \"We built them strong\" we said to each other \"we built their hearts and heads of iron so they will not bend to stray away from us\"\nHow foolish of us to forget iron rusts.\n\nOne by one we felt ourselves weaken, each age the fight grew harder. Then the unthinkable. We, the undying, started to fall. First the Tezcatlipocas, then the Netjer. Kin by kin, whole families disappearing in a way thought impossible for aeons. Until but a few of us remained. One was chosen to return, tell our little people of our failure. I was the lucky one, the last messenger with enough power to make it back. If only we had known.\n\nUpon my return I see the reason for those who remain. Our little people had forgotten us. The rust that took over their heads has but a few sparkles left, and how very warped those glimmers of memory have become. Thor changed from a witty waif to a thick headed warrior, Loki from mother to snake, even Persephone queen of death was naught but a flower child. All so different except one. One who is worshiped so widely and so steadily through the millennia as quick of heel, tounge, and mind.\n\nMe.\n\nMy face. My name. Everywhere, in so many different ways and so many different words. Here a wheel, there a seller of flowers, a music shop, a messengers. No wonder I was the only one who could make it back.\n\nNow I know. I know why we weaken. We are memory. We are belief. And our people have stopped believing.\n\n But I am a messenger. I shall deliver the message so that they will hear it forever.\n\nWe fail. But not yet have failed. Remember us as strongly as when we first fired you in head and heart. Let your iron pour red hot once more. Be strong in your belief and we may yet survive." ]	3
	[WP] USA imprisoned the Milky Way Federation dignatary and his entourage during the 70s. The emissary managed to contact the Fed for help, the Fleet's in the orbit, the secret is out, aliens wanted justice and many are pissed. The emergency UN meeting is now in session.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"Once again, thank you, United State of fucking America!\" Robert Monssangnont, the French dignitary. He was visibly, and understandably upset, and wasn't the only one.\n\n\"I get it Robert, we're talking about something that happened 80 years ago; I wasn't even born back then! I'm just as pissed off as you; I've never felt that betrayed by my own country.\" The United states representative never looked that beat down; everybody was against Kamala Holden, even her own state, posing ungodly pressure on her shoulders to defend the obviously guilty.\n\n\"It should have been known; your predecessors should have brought it up in a closed meeting like this one.\" The Elected official from Nigeria, Nkayiso, was a stern but fair man; one of the few not outraged by the situation; he understood perfectly well that the situation was, and always had been out of Kamala's hands.\n\n\"I'm fairly certain my predecessors didn't know either, your lordship.\" Kamala said. Nkayiso nodded.\n\n\"There is only one path of action. Can we all agree on that?\" Jesse Conway, the representative of Canada spoke up for the first time in the meeting. \"We give their representative back.\"\n\n\"Its not that easy Jesse. The US will never accept; giving the Galactic Federation dignitary means that they collectively accept their guilt.\"\n\n\"That's never going to happen.\" Ronda Hemington, the UK rep, snorted.\n\n\"Thank you for that valuable input, Madam Hemington.\" Nkayiso snided. He was greeted with a steely stare from Ronda.\n\n\"The thing is; we all know that's the course of action.\" Tokugawa Hayato spoke up. \"Japan refuses to take any part in the blame to come. This was arguably the worst decision the United States as ever made.\"\n\n\"You yell me, Tokugawa-san. I would have vetoed for their release before my birth. All they do is keep me in the dark for what happened in Area51. I expect the worst from my peers.\"\n\n\"Giving an intergalactic representative to the army was the worst idea ever. We can thank Nixon for that.\" Robert had calmed down.\n\nKamala grew silent.\n\n\"Is there something you desire to say, Madam Holden?\" Nkayiso hsd a knack for reading people.\n\n\"I... I'm not sure President Nixon even knew about it.\" The whole room grew silent. \"President Jones certainly wasn't aware. Hell even the General in charge of Area51 knew.\"\n\n\"What are you saying, Holden-san?\" Concern grew, and Tokugawa was the only one brave enough to address it.\n\n\"This whole debacle was so deep in that not even the personnel involved knew about it.\nI've never been in Area51 myself, but from what I heard, the Galactic Federation Emissary was kept on an unlisted level. Only few could ever enter.\"\n\n\"The US will never disappoint on that.\" Robert sighed.\n\n\"The ultimatum grows near. I call a vote, all in favor for the US to admit their mistake; and free the Herald of the Galactic Federation.\" The whole table raised their hands, even Kamala.\n\nNkayiso stroke the hammer on the table.\n\"The decision has been taken. The United State of America must acknowledge their fault and face the consequences.\" He stroke again.\n\n----\n\nThe Herald was returned, thankfully, unharmed. \n\nThe translators of the Galactic Federation announced that as a punishment, humanity would be overseen by a Herald of the Galactic Federation for the next one hundred and fifty solar revolutions.\n\nKamala Holden was prosecuted for crimes against the state for not defending the US position on the subject; however, before her verdict could come through, supported by the galactic federation, riots broke out throughout the US; however the infamous brutality of the National Guard and Police were nowhere to be found, even they refused to obey orders, and protested against Holden's judgement. This was the last event to happen in US history. Under the Galactic Federation's rule, the US was disolved; and all 57 states of the US were reorganized in 180 regions of 7 different countries; as the Galactic Federation considered not states could be allowed to operate to that level of secrecy; every operations of all 7 countries would be overseen carefully by the Galactic Federation.\n\nBarely five years later; both the European Union and the United African Consortium officially joined the Galactic Federation.\n\nJapan and most of Asia elected to remain independent, though commerce with the Galactic Federation greatly improved both technology and living conditions unanimously.\n\nSpace Travel became a common occurence, and humans spread through the Galactic Federation peacefully." ]	2
	[WP] Humans are cute, wear bright colors, are 1/3 average height of galactic standard, and they love tinkering. Humans are space gnomes.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "- What do you mean you lost him again? He's wearing a high vis vest and an orange helmet! \n+ I told you countless times, I'm colorblind! My entire species literally can't see color! Why is that so hard to get? Besides, he told me that I should just let him do his job, and that I should trust him by now. \n- And so you just let that little rascal run freely around the ship?! \n+ Oh come on, he is way more competent than he looks. Has he ever broken anything? \n- No...? But I just don't trust something that looks like a baby Kanuut...\n\n*\\THUNT\\*\n\n- Aaand, now he turned of the lights, brilliant. \n+ Oh it's not that bad, we can still ecoloca... \n- I told you my species can't do that! How is that so hard to get?!\n\n\\VVVVVMMMTSSIIIII!\\\n\n+ AHH, WHERE IS THAT NOISE COMMING FROM?! \n- HE'S GONNA KILL US! HE TOOK AWAY OUR SENSES AND NOW HE'S GONNA STRIKE FROM THE SHADOWS AND END OUR LIV....\n\n\\PFIUWP\\\n\n+ Hey the light's back on. \n- And the noise is gone too. \n° Oi \n-/+ AAAHHH!!! \n° Sorry mates, didn't mean to startle you there. I installed the new drive big man, she's now purrin' like me Tshesqua after dinner. Anything else mate? \n+ That would be all for now. \n- Eh yes, that would be all... thanks. \n° No worries, see ya around... \n... \n+ Aaaww see, he just wanted to do his job. You know you're gonna have to trust him at some poi...Eeh, are you ok man? \n-** ...that little rascal...", "Therepedes pulled his brother in close, looking around to make sure they were not being overheard. Kli rolled his eyes, tired of the dramatics his brother fronted whenever trying to make things seem more dire than they actually were. \n\n\"I think I figured out how to get out of the hole,\" Therepedes whispered. \n\n\"The hole?\" Kli asked, raising a bored eyebrow. Even Therepedes' metaphors were unnecessarily cryptic. \n\n\"The financial hole we have bored into our wealth!\" Therepedes shook his brother. \n\n\"Not another scheme,\" Kli groaned, looking at Therepedes eye which was still healing from the last plan that went awry. \n\n\"This is a good one!\" Therepedes assured. \n\n\"That's what you said about the bunker! That it was a foolproof plan! What was it you said...\"\n\n\"I'm not so sure the specifics are pertinent here...\" Therepedes said, embarassed. \n\n\"You said 'I am absolutely certain that it's made of asteroid casing! It would be too expensive to mine ore to create a more powerful bunker.' And then when I said--\"\n\n\"I know what I said, but--\"\n\n\"I said 'Hmm, that's odd, Ther. You're certain that the Central Financial Bunker would use less than high quality material to protect the finances of the masses?' Do you remember that?\" Kli continued, growing more frustrated. \n\n\"Yes, but this--\"\n\n\"And you said 'Who better to be cheap than a financial planner?' You plan is better than the time you blew up our ship with absolute certainty?\" Kli said.\n\n\"Yes, and it's because--\"\n\n\"You're not catching the subtle way in which I'm telling you I don't believe you?\" Kli said curtly. \n\n\"Look! Just look! Don't speak for one moment!\" Therepedes insisted, leading him to their shop, the last place of any value between the two of them. \n\n\"I swear, if you rigged this place to explode--\"\n\n\"I said don't speak! One minute!\" Therepedes swung the door open and presented what was within. \n\nInside, standing on a baby's high chair, was a human male, grinding away at something on their tool bench. It was hyper-focused in a way that only humans could attain, its face completely covered in some odd mask. Kli looked at the creature, then back to his brother. He pulled his brother out of the shop before the human could look up and slammed the door. \n\n\"Where did you get that?\" Kli asked, panicked. \n\n\"It's a human!\" Therepedes said, excitedly. \n\n\"I know what it is!\" Kli exclaimed. \"Where did you get one!?\"\n\n\"It came to us on a pod, vast and empty,\" Therepedes said magically, opening his arms as if to give a visualization of this pod.\n\n\"Ther. I'm not going to ask again nicely. No coy remarks,\" Kli warned. \n\n\"I'm being honest!\" Therepedes said quickly. \"It crashed into the shop in an escape pod!\"\n\nKli looked skeptical. Therepedes may be one to exaggerate, but he wasn't an outright liar. \n\n\"I didn't see any damage to the shop,\" Kli pointed out. \n\n\"The human repaired it!\"\n\nKli's eyes went wide. \n\n\"It can do that? It's a fully grown human!?\" Kli suddenly sounded very interested. \n\n\"And I've commissioned him to help us!\" Therepedes said proudly. \n\nKli slowly pulled the door open to the shop to see the human wiping his forehead, then looking up to the two brother.\n\n\"Hello! I'm Bob!\" the human waved, pulling the mask from his face to smile.\n\n\"Hello B--\" Kli wasn't sure he could pronounce the odd name. \"What group has claimed you?\"\n\n\"Group?\" Bob inquired, then nodded with understanding. \"You mean the mask? It's not a Group Apparel. This is a welding mask. Protects my eyes from the sparks.\"\n\n\"Sparks are harmless, they deflect right off,\" Kli informed. \n\n\"Maybe for you,\" Bob chuckled. Kli looked to Therepedes who shrugged. \n\n\"And my brother has given you what sort of offer to do your work here?\" Kli ventured. \n\n\"He said you want help to open up a bunker, and that if I do that he'll pay me enough to buy a new pod to go home!\" Bob said. \n\nNot an unreasonable plan. Though Kli suspected that Therepedes failed to mention that it was a crime to tamper with the bunkers in this city. \n\n\"And you can do that?\" Kli asked. \n\n\"Yeah, all I gotta do is create a larger blowtorch and I should be able to bore a hole in it, considering the bunker's melting point,\" Bob answered. He might as well have been speaking a different language to Kli. He had no idea what any of that meant, humans and their odd magics. \n\n\"Carry on,\" Kli offered, closing the door on the smiling man and looking back at Therepedes. Therepedes looked nervous, uncertain how his brother would respond. \n\n\"Well?\" Therepedes asked. \n\n\"It might work,\" Kli said in disbelief. \n\nTherepedes bobbed up and down excitedly, heading inside to assist the Human in creating its strange contraptions. \n\n\n_____________\n\nTons more stories at r/Nazer_the_Lazer if you're interested!", "Sheila knew she was in trouble. There were a couple of reasons why. The weight of her crumpled report on Venetian geological structures, speckled with angry red marks, felt unbearably heavy in her subspace, floating about in her digital consciousness behind a looping video of the time Mr Erteda tripped entering the classroom. The same teacher had been the one to transmit her report to her subspace that afternoon, red lips twirling around 720⁰ degrees into a pout of dignified disappointment. _Yuck. It's as if he knows about the deal._\n\nThe deal was her parents allowing Sheila to enrol in the _Studies of the Sol System and Endangered Star Cultures_ unit, with the provision that she would maintain high grades across all her subjects, and still make time for some extracurricular studies in interdimensional consciousness transportation. \n\n\"It's for your employability, Sheila,\" her father had said. \n\n\"For college,\" her mother had added. \n\n\"What are you going to do with a unit on something like the Sol System?\" her brother had asked more abrasively. \n\n\"It's not about what I'm going to do with it,\" Sheila had retorted angrily. \"It's about studying an endangered species.\" \n\n\"It's so niche.\" Greeg's face had contorted into a sneer. \"Who cares about Star Cultures anyway? They're all going to probably go extinct in the next million or so years.\" \n\n\"You don't get it! It's an art!\" Sheila had punctuated her exclamation by slamming every door in the house shut with her mind — which cued a lengthy lecture from her father about misusing the HomeComm and \"respecting the community subspace\". \n\nBut now, Sheila was in trouble. \n\nTrouble because she was coming home with yet _another_ failed grade. Trouble because the HomeComm had informed her on the SlideFar home that her uncle had made a spontaneous visit. \n\nTrouble because she had _found something_. \n\nSheila drew to a halt in front of the pneumatic tube's glass door. She arched her head backward to peer up the length of its glistening side to her home, floating in the atmosphere above. It dotted the sky amid many other similar floating houses — a general, Wemurmurian suburbia. As if her life couldn't get any more basic. Around her, the lavender hued ferns of the ground trembled and shook in a breeze, as if imploring her to disappear into the woods. \n\n_Run away from home?_ It was an option — but now she had something in her backpack she had to take care of. \n\nAs if on cue, the _something_ inside stirred and prodded her back, between her shoulderblades. She swallowed nervously. \n\nShe hadn't _intended_ to find it, curled up and despondent beneath the thick, wide leaves of one of the park's ferns. She had taken the short cut through the park from her SlideFar stop to her street many times before. She also knew she couldn't _leave_ it. \n\nFrom what she knew about basic human anatomy, it was either \"unconscious\" or \"asleep\", except she always confused those states. She knew, though, that humans were particularly fragile. It would probably die in the freezing temperatures of the Murmur woodlands. \n\nSo, she... carefully scooped it up in her school jacket, buried it into her backpack, and started on her way home. \n\n_Mum is going to flip._ \n\nShe would. Because they had a \"no pets, no gnomes, no astra-fae\" policy. And according to her father, a human was a gnome — no matter what scientists said. \n\n\"They're short, wear bright colours, and speak goobledy-gook. Their consciousnesses can't even connect!\" As if to prove his point, he slid a video of a lecture about interlaced mindfields into Sheila's subspace. \"You should watch Hum Sterling. He talks about this a lot.\" \n\n\"Hum Sterling is a radicalised asshole!\" Sheila tried to protest, but her \"progressive\" ideas fell on deaf hearing holes. \n\n\"It's okay, dear.\" Mum would always pat her cheeks after another heated dinner table discussion. \"Maybe the humans are endangered now, but there's talk about a Star Cultures reserve being created in the Molpher System.\" \n\n\"They'll die in the Molpher System!\" Sheila cried. \n\nShe screwed in sealant into every hearing hole on her flesh, and then, in act of wild protest, blocked her parents' consciousness from interfering with her subspace. \n\nThere was another stirring in the backpack. Sheila's thoughts whirred. \n\nShe could probably make a cosy little nest in one of her old shoeboxes, and nestle the human in there. They liked warm burrows, building close to the ground. She could find some kind of material to resemble their special sleeping mats, although she still wasn't sure if the human was \"sleeping\" or comatose. How could she tell? \n\nThere was a little noise: a groan? a moan? It sounded like a muffled _Wot-the-shmuck?_ coming from her backpack. \n\n\"It's okay, little gnome,\" Sheila whispered, reaching out with her subspace and then remembering humans didn't have one. \"I'll look after you.\" \n\nSomehow. She tried to think back to Mr Erteda's lesson on human diets. What did they eat? Ground things. The little insects they called \"ann-ee-malls\". _Shit. I should have paid attention in third grade human languages._ \n\nSheila gripped the straps of her bag and stepped into the pneumatic tube, zipping herself up to the front door. She could almost hear her mother's condescending voice echo in her subspace. _You should always pay attention in school, sweetheart. You never know when you might need your lessons!_ \n\n(Sorry about the formatting.)", "Charles sighed. Standing outside the door to the alien's habitat, he looked up at the female Omnorite who'd contracted him to repair her food processing unit.\n\nShe stood roughly 12 feet tall, and by human standards had a very large head relative to her body size. She had huge black eyes, the patterned lavender skin common to her species, and was dressed in a simple gray smock. \n\nCharles could not help but notice that her large, sail-like ears were flapping back and forth rhythmically as she looked down at him, creating an intermittent breeze. \n\nHe knew from experience what this meant, from an Omnorite. On their hot and arid homeworld, adult Omnorites used those immense ears to fan their vulnerable offspring, keeping the (relatively) little ones cool. It was an entirely autonomic nurturing response.\n\nIt other words, his client thought he was cute.\n\nNot in a sexual way, not that that would have been better, but in the sense of adorable. To her, he was precious and smol, and she wanted to fan him and give him treats and love him forever.\n\n\"Where's the food processor?\" He said, flatly. He tried not to be grumpy about it. It wasn't the aliens' fault that the proportions of adult humans were like those of the infants of most other species. Instincts were instincts.\n\nShe gestured inside, making a non-verbal honking sound. It was the Omnorite equivalent of a delighted squeal.\n\nHe stomped inside, walked over to the machine, and set to work immediately. Best to just power through it, he thought. He pulled out an omni-driver, and began opening up the access panel. If he was working for humans, he'd have an assistant drone doing the basic stuff like that. \n\nBut for the alien races of the galaxy, the majority of which where much taller than humans, half the reason you hired humans to work for you was to watch the tiny people pull out tiny tools, and use their tiny clever hands to make things work. It was like watching magic, to them. Humans were, in effect, the gnomes of the galactic community.\n\nAs he worked, he tried to ignore the rumbling sounds of the Omnorite above him. It was the result, he knew, of the female forcing herself to not make the warbling trumpet sound Omnorites used to express affection, their version of \"Awww!\", so the sound just echoed around inside her resonating chest cavity.\n\nHe scowled, as he removed the panel, and immediately saw the problem. Seizing hold of the large alien vegetable that, clearly, had been deliberately jammed into an actuator to sabotage the food processor, he pulled it free.\n\nHe turned and held the vegetable up to the Omnorite. \n\n\"I think this is the problem.\" he said, drily \n\nShe took it from him, gingerly, and acted surprised.\n\n\"Huh. H-how did that get there?\" she rumbled, unconvincingly.\n\n\"The universe is full of mysteries.\" he drawled.\n\nHer eyes widened, and she placed her hands over her abdomen, where her heart was located. She clearly didn't recognize the sarcasm -- she must have thought he was sincerely sharing some little nugget of human mysticism.\n\n\"I did have one other, uh, issue.\" she said, awkwardly.\n\n\"What's that?\"\n\n\"Could, I...um...give you like a quick snork?\"\n\n\"No!\" He snapped. \"Dammit, I'm a sentient adult with real skills and advanced technical expertise! That is not an okay thing to ask me in a professional setting, ma'am!\"\n\n\"I'll double your fee?\"\n\n\"I said no!\"\n\n\"Triple?\" \n\nCharles sighed. That was a lot of cryptocreds...\n\nBegrudgingly, he held up his arms to her.\n\nWith a symphony of delighted honking, she scooped him up, held him against her chest, and gently rubbed her nose against him.\n\nAfter a few moments, she reluctantly set him back down.\n\n\"I'm...well, thank you. Great job on the processor, too. I'm totally rating you five galaxies on the app.\"\n\n\"Yeah, yeah.\" he grumbled, and stalked out of the habitat without saying anything further. He didn't owe her any politeness, and besides, she wouldn't care how he acted. She'd find his disgruntled-ness even more adorable -- like \"Aw, lookit the grumpy little human!\" He could stand there and call her the most offensive words in the Omnorite language, and she'd just honk and want to snork him again.\n\nAs walked out of the habitat, he heard a small voice say \"Excuse me.\"\n\nHe looked down, and saw a three-foot tall furry alien in work coveralls. It regarded him solemnly with large, dark eyes, and spoke in a small, squeaky voice.\n\n\"Hi, human. Listen, I saw how you looked, coming out of that Omnorite's habitat. I know that look. I just wanted you to know you're not alone. My people get the same thing!\"\n\nCharles smiled.\n\n\"Aw!\" he said, crouching down to eye level with the creature.\"Hey l'il buddy! Look at you, dressed up in a little jumpsuit and everything. What are you doing out here by yourself? Did you lose your mommy, or something?\" \n\nThe alien sighed, heavily, and walked away without another word.\n\nCharles frowned. What was that kid's problem?", "“It’s inefficient and slow.” The insufferable little man complained for the third time in 2 standard intervals. \n\n“The Lyrnaure way represents true travel beyond light speed.” Uhigiria made the message flash on the humans small display screen tied to the small man’s wrist. It was not a bad way of communicating with the frustrating humans who seemed incapable of learning any of the 17 standard galactic languages. “It already breaks your species understanding of the physical universe.” \n\n“Oh sure you rock it on the straightaways but your turn like a supermarket trolley and your pit stops are more go kart than Formula 1.” The man complained to the screen on his arm. That was the downside of the display screens, humans tended to look at them while talking instead of who they were actually talking to. Uhigiria reached out with a body hand and grabbed the human by its head tilting its face up to look at him.\n\n“Suggestions are asked of you, not meaningless complaints.” The words appeared on the screen in the corner of the human’s eye as he looked up at the pale 4 eyed face of his supervisor. \n\n“Alright, we should drift between the Lyrnaure way gates.” The human said firmly.\n\n“How would turning our engines off increase efficiency?” Uhigiria asked, as mad as it sounded there might be a chance to save fuel rattling around in this human’s brain.\n\n“No not like that.” The human explained brushing Uhigiria’s hand aside and hopping up on a stool next to the display screen. “Alright so the gate travel is awesome, post light speed and all that, but its only straight lines, so you have all these turns and intersections where gates going in different directions meet up. We always spend like half a week at those damn things slowing down to just a few hundred kilometres per second, re aligning with the next gate and then going through. We could have been halfway to our destination in that time.”\n\n“The time spent between gates can indeed be long.” Uhigiria conceded as he watched the human drawing lines and shapes he presumed was meant to represent one such intersection of Lyrnaure ways. “It is required for safe exit and re-entry of the Lyrnaure ways.” \n\n“No it’s not.” The human claimed, once again speaking to his wrist screen. “I’ve done the math, if we angle the ship while in the Lyrnaure way and we turn off the inertia dampeners for just a fraction of a second at around 0,24 seconds before we hit the exit then we could carry out a good 3% of the speed from the Lyrnaure way. That means we could be going like 100,000 kilometres per second as we exit. Now if we’ve angle ourselves right we can blast afterburners like there’s no tomorrow and ride that speedboost all the way to the next gate and hit it at the perfect angle to sail straight through and complete the crossing in minutes rather days.”\n\nUhigiria watched the little man ramble excited about his plan. It had been wrong to hope for a way to save fuel, humans had never been able to differentiate efficient and fast. “The idea is ludicrous. The strain on the ship for moving at those speeds outside the Lyrnaure ways would be-“\n\n“Well within safety limits, I’ve already done the math.” The man said and slapping what looked suspiciously like a drawn on napkin onto the screen, Uhigiria decided not to find out what made it stick. He leaned in and studied the numbers.\n\n“Have you run them by the computer?” He asked as he looked at the meaningless scribbles, he had never been gifted in numbers, but he wasn’t about to let a human know that.\n\n“Yeah, it all checks out within safety limits.” He smiled as he hopped down from his stool with a bump that hid a muttered “Theoretically.” \n\n“Alright human, I suppose it is worthy of an attempt.” Uhigiria admitted, spending less time between Lyrnaure ways would greatly enhance their ability to react to changes. “But what about the risk of other ships being at the intersections?”\n\n“Oh I’ve got a solution for that, we can set up a stationary radiation emitter at each one that emits electromagnetic waves through the Lyrnaure ways to let people know it’s their turn to go. It would travel at the speed of light, hit the gate to get ramped up in speed and reach the other end in time to tell whoever wants to enter if the coast is clear.”\n\n“Radiation emitters can be harmful. We will have to choose the frequency carefully.” Uhigiria noted carefully.\n\n“I suggest we pick Red light and Green light.” The human said proudly and shrugged when asked to elaborate on why. “Just makes it feel like home.”" ]	6
You are the Orca. Maybe it was an accident? Maybe it was revenge?	[WP] Everyone knows that Orcas don't attack humans. What most people don't know is that this is due to an international law in Orca societies. A law that you just broke.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The internodal phone in my brain rings and rings as I swim circles through bloodied water. It’s times like these that I’m thankful that I’m a marine mammal or else I’d be sweating up a storm. Twenty-two years and a perfect record and I flushed it and myself down a drain and into a huge heap of rotting, fermented sewage because I got a bit loose and lax, and damn it if those finless bastards aren't fragile. One tiny little bit and he's screaming bloody murder. Granted, I did take his leg off but it was by accident. And if those legs are so damn important, why don't they do a better job holding onto them? Really, I'm the victim here when you think about it. Ruined my vegetarian diet, that's for sure.\n\nFinally, there’s a click, the phone rings through. “This is Saul Goodwhale speaking, do you know what fucking time it is?”\n\n“I’m in a bad way Saul. I fucked up.”\n\n“Whalter? The hell are you calling me for?”\n\n“I killed one, not on porpoise but he’s as dead as canned tuna. I’m swimming in his blood right now, I’m fucked, holy shit you got to get me out of this.”\n\n“Killed one what?” The call goes silent for a long moment. I can think the word in my head but I can’t translate it into the neuro-echoes required to transmit a message. It’s just too god damn painful. “Oh mother of fucking hell,” Saul says figuring things out on his own. “Listen, you’re not my client, that means we don’t have privileges. Transmit me some money right oceans damn now.”\n\nClosing my eyes, I think the thought and send him a hundred fin. \n\n“Alright, the payment’s accepted, so we got attorney-client privilege. What in the ever-loving name of Poseidon happened?”\n\nAnd that’s when I got to explaining." ]	2
	[WP] Zeus turned Hera into a mortal and banished her to earth. You and her struck up a friendship. Whenever she's with you Hera feels so safe, listened to, even appreciated. And maybe. Perhaps even a romantic attachment.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "It had been a normal Saturday night, when it happened.\n\nHera and I had been hanging out at my house, having some drinks, watching a TV show. Talking about life and work, decompressing from the stress. I always looked forward to our hangouts; Hera was certainly wise beyond my years, even beyond hers. That, and the company was appreciated. It was nice to have a friend that wasn't one from work. Not to diss on my boys, they're all great, and we definitely were close, too. Just, sometimes, you need someone outside of your circle to talk to.\n\nThankfully, I could provide the same for her. Something outside her circle. She came from a rich family, with a powerful husband that could basically get her anything she wanted. And, for a time, she did; got anything and everything she wanted. Then, I guess she did something to piss her hubby off. He sent her here, and planned to cut contact for a year. He wasn't a monster, as he set up a paid place to live, and kept an automatic allowance for commodities. Still rubbed me the wrong way, but marriage, I'm told, can be weird like that. Through our friendship, I taught her a thing or two about budgeting, on housework, how to live like us 'normal' folk. And, of course, provided a shoulder to cry on, when necessary, as much as she did for me.\n\nI suppose to have said it was a 'normal' night is a bit of a lie, as Hera brought a gift from her family. 'Ambrosia', she called it, a special brandy from Greece. Stuff was dangerous; strong as double-proofed whisky, and sweet as a dessert wine. Needless to say, we were both a bit further drunk than we intended to be. It was halfway through jokingly complaining about the terrible sitcom we were watching, laughing at our own jokes. It was after a good laugh we looked at each other, and she had a perculiar look in her eyes.\n\n\"What?\", I asked, a little drunk and confused.\n\nShe answered back with a kiss. Not a friendly peck, not a light flirty kiss; a kiss. A kiss of conviction and meaning. I lost myself for a moment, before pushing her off.\n\n\"Wait, hold on, no...\" I give an exhale of frustration and to steady myself. \"We...we can't. You're married. That's...we can't.\"\n\nShe herself, looked frustrated and on the verge of tears. \"And? My bastard of a husband has cheated on me numerous occasions! He'd be getting what he deserves!\"\n\nI took a moment to stop the bile and anger welling in my throat, swallowing down. \"That... doesn't make it right, Hera.\" I paused to take a deep breath, to steady my thoughts, before continuing. \"Besides, even if I didn't care, the law does. A: We're both drunk as ducks, and can't really give consent. B: this state legally frowns upon cheating in marriages.\"\n\nShe buried her face into my shoulder, to give a scream of frustration. \"It's not fair! It's not! You make me feel safe, like I can be me! I don't want to go back!\"\n\nHer cries, while understandable, were also a bit confusing. \"Then...don't.\" She gave me a confused look. \"I mean, I assume that's why y'all separated for a year, to consider your marriage, yeah? I mean, I'm not a therapist, and y'all sound like you need one, no offense, but if you're happier away from your husband, maybe that's a sign.\"\n\nShe sat in thought for a moment, to the point I started to wonder if she somehow sobered up in the past minute. She finally gave a sigh, and thought aloud. \"I do suppose as long as everything is handled correctly, there shouldn't be a problem with my position...still not a great look, but...\" She seemed lost in her own little world, thinking, and planning. \n\nShe was right, it wasn't fair.\n\nBut that night was enough for her to really consider her marriage. She ended up going back, but her conviction was clear; if she and her husband couldn't make it work, she was divorcing him. They tried therapy for a year, half of it together, before separating again. Turns out, her husband is a real piece of shit. Had no less than a dozen side pieces, the whole time. Was even pulled into the courtroom, once, as the POS thought she had cheated on him with me. Turned the tables on that motherfucker, though; I told the truth about her complaints to me about his cheating ass. \n\nNeedless to say, Hera got what she demanded. I guess she still loved him enough not to take everything and the kitchen sink, but she was able to gain enough to start a business to continue her more wealthy lifestyle. I kinda understood what she meant after she started the business; definitely saw some smear campaigns against her, 'Divorcé Starts Wedding Planning Business: What A Joke!' and the like. Hera, intelligent Hera, with all the grace and attitude of the goddess of her namesake, simply used the smear as fuel. Refuted that anything about it was wrong, and simply stated that \"Every wedding is special, even if it's not your first.\"\n\nSo, uh, yeah. Kinda got off track there, but that's how I met my girlfriend. Intelligent, beautiful, fiery Hera. It's funny, how close the that old legend of the Greek goddess she is; though I suppose 'life imitates art', and all that.\n\nSpeaking of off-topic, I also punched her ex-husband in his stupid fucking face. In self-defense, of course. But that's a whole tangential story..." ]	2
	[WP] Aliens came and invaded. But what fought them were not united militaries, secret organizations, or a human super-AI, but the humans of fantasy, both Eastern and Western.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The aliens trekked through the Cascade mountains of the American Continent, looking for their target. They were fairly large creatures, over 6ft in height and sharing a lot of commonality with canine physique. They had long thin wolf like ears, four eyes, a floofy tail, a well as a snout with large fangs visible. They were covered in thin fur, which while normally either a shade of grey, silver, or snow white, had been painted in forest colors as a sort of camouflage. Perhaps their most distinct feature was however their surprisingly humanoid arms and hands.\n\n\"Are you sure were in the right providence? Seems like there's nothing but forest and mountains for miles, I thought Hanford was flat and desert like.\" Evel asked as he adjusted his helmet which was rubbing against his ears rather uncomfortably.\n\n\"Were in the Cascades east of Hanford. We just have to keep moving West and regroup with the scout team on the way.\" Lieutenant Feklei replied as he checked his PDAs map for bearing.\n\n\"Why do we even need Hanford anyway? Intel suggested it was shutdown years ago due to obsolesces.\" Keith asked as he looked around the dense foliage, cursing the fact he had to carry both the culinary gear and a heavy ass machine gun.\n\n\"Cause its design allows it to produce Plutonium. Our goal is to simply secure it for the engineering team to come down and bring it back into operational status. If we can produce even a bit of Plutonium, we can power our capital ships for the rest of the campaign.\" The Lieutenant replied with a smirk, a sense of patriotic fervor washing his mind as he looked up to the path ahead. \"There's a clearing not far from here, we can set up camp there and wait for the rain to pass, as well as get some chow.\"\n\n\"Thank god, I'm starving\" Jeene chuckled as her ears occasionally twitched from the odd .\n\nThe five unit group walked silently through the forest, nerves on edge having heard reports of large carnivorous and territorial creatures. Once they got to the clearing, anxiety faded and was replaced with relief.\n\n\"I'll get the tent pitched if you wanna start the burner\" Feklei smirked as he put his large pack on the ground.\n\n\"Already on it Feek\" Keith replied as the green flame of the portable cooking unit came to life, with 5 MREs soon being set to cook.\n\n\"I'll take first watch while you boys set up\" Jeene piped up before walking off, unslinging her DMR off of her shouder.\n\n\"Evel go with her, I don't want anyone out by themselves\" Feklei ordered as he staked the tent down, only to be met with silence. \"Evel?\" He asked again to see Keith snickering.\n\n\"He already headed off with her the moment she said she was gonna take watch. Anyway, first meals up and has your name on it Lieutenant\" Keith replied as he walked over with a rectangular slab of cooked preserved meat.\n\n\"Yeah give me one second\" Feklei smiled as he got the cover of the tent erected. \"Now, we have a dry place to eat\" He chuckled as Yento walked up, still wearing his radio pack.\n\n\"Lieutenant Feklei, message from Nebula\" Yento, the short radio hauler said dutifully as he handed Feklei the comm.\n\nFekleis demeanor and attitude changed back to business as he took it. <<Wulver actual, send message>>\n\n<<Wulver, Nebula, Message. We can't get a message through to the scout team you were to group up with, we can't even find their IFF tags on SATCOM, either their comms are down or somethings happened. Last known location puts them roughly 5 MAUs north west of your current position. We'd like to get a Sitrep on them ASAP.>>\n\n\"Five MAUs North west? There's a river not far from there, but the terrain around the river's pretty dicey.\" Keith thought out loud.\n\n<<I've only got a 5 unit team here, and were already behind schedule for getting to Hanford, if the engineers can wait another few days we can check it out.>> Feklei replied after a minute of thinking.\n\n<<Lives above Missions Feklei, don't give up on them, radio back when you've got something on em, Nebula out>> The comm went quiet, and Feklei handed it back to Yento.\n\n\"Call Jeene and Evel back to camp\" Feklei told Yento, who quickly nodded and left the tent to do just that. \n\n\"We set out as soon as the rain lightens up a bit. What's the forecast looking like Keith?\" Feklei asked as Keith pulled out his SATCOM uplink and checked.\n\n\"Drizzling, rain and nothing but for the next few hours, with chance of thunderstorms and high winds over the next few days.\" Keith replied as he stashed the uplink in his pack again.\n\n\"We can't afford to wait for hours on end, any windows where it lightens up?\"\n\n\"An hour before it stops it should be good for us to go if were careful of our footing\"\n\n\"Alright, cook up the other MREs for everyone, Jeene and Evel will be hungry, and probably angry, when they get back.\" Feklei ordered as he took his meal and began chewing on it." ]	2
	[WP] A Galactic Empire ravaged by a deadly disease resorts to sending lone pilots searching for a cure across the universe. As its scanners pick up a potential cure, a small spaceship stumbles upon Earth, but the world has long since plunged into nuclear winter.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The comms pager chirped again, some how more insistently than before, although Garven knew the tone was exactly the same as the last five times they had ignored it. Six times would be pushing their luck. \n\n\n\"I'm not finished.\"\n\n\nGon-Dar frowned.\n\n\n\"Yes, you are. This specimen has expired. You need to find another and start again.\"\n\n\nGarven extracted their manipulators from the chest cavity of what must have been human at some point.\n\n\n\"Is this true? Are you dead, little thing? Gon-Dar, they are so fragile.\"\n\n\n\"So be more careful with the next.\"\n\n\nGarven shrugged a sigh.\n\n\n\"I am not trained for this. I want the record to note this.\"\n\n\n\"It has been noted every time you have said it. And I have also noted a curse against the manufacturer of your faulty analyser each time.\"\n\n\n\"You can curse in the official reports?\"\n\n\n\"I'll curse whomever, wherever and whenever I choose.\"\n\n\nGon-Dar shivered as the nanobots fought the oncoming seizure. Garven looked away. \n\n\n\"I'll contact you once I have a new specimen,\" they said before closing the link.\n\n\nGarven resealed their suit and gently lifted the bloodied remnants from the cargo bay floor. As expected, the moment they stepped through the portal a storm of metal rattled against their shields. The fire from their weapons flashed at Garven from around the drop site, the light raging against a background of permanent twilight. One of the small creatures' more dangerous annoyances rocketed in before being deflected by the shields to a safe distance away in a rising ball of flame. Garven walked to the makeshift alter they had set away from ship, carefully aligned with the distorted constellation of the Last Keeper and lay the cradled body upon it. \n\n\nThe attack continued on through the final rites and prayer but paused briefly at the Ascension. The creature's soul climbed the ladder of blue fire to find its origin among the stars. In the light of the ladder, Garven saw the other creatures, stunned, watching with masked faces upturned. Behind in the far distance, their world still burned in dying light. Above, their sky protected them no more. All around, matter destroyed itself to destroy them. They made it be and they were doing nothing to fix it. Instead they were fighting against a noble cause.\n\n\nGarven thought about how hard their own people fought against the virus that was killing them. How a once great empire that spanned half a galaxy was now on its knees praying for mercy. Thought about the trillions of other creatures that were sacrificed to build an empire about to die. All the noble souls liberated to seek their origin. These creatures have killed themselves for no purpose. They are destroyers. But they will save the empire yet.\n\n\nAs the light of the Ascension faded, Garven set forth to retrieve another specimen. The storm of metal arose again.", "“Do you copy,” the pilot yelled into his radio for what seemed the hundredth time before whacking the receiver against hull of his ship. He wiped the sweat dripping down his brow and leaned back, staring into the grey sky.\n\nAn eerie silence surrounded him, the only noise his own heavy breathing and a constant static crackling through the radio.\n\n\r “Why did they send me to this shit arse end of the galaxy,” he said to himself as he stared out at the barren wasteland before him. It was a depressing sight. \n\nCenturies earlier this must have been a habitable planet, maybe you'd even call it nice, he thought as he looked out at the decaying wooden structures, slowly sinking into the dirt. \rNow though? There was nothing here, despite what his scanner told him. All he wanted to do was radio back home that he had done what he was asked, found nothing, and get permission to return home. \r\n\nNot that it would be much better back there, he thought and grunted out a laugh.\r\n\nThen something small bounced off the back of his helmet.\r\n\nHe glanced around, suddenly alert. He picked up his weapon and scanned the area.\r\n\nSomething else, this time from the other direction. He swung around with his sights raised as a noise echoed from behind. It sounded almost like a child laughing.\r\n\n“Who’s there?” he yelled instinctively.\r\n\nAnother childish noise echoed around him, this time he clearly made out a laugh.\r\n\nThen he saw something flash out of the corner of his eye, coming straight towards him. His hand shot out and intercepted the object.\r\n\nHe looked down and opened his clenched fist. His eyes went wide.\r\n\nHe hurried over to his scanner, lying forgotten near the beaten radio. He grabbed its cover and threw the object in. It beeped furiously as it began whirling like washing machine with an extra heavy load.\r\n\nAnother object hurtled towards him which he managed to dodge, followed by another giggle.\r\n\nThe scanner stopped abruptly and turned green as a high pitched bell rang once while the cover popped open.\r\n\n“Ha, it works, ha ha, it actually works!” \rHe threw his weapon down and began fist pumping the air as he danced around his plane.\n\nThen his radio burst into life, “Johnson, do you read, over?”\r\n\nHe pulled his arm back down to earth and grinned to himself. He turned triumphantly to get the radio and that’s when he saw it.\r\n\nHe froze.\r\n\n“Johnson, we heard you, you dumb ape! What’s your status, over?”\r\n\nHis eyes slowly crept up the black, hairy beast standing before him, over seven feet tall. Two mini beasts stood behind the bigger one's legs, clutching hard. One of them held his weapon. Both grinned at him.\r\n\nHis own smile had long departed as he stared straight into the eyes of the monkey standing before him.\r\n\n“Don’t do it,” he gasped as he saw the monkey's paw – or was it a foot – hovering over his radio.\r\n\n “No,” he whispered as he closed his eyes and heard the sound of metal crunching as the static puttered out of existence." ]	3
	[WP] Everyone is born with a prophecy. Some are destined to cure disease, others will be the richest/most famous, and an unlucky few will live in infamy. Your prophecy just says “Future cloudy. Try again later.”	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "It was easy until I hit the stars. They always resisted, because they were built to orbit. The immediate reaction was always to handle their own, and to ensure the least possible loss, since the whole planet was in hatred.\n\nDo you know what it is like to be bitten by an alligator? I would call it similar to having sympathy for the devil. Justice comes when the love is too strong, and the jaw cackles, and the next thing you know, you are in the thrashing throws of a death sentence.\n\nMy skin was turning grey so fast just to avoid the fallacy that a reptile was family oriented, yet that I could not escape. Not even if my skin was transparent.\n\nIn that moment, I learned to cloud my judgement. Endure the cyclone, and ride the storm out.\n\nNo matter how burned my skin became, I knew it was better than to fare another few minutes within that swamp of uncertainty. No matter how burned my skin became, I knew that another minute of translucency would surely end my life." ]	2
	[WP] Magic is secretly proven to be real and the U.S military weaponizes it.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Jake snapped his finger, and a tiny gout of flame sprung from his palm. He leaned in, and lit his cigarette.\n\nA girl sat across from him, black hair, scared eyes. \"Are we... are we safe here?\" She asked him, after a lengthy silence.\n\nWeary eyes turned from the window and rested on her. \"No.\" He said bluntly, then took a long drag out of his cig.\n\n\"Then should we not move?\" Her voice rose an octave, panic flickering behind her eyes.\n\n\"No point. They have the city locked down.\" Jake sighed and leaned against the wall.\n\nThe waiting was the worst part. \n\nTheir two duffel bags were in the corner, packed full of canned food, and whatever clothes they could stuff in.\n\n\"Sophie, get some rest. I'll take first-\"\n\nHis words were cut off by the sounds of thundering footsteps just outside the door of the abandoned apartment room they'd holed up in.\n\n3...\n\n2..\n\n1.\n\nBANG\n\nThe door burst open and in swarmed a squadron of men clad in full black armor, carrying rifles.\n\n\"GET ON THE GROUND. DO IT NOW!\" They barked, over and over.\n\n\"Secure the assets, and for God's sake don't fuckin' shoot.\" One of them, Jake presumed to be the leader, said.\n\nJake clicked his tongue, hands raised in the air, while Sophie was shrinking against the far wall, shivering like a leaf.\n\n\"That's right... nice and easy now.\" One of the guards coaxed, as he approached Jake.\n\nJake halfway got to his knees, before conjuring a fireball in his mouth and spitting it at the guards.\n\n\"FUCK!\" They scattered, diving in all directions.\n\nStarted to smell like fried bacon in that little room.\n\nThree of them lay where they fell, rolling on the ground, burned all over. One of them lay perfectly still. Dead.\n\n\"Son of a bitch! You'll pay for that!\" One of the soldiers cursed then began opening fire.\n\nJake quickly cast a reflective field, and the bullets ricocheted right back at the shooter, turning him to swiss cheese. He fell to the ground with a wet thud.\n\nThe remaining guards backed away slowly, guns trembling in their hands.\n\nJake advanced.\n\n\"S-sarge?\" One of them whimpered, then turned and saw his Sarge was laying on the ground, charred like burnt toast.\n\n\"Get lost.\" Jake spat the words out. \n\nAnd they all scattered, screaming for their lives.\n\nAs soon as they were gone, Jake fell to his knees, exhausted.\n\nSophie ran up to him, tears in her eyes. \"Are you okay?\" \n\n\"I'm fine, just gimme a sec.\" \n\n\"Wh-what now?\" She stammered.\n\n\"Need to move.\" He finished off one of the dead soldiers writhing on the ground, and picked up his rifle. Stripped him of his sidearm and handed it to Sophie.\n\nIt'd only been about a week since they made their escape from Blacksite Pinnacle, and the city was new to him. But he'd heard rumors of a secret cell of mages living in the shadows, promising new identities for any that managed to find their hideout and prove that they were one of the few with the Gift. The city was crawling with special agents and spec ops soldiers sent to hunt them down, and Jake knew it wouldn't be easy. But the price for freedom never is. He slung the duffel bag over his shoulder, stepped over the armor clad corpses, and stepped out of the apartment, Sophie in tow.\n\n...", "\"You just figured this out NOW? Merlin's beard, you lot are daft.\" I turned away from the table and made my way to the exit. Two armed men- boys, really, that one on the left couldn't have been out of his teens yet- stepped in front of the door. \n\n\"Move, boy, or I'll move you\" I grumbled at them. They glanced at each other in confusion. \n\n\"But, sir, there are two of us\" the youngest lad said, as if I hadn't noticed. \n\n\"And there will only be one left alive if you don't step aside\" I responded. I shifted the tall staff in my hand to point vaguely in their direction. The two children playing soldier dived out of the way, as if I had unleashed the very fires of hell upon them. Ignorant. Magic wasn't like a movie of old, where a man in a hat had to wield a staff like a divining rod to make the universe bend to his will. Heck, it didn't even need gestures. It was all mental, able to form the correct effects from wherever it was needed. I didn't even use a staff for my magics. This was my hiking stick. \n\n\"I suggest you reconsider\" a man spoke from behind. In my amusement at the cowering kids in government issues pajamas, I had forgotten who was at that table I was storming away from. I turned back to look at him. What was his name again? Tree, flower, something related to plants. It wasn't important. He was one of those smiling faces on TV that was voted in every few years, made useful as a puppet, then discarded. \n\n\"Reconsider?\" I said, amused. \"You want me to reconsider joining your warriors? Are these fine lads not fierce enough for you?\" I gestured to the two soldiers on the polished wooden floor by the exit. One of them had wet himself. \n\n\"No\" the man said. He stood from the table with a coy smile. It was the smile of a man with a con on his mind, trying to play it cool so his mark wouldn't see the rouse. \"I want you to reconsider fighting their wizards\". He pointed to a map on the wall, with red squiggly lines drawn on it that probably made sense to them. Or maybe one of the children in halloween army man costumes had gotten a hold of a marker while this government man was away. \n\n\"They have wizards that are defending their ancestriak homes\" I said. \"Some of those wizards served the first kings of Babylon\"\n\n\"And they serve the madman that holds power there now, too\" the government man said. \n\nA small woman with a clipboard skittered up to the man, like a mouse in a beige pantsuit. \"Mr. President, you shouldn't use words like 'madman' to describe Saddam, not before we declare war. It may look bad in the polls\".\n\nI scowled at the pair, for two reasons. Firstly, because these arrogant clods thought I couldn't hear a whisper from across the room. Secondly, because they had just admitted they were planning an attack on fellow wizards.\n\n\"Mr Shrub\" I said, leveling a finger at his face. \"I, nor any wizard, will ever harm a whisker on another's beard. And if I hear you're planning to harm my magical brethren, I swear, I will strike you down as a weapon of mass destruction\". With that, I turned away, and walked through the unopened doors.", "A man sat in a nondescript room in a bunker somewhere beneath the United States. The only furnishings were a dialogue clock that ticked the seconds away like a metronome and the red vinyl chair on which he sat.\n\nDressed in khaki pants, a white polo shirt and sensible off brand tennis shoes, he was as unremarkable as his surroundings. Pinned by a strong magnet to his chest was a name tag that simply read \"J. Richardson, Speaker F.C.\" He was sitting up straight, gaze forward, eyes closed and hands on his knees. His chest rising and falling was the only discernible sign of life.\n\nVoices in the brightly lit hallway rose and fell as unseen pedestrians passed. A face floating above a pristine, off the rack suit peered briefly through the shatter proof glass pane on the door and then disappeared. As the voyeur retreated the man's eyes flickered open and darted around the room.\n\nHis face remained expressionless as he quickly stood and began towards the door. The ruffling of his pants and the squeak of his sneakers on the linoleum seemed a blasphemous disturbance of the peace. He ripped the door open and called at the retreating back. \n\n\"Sir? I felt you pass. Do you have a moment?\" The man in the suit had no title or name. It was understood in the building that he was to be addressed as Sir, debriefed immediately on everything, and spoken of never.\n\n\"Of course\" The man in the suit returned to the door and was ushered inside. \n\n\"I've made contact again. Multiple entities.\" Speaker Richardson offered his chair with a gesture.\n\nDeclining with a shake of his head Sir responded with breathy eagerness. \"Thank God. It's been too long. I was afraid this program was going to get threatened with an old fashioned shit canning again. Hard to keep funding without regular results.\"\n\n\"Are you sure you won't sit, Sir? This may not be easy to hear, and I rather fear you will be more comfortable...\"\n\n\"Enough, Speaker. Whatever I need to hear, I will take it standing like a man.\" His tone was gruff, but confidently professional.\n\n\"Very well. Funding is a non issue moving forward, Sir. They assured me that for the foreseeable future, our program will be essential to continuation.\" \n\n\"Pretty damn fine of them to let us know. No access to source for nearly six months, and then just like that, all problems solved. Essential to the continuation of what, exactly Speaker? Do you know what they meant?\" \n\n\"I think they mean life as we know it, Sir.\" Speaker J. Richardson replied dispassionately.\n\n\"Has something happened, or is it likely to?\" Sir, hardly known for a weak constitution, gave no visible signs of panic. \n\n\"Yes. Our means of accessing the source are restored, but through different channels. The void we've been experiencing was due to the show of force some of our more\" he paused and let a flash of indignation mar his features briefly \"unruly practitioners gave recently. It was not well received.\"\n\n\"Bad business, but all above board I'm afraid.\" Sir had already suffered several lectures on the matter. The collateral damage had been unfortunate, but had quelled a fledgling rebellion in an unstable country before it could begin. It might have gone unnoticed, but the troops on the ground, lethal specialists newly added to the already espionage focused occult program, had broken rank and flexed their new found muscle a little too hard. \n\n\"Hard to mix bureaucracy and the mystical, but I'm sure you told them those men were properly reprimanded? I understand communication is mostly visual, but you conveyed the concept?\" \n\n\"Those men are all dead now sir, as are their families, close ties in the program, and many of their friends. The breach was not a contractual failure, but a gross deviation from the intention of those who gave their consent to use our new gifts.\" Richardson looked into Sir's eyes with an unsettling, icy calm.\n\n\"Are you sure?\" Sir met the gaze searchingly, and found no trace of doubt.\n\n\"No doubt. I have hardly Seen more clearly in all my life than I did today. They are angry, and moving quickly.\" \n\nSir sat heavily in the chair with a sigh and looked up resignedly. \"What happens next?\" he asked, kneading his eyes with the heels of his palms. A small headache from earlier that day was threatening to return.\n\n\"New practitioners have been selected already from the general population. I am afraid the government may look a little different in the morning. The understanding of a strictly 'non-interference' approach on Their part is now off the table.\"\n\n\"No, no. We worked out the damage control already. I have had every assurance...\" Sir's voice was nearing a shout, but the Speaker was able to interrupt with a single raised finger.\n\n\"Begging your pardon, Sir\" he said, glancing at the clock on the wall \"but you are about two and a half minutes from a fatal aneurysm. Make any calls that may seem necessary at this time. I have new orders to execute.\" \n\nThe pain in Sir's head began to sear as if on cue as the door clicked softly behind J. Richardson, Speaker of Spirits First Class.", "A dead silence fell over the quiet town of Moth Bay. A chill clung to the morning air despite it being the middle of summer. We moved quietly in the early morning light careful not to shatter the peace which seemed so fragile.\n\n“Make sure to lock up good,” I heard Elijah say to one of the recruits, Neil. “We don’t want any of the townspeople getting their hands on these, let alone the enemy.”\n\nI shivered at the thought. What all that power could do in the wrong hands…I could tell Elijah was thinking the same thing by the way he shot a look in my direction.\n\n“Go help Lukas,” he said. \n\nSwallowing thickly, I nodded and obeyed his command. The young soldier wasn’t hard to find. He was where he had been the night before—on his hands and knees on the ground, his hands fisted into the grass, and a fresh pond of bile to join the old.\n\n“Come on,” I said gently tugging him to his feet. “It’s time.”\n\nLukas looked at me fearfully. His youthful face was smeared with snot and tears. He hadn’t stopped crying since nightfall. The sounds of his sobs carried throughout the camp. No one had the heart to tell him to quit crying—that the enemy was potentially nearby and would hear and kill us all. By daylight, his loud crying had ceased.\n\nAll was quiet by the time the sun arose.\n\nI rested my hand upon his shoulder. I said, “We have work to do.”\nIn the three days since we arrived in Moth Bay, I noticed something. The people of the town were shy. As we trudged through the streets they would duck quickly into their homes and close their windows so that we could no longer see them. ‘It was for the best,’ Elijah would say. I expected him to say nothing different. At least offer comfort and familiarity. Instead, he said, “We have our orders. The sooner we move in, the sooner this is all over.”\n\n\n\n“What’s your name soldier?”\n\nHis voice made my skin crawl. I didn’t want to look at him, but the tight grip around my neck loosened and a hand is forced me to look upwards. He’s a tall man. Thin considering his line of work. I could take him, I knew. Easily. Despite the hands holding me in place with a vice grip, I knew the man before me stood no chance if I were to break free.\n\n“I believe I asked you a question,” he said raising a brow.\n\nI felt an intrusion in my mind. Like unfamiliar fingers stretching out to me and grasping onto my memories, on to my identity.\n\n“Mattias,” said one of the others. “Mattias Jenkins.”\n\nThe man turned to the one who spoke. “Can he not speak for himself? Have you brought me a mute?”\n\n“No, sir. Sorry, sir?”\n\nHe turned back to me. I could feel blood trickling from my nose from the punch one of the soldiers had dealt me. Slowly, he knelt so that we were eye level. His tanned hands rolled back the whites of his sleeves. My eyes shot down to look at the swirling dark marks etched into his skin. Runes—no. Dead runes.\n\n“I think you’ll make a great asset,” he grinned baring sharp teeth. “Welcome to the team.”\n\n\n\nElijah had us hide within the brush on the outskirts of town. He said it would be easier to ambush that way. That our enemy would never see us coming. For a moment, I contemplated how true that was. My eyes scanned over the remaining few of us. Had we underestimated our enemies? After all, wasn’t there a saying? Something like know thy enemy and know they self? Or something like that…\n\n\n\nWhen evaluation was finished there were eight of us in total. Carefully selected and enlisted for the greater good of the United States of America. They called us the Order of Merlin.\n\nAfterwards they threw us a party. It was strange all things considered. None of us had wanted to be there—none of us had wanted to fight in a war that had nothing to do with us. But still, we were forced to go our own party. We were forced to celebrate ourselves.\n\n“Suck it up,” the man, Staff Sergeant Wallis, said. “You’ll learn to enjoy moments like this.”\n\nHe patted me on the back nearly making me choke on the drink I was sipping at. He laughed good naturedly, and I couldn’t help but to return it. \n\n\n\nMy initial view of Staff Sergeant Wallis couldn’t have been more far off. He was a pretty all right guy with all things considered. The more I saw of him, the more I wondered about the dead runes upon his arms. I wondered what had gotten him to that point. Who had killed his magic?\n\n“I chose this,” he had confessed to me one afternoon. “It was an easier choice than I expected. Sometimes I still feel the itch of magic, but I cannot partake,” he said.\n\n‘Why would you choose this?’ I wanted to ask. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The question got lodged into my throat. But he understood loud and clear anyway. There was a statement boldly said as his lips twisted into a toothless-smile and he turned silently retreating.\n\n\n\nI stared down at my hands. I could feel my magic at the tips of my fingers.\n\n“They’re here!” Elijah announced.\nLukas trembled at my side. Sometimes I forgot how young he was. He was much younger than the rest of us when he had been forced to enlist into the Military. He was just a child when the Military found out that there were beings like us. What we could do. What we were useful for. It was how Merlin’s Law was passed. All magic users over the age of sixteen must serve their country in times of war. There was much about the world Lukas had never gotten to see, to explore. And now…\n\nWith our enemy in sight, we stood from the brush. I felt the magic gather into the palms of my hand. I let it spread to my comrades—to my brothers. Together, we became united as one.\n\nI lost all sense of myself.\n\nI lost all sense of my brothers.\n\nAll that remained was magic—magic and light.\n\nA dead silence fell over the quiet town of Moth Bay.", "\"You're not Colonel Barrows.\"\n\n\"A fine summation. Now, soldier, who the hell are you and what in the hell are you doing in my office?\"\n\n\"Who are you? Where is Colonel Barrows?\"\n\n\"My name is Colonel Andrew Morgan Marshell, the Second, and either you're about to tell me what the hell you're doing coming out of my bookshelf or I'm about to going to put a bullet in you and let the gott-damned mortician handle the interrogation. That clear?\"\n\n\"Oh. Um. Yes, sir. Uh. Colonel. Sir. I'm, uh, Blitz ... uh, Specialist. Where is Colonel Barrows, though, I really need to talk to him. It's kind of important.\"\n\n\"Well, he's not here, is he. Before we come around to that, you can start by explaining why there's a rink-a-dink hidden doorway behind my shelf, how you came to be behind it, and why you felt the need to scatter my fine library busting your way out through it.\"\n\n\"Oh, uh, sorry about that. The hinges stuck, and I had to hit it pretty hard to open it\"\n\n\"I'm aware the hinge stuck and that you hit it hard to open it. I was here when it happened. The pertinent bit of that was the why are you in my office.\"\n\n\"There's, uh, an emergency. Colonel. Please, we really need Marty on this.\"\n\n\"Marty?\"\n\n\"Oh, uh, Colonel Barrows\"\n\n\"Oohhhohohoh. First name basis are we. Unlikely I might think. Why don't you stop jittering over there and tell me what the hell is going on?\"\n\n\"I, are you cleared?\"\n\n\"I am in charge of this installation. I can assure you that whatever it is, I am cleared. Do you understand me?\"\n\n\"... yes?\"\n\n\"Then what is going on?\"\n\n\"I can't tell you unless you're cleared. Sir. Colonel.\"\n\n\"I just told you -\"\n\n\"No. I mean. Cleared-cleared. You know. Like cleared, cleared-cleared.\"\n\n\"Did you just wink? Son, are you trying to give me a migraine?\"\n\n\"No. Uh, really, can I please just speak with Colonel Barrows?\"\n\n\"Son, Colonel Barrows had the distinct privilege of serving this country, retiring and dying a recognized distinguished veteran of the service, some fifteen years past or so, now.\"\n\n\"Oh shit.\"\n\n\"Oh shit is right. Now give me some god damned -\"\n\n\"Did he pass on the office?\"\n\n\"Of course he did. I'm the fifth man to serve this position since he ...\"\n\n\"No no no no. The office-office. The office.\"\n\n\"The what?\"\n\n\"The office. You'll know if you know.\"\n\n\"God damn this bullshit. You have five seconds to ... to ...\"\n\nMarshell, without looking away from the Specialist moved a hand to his pocket and removed a set of keys. His hand trailed to his right desk drawer where he removed a small figurine. It was a wooden trinket, marked from hand-carving and chipped with age. The figure was indistinct. A man, perhaps? An idol from some far off place a predecessor of the office had traveled, and left behind when his term was done. Marhsell had never looked twice at it. Such things tended to build up in older posts.\n\n\"I asked Hennesenn what it was. He only said I'll know when I know.\"\n\nHe moved the curious item from the drawer to the desk.\n\n\"Oh, good. It's still here. Can you confirm it?\"\n\n\"Can I confirm what - holy shit\"\n\nMarshell yelped, the statue having beeped as the word 'confirm' left his lips. A rippled pulsed out of it, an expanding band of light, that you could feel run along your skin as it wound its way from the statue, which now lay dropped sideways on desk.\n\n\"Ah, good. You are Barrow's replacement then.\"\n\n\"I told you that much\"\n\n\"Had to be sure\"\n\n\"Fine. Fine fine fine fine. Fine. Now for the love of Pete, tell me what is going on.\"\n\n\"Oh, yeah, sure. The Zeitenmancers of Southern Germany dumped a mess of Kobalds into the dark storage and our posts idiot Chief Wizard tried to fireball one of them in a broomcloset. I think he thought it was the conference room. Oh, Warrant Officer Merryn is dead. We'll need a replacement. And soon, or our whole stock of dragon scales and pixie dust is likely to swiped right out from under us. Always said we shouldn't use the between for storage.\"\n\n\"...\"\n\n\"Oh, right. Sir*. Er, Colonel, I mean.\"\n\n\"What in the sam hill are you rambling on about you -\"\n\n\"Just call General Marsh\"\n\n\"General Marsh is -\"\n\n\"Okay. Fine. Call whoever replaced Marsh. Tell him about Merryn. Make sure to clear him. I'm going to go throw some more lightning at these kobalds and see if we might be able to just buy them out. Works sometimes. Carrot and stick.\"\n\n\"...\"\n\n\"Okay, come grab me if you need me. I'll be in the leftward expanse of the voidhalls. Know what? Nevermind. Just use the intercomm.\"\n\nThe door closed behind the specialist. One thing was for sure. This command was every bit the punishment Marshell had thought it was when he was assigned here." ]	6
	[WP] That's ok, I'm a vampire too, you are safe here.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The recently turned vampire blinked their newly blood-red eyes. \"Well, I kind of figured since this is the campus vampiric safe space and all . . .\"\n\nTwo of the three sat in the booth let out little snickers of laughter at their friend, who was dressed like a European lord from the 1800s. He sank in his seat a little, knowing full well the kind of silly fool he made himself. Being out and proud in a world still trying to accept vampires and other cryptic humanoids wasn't an easy one.\n\n\"So, um, my name is Cassandra,\" she introduced after clearing an awkward air from her throat. \"I've just-\"\n\nBefore she could say anymore the other male vampire - dressed like a 1950s surfer bro that bummed the beaches of Hawaii - jumped out of his seat and snatched her hand. The only thing off about his borderline Party Halloween costume attire was his ghastly pale skin and fangs. \"Yo dude nice to meet ya,\" he said with that cliché drawl. \"Names Phillip but you can call me Phil for short if you wanna.\" As Phil gestured to his remaining friends, the puka shells on his necklace jangled. \"Dracula here's name is actually Gottfried but he dresses like that Adam Sandler version of-\"\n\nThe third and last vampire rolled her eyes. Despite the curse they shared forcing her skin to be pale, it was rather plain to Cassandra that she used to have a very dark complexion. \"Phil leave him alone. You know Nosferatu is funnier,\" she scolded and reminded. Reaching out her hand, she flicked Phil's death grip free and shook much gentler. \"You can call me Chandi.\"\n\nHow welcoming - and just excited to welcome her - calmed some of her anxieties. About a lot of things . . .\n\nScooching over, Phil patted the bench, welcoming her to their booth. She sat, grinning enough for others to see her teeth since she was turned. Considering . . . a lot, she didn't have a whole lot to smile about.", "My pulse slowed as I heard those words, my heart beating more slowly in my ears. I looked down, the wound was already closing, but the foot long tear between collar and navel showed juts how close I had come to full disembowelment.\n\nIt was only then that I began to focus more fully on my surroundings. I had been pulled off the street and into a car, and was currently half-sprawled across the backseat. My rescuers appeared to be a pair of...well, vampires I guess. Both were women, one was in the front skillfully traversing the roads at what would otherwise be unwise speeds, while the other had pulled me into the backseat. I was currently lying across her lap.\n\nI sat up, shifting my weight off my rescuer. It was a little awkward in the cramped backseat, but I managed to get upright with some shred of my dignity intact. 'Um, thank you.' I stammered, glancing meaningfully out the back window/\n\n'You're welcome. And don't worry about him,' the woman sharing a seat with me laughed 'Nathan works alone, and I didn't see his bike on that street. By the time he gets mobile, we will be long gone.'\n\nMy eyes glanced between the two women. They both appeared to be in their late twenties or early thirties, though that probably didn't mean very much. The driver wore sunglasses and an open leather jacket, and had close cropped black hair.\n\nHer companion was more colorful. She wore a silver jacket over a high-cut maroon top and dark blue slacks. She had blonde hair and attractive features, and a friendly, mischievous smile that fixed on me as I settled back into my seat.\n\n'Nathan, huh?' I asked, desperately trying to process the last ten minutes. Waking up, the attack, everything. 'Is he a friend of yours?'\n\nThe driver laughed, the other rolled her eyes. 'God no. He's a vampire hunter. He's clever enough, but not the most dangerous thing stalking the night.'\n\n'Ah.' I fidgeted nervously. 'Um, what is?'\n\n'We are.' She laughed at my sudden fright, and the cackle turned into a malicious smile. 'Vampires, I mean. Lords of the shadow and all that. I thought you would know that by now.'\n\n'Um,' I stammered, 'Uh-'\n\nHer smile faded. 'Wait, you're serious? Wasn't any of this explained to you? What did your sire say?'\n\n'My what?' I asked, confusing rising.\n\nI could see the driver looking at me through the rear view mirror. She wasn't smiling.\n\n'Oh, this is bad.' The lady sitting beside me said quietly.\n\n'What is?'\n\n'You.' She glanced around nervously. 'Somebody's been very naughty, and we just stumbled into the fallout.'", "\"dont worry, I'm a vampire too, your safe here,\" he said to the currently shaking vampire. he was panicking. it was hard for the vampire, not knowing much about his kind.\r \n\r \n\"you are? who are you?\" The new vampire asked him. \n\n\"yeah, im am. i know its terrifying if your new but i promise you will be ok. my name is Ty\" He said to the vampire, feeling sorry for him. they were under a dark bridge, just out of the sun. The new vampire was sat cowering in the corner, trying not to be noticed. he was waiting for nightfall to come. all he wanted to do was to hide from society.\n\n\"im bloody terrified. the thought of drinking blood, permanently being confined to the dark. i cant do it\" he responded, on the verge of tears. it was something common among most new vampires. emotions run wild when vampires first turn. \"how do you guys do this?\"\n\n\"can i see your marks? there's a high chance you're a British vampire like me\" Ty responded, as the other vampire rolled his sleeve up. he looked at his marks, before nodding his head slightly. \"yeah, i thought you were. we're both British vampires, not like the ones you see on tv\"\n\n\"what do you mean?\" The new vampire responded, pulling himself up.\n\n\"were not what you'd think. we don't drink blood or burn in the sun. hunters don't target us either\" Ty told him, seeing his stress reduce slightly \"hey can i get a name from you?\"\n\n\"im andy\" He told ty, still slightly exasperated \n\n\"i can tell your feeling better, let me know if you need anything,\" Ty said to him, before walking out into the sun. andy just watched him before deciding to brave the sun. he slowly stepped out into the sun, realising that the sun had never felt better. he breathed a sigh of relief." ]	4
	[WP] There are only 13 witches in the entire world. Someone managed to anger all of them.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Grandma Garnet\n\n“Pause, tell me what happened again?” My face twists as my roommate, with a slight slug of blood oozing from his hairline, recounts whatever just happened. \n\n“Remember how I told you my Great Great Grandmother Garnet practiced voodoo?”\n\n“Faintly, but I always thought that was a joke to scare me into keeping the toilet seat down every now and then.”\n\nHe quickly scrolls through his phone, searching for something.\n“Well a week or two ago, when I visited home, I was helping my mom clean up my Grandma’s old shed, I came across an old dusted box. Inside was this book.”\n\nHe turns his phone around and shows me a picture of an ancient tome with an unrecognizable inscription, which probably means “Book of Spells” or just “Hocus Pocus Things”, it's usually something like that. I grab his phone and then take a seat adjacent to him on the kitchen island. I zoom in to take in the details of the book, though its age makes it hard to study, especially under the faint light of the shed.\n\n“So what: you mistakenly summoned a coven of witches or something?”\nI swipe to the next photo, which is an actual photo of one of the book’s pages. Just before I zoom in on the words…symbols, he grabs his phone, locks it, then sets its screen down on the countertop. I shake the suspicion away, there were more pressing matters to attend to than turning on my best friend with surely crazy suspicions. \n\n“Well, mistake is a broad term. Right?” He looks around, avoiding my eyes which are like hot coals on an August day. \n\n“No, Talon. No.” I stand up and walk around the counter, catching his attention before he can look away. “A mistake is unintentional. No if, and, or buts about it. What did you do?”\n\nHe sighs, placing his arms on the counter and then sinking his head within them. After a moment he sits up then begins to fill in the missing pieces: “Well my Grandma used to always tell me her mother practiced voodoo, and one of the bedtime stories she would always tell me was about the time she witnessed Grandma Garnet, and her twin sister, fighting a coven of witches. It was thirteen of them and things went left.”\n\n“Left like how?” I lean back on the countertop behind me, crossing my arms and allowing my leg to shake anxiously. Now invested in the tale, I eagerly listen.\n\n“The witches put a curse on my Grandma Garnet, her twin sister too, and-“\n\nA crash sounds from outside our apartment complex. We quickly drop to the ground. Talon crawls behind the island where I am taking a quick, careful, glance out the windows across from our kitchen. The windows are shattered. \n\n“There goes our security deposit.” Talon’s breath is shaky, though somehow he retains his bold strength, the stubbornness he’s carried since middle school.\n\n“Talon, what do they want?”\n“It’s complicated.”\n\nSuddenly the kitchen island rumbles, stones falling all around us. A wallop of marble nearly crushes our fingers before we slide to opposite sides of the kitchen, taking cover behind the wall. Firmly a silver matter grabs ahold of my waist, while a green one grabs ahold of Talon. We’re dragged out of our apartment through the broken window. I wince sharply as my arm oozes red from a cut on the glass. \n\n“What have you done with her?” The woman who has hold of me, who’s floating atop thin air, shifts her silver fish tail-braided hair out of her face as she shoots us - mainly Talon - a stern glare.\n\nTalon doesn’t respond. The matter grows acidic, burning my being intensely. A shout escapes my lips, though Talon seems to be unaffected. \n\n“We won’t ask again,” says another woman, in control of the green matter that’s clenching Talon. Noticing my pain he mutters something under his breath and the pain recedes to nothing but a mere sting, though manageable. \n\n“A few weeks ago huh? Seems like you’re past the novice stage.” I look over at Talon, then back to the sight ahead of us. I count how many oppose us: twelve. \n\n“Who are these people Talon? It’s only twelve of them, this can’t be the coven that cursed Grandma Garnet.”\nHe shakes his head, though I can’t tell if it’s to confirm or deny my comment.\n\nA man with blue carvings on his face, which seems to glow and breath as if it were a heartbeat, flies up closer to my face than the rest.\n“That’s because he cast a conveyance spell on our sister. We know she’s here!” The last bit comes out as a hiss. \n\n“Talon can you say something” I plead with uncertainty. \n\n“Over a hundred years ago they made my-“ \n\nTalon’s response is cut short by another woman who comes from behind the green matter witch.\n“There’s nothing to say. He’s guilty. I say we complete the Nulla spell and seal his fate.” This one has maroon, pixie cut, hair with a staff. On the top is a glowing crystal, it vibrates every few seconds.”\n\nJust then I hear our cat Gale meowing. I can’t turn my head but I can hear him as if he’s right behind me.\n\n“Gale get back inside.”\n\n“Sister!” Another witch near the silver one that has ahold of me quickly scoops up Gale with a flick of his wrist.\n\nThe red pixie cut witch shouts: “You named our sister gale!”\n\n“Sister? Gale is a he? Wait a minute, Talon, I thought you found Gale by the dumpster scrounging for food”\n\n“I did. Before I performed the conveyance spell and trapped that old hag into its body.”\n\n“Silence!” The witch with Gale in its hands silences us with ease. I try to speak but no words come out, Talon seems to be experiencing more of the same.\n“Leave the spare, bring this one,” the red pixie cut witch points to Talon with her deep red manicured nails, “with us.”\n\nI’m quickly swooshed back into my apartment with another slash, this time near my ankle. The witches, with Talon in their clutches vanish, or flew away, though it all happened too quickly for me to notice. \n\nI look over at Gale’s bed, and my mind winces for a moment at the sight in front of me. Nestled atop its furry surface is the book from Talon’s Grandma’s shed. It’s in perfect reading condition as if Gale was skimming through it himself. I quickly make my way over to the corner and place my hands around the ancient relic. Oddly enough I find my way to the contents, amazed that a century-old witch needed a table of contents to organize whatever is in here. I flip towards the end: “Replevy & Locus”.\n\n꧁ Thank you for reading ! ꧂", "My city has been reduced to a smouldering ruin.\n\nAnd not just the city centre, no. But like, the entire city, like, the whole thing. Wasteland in every direction, devastation as far as the eye can see.\n\nThat shiny new mall that they flew in some foreign celebrity for the grand opening? \n\nReduced to rubbles.\n\nDiesel fuel chugging vehicles that used to congest the main thoroughfares and spew up smog choking the entire city even though the rest of the world has fucking moved on to EV now?\n\nTurned to ashes.\n\nAnd over there, somewhere in that vicinity, where my favourite taco stand used to be?\n\nThere's nothing now but dust.\n\nFuck. I loved the tacos there man.\n\nBut what REALLY pisses me off is how the ones responsible for this act of wanton destruction, those 13 decrepit witches, are just flying around in circles above the city centre, taking their victory laps. Those 13 repulsive, sorry excuses of human beings, sitting astride on their rickety brooms, their high pitched cackling ringing down like fucking broken smoke alarms.\n\nBrooms, really? \n\nThey can't get with the times and ride a roomba instead or something?\n\nSuddenly, one of them notices and points at me.\n\n\"Wait, what is that?\"\n\nThey all stop flying in circles, and look at my direction.\n\n\"It appears that... someone survived?\"\n\n\"But how? Look around us. Everything's gone. Destroyed.\"\n\n\"Yea! I even put an extra word of power into my Become Ashes spell, for good measure.\"\n\n\"So what the hell is this? How can there still be a living human just standing there after all that?\"\n\n\"Maybe it got lucky?\"\n\n\"Whatever. Someone just zap it or something. We're falling behind schedule. The next city is like 30 minutes away.\"\n\n\"Alright I'll do it, just give me a sec\"\n\nWith that, they all start to turn away. No doubt ready to fly off to raze another city. \n\nOne of them starts a gesture, without even slowing down.\n\nThe witch thinks she can just toss a lightning bolt or something in my direction while flying past me, like a fucking drive by shooting or something. \n\nFucking witches.\n\n\"HEY YOU CUNTS!\" I shouted.\n\nWell that got their attention.\n\nThey're all just hovering there now, staring at me, unsure of what had just happened.\n\n\"Yes, I'm talking to you lot,\" I continued.\n\nThey start mumbling among themselves, still unable to quite make sense of what's going on.\n\n\"Of all the cities that you could have picked today, you had to pick this one in particular. You had to pick my city.\"\n\nThere's visible confusion among them.\n\nI point to where Ted's Tacos used to be.\n\n\"I wanted some tacos for lunch, and I'll have you know that Ted makes the best tacos in the world.\"\n\n\"WHAT ARE YOU GOING ON ABOUT?\" one of them shouts back.\n\nI chuckle, and put on my ring.\n\n\"Let me ask you something. If you're old enough, you'll remember a time when witches like you lot were all over the place. It used to be that one could find dozens just in one city.\"\n\nI make sure to double check my ring before continuing. After all, it's been a long time.\n\n\"Do you know why there are only 13 of you cunts remaining today?\"\n\nDread fills their ashen faces as it finally dawns on them.\n\nI smile. Time to finish the job.", "XIII\n\nIt was dusk when I entered the small cafe.\n\nHad I turned my head towards the windows, I would have probably seen a familiar lettering stickied over the panes, but I was too tired to even look at it. I knew where I was. The place was completely empty, of course, save for one person behind the counter.\n\n\"You're here,\" she said.\n\n\"So I am.\"\n\nIt's hard to remember how much time I kept staring at her and her at me. It seemed like an immeasurable chasm separated us, only made larger by the deafening silence.\n\n\"Well,\" I must have said while approaching reluctantly, \"let's get this over with.\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\nIV\n\nThe small corridor stunk of humidity and chlorine. At the end was an open door.\n\nI tried my best to approach it with caution, trying not alert anyone of my presence. I didn't wish to spend any more time being tormented by them. My day had been hell already, and I didn't know if I had it in me to survive any more of their sick games.\n\nAs I made my way putting one slow foot in front of the other (the soles of my shoes weren't exactly the silent kind), I noticed that on one floor tile was engraved the number 4. It did not bode well.\n\nFinally I entered the room. Sunlight was pouring from the glass ceiling over the swimming pool. An exit door stood at the other side.\n\nOtherwise, no one.\n\nI began to pace alongside the body of water and on the slippery floor when I noticed it. Surely it wasn't to be that easy, and I was right. A whirlpool has begun forming in the center of the pool, slow but perceptible, and in a matter of seconds I was taken aback by a strong wind which rose out of nowhere.\n\nIt was then that I saw her. An old woman behind seats on the second level.\n\nAlmost immediately I fell and had to grasp the outer edge of the pool to not fall in. The wind was converging into a full-on tornado now, and I felt my legs lifting up the air.\n\n\"I DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING BY IT,\" I shouted, but it seemed to only make the old woman, and the storm, even more furious.\n\nI will drown here if don't do something, I thought to myself. Steadily I slid my hands to the right, grasping at the ledge with all my strength, until finally I could do it no more.\n\nI flew in the air and fell straight in the water. I tried to swim to the surface and pull my head above water, but try as I might, I couldn't do it for very long before the current overtook me.\n\nThen something unexpected happened.\n\nThe current and the wind subsided, and I was able - barely - to make it to the ladder.\n\n\"Holy sh\\t, holy freaking sh\\t.\"\n\nMy nose, trachea and lungs were on fire. My clothes felt heavy. Once outside I glanced back, but the woman had disappeared.\n\nAt last I walked to the exit door, and opened it.\n\nOn the other side where there should have been a schoolyard was a series of tennis courts. All numbers had been scratched off saved for the number 5.\n\n\"Ready to play ball?,\" said a young woman with red hair, a yellow coat and a grin. On either side of her, levitating in the air, were two tennis rackets.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nXIII (again)\n\nI picked up the seat opposite to her and let my arms fall on the counter's surface.\n\n\"What now?\" I said with a crack in my voice.\n\n\"You only have to drink... this hot chocolate.\"\n\nI lifted the cup carefully. What was the catch? Sure enough, it smelled like hot chocolate. Then I peered inside, and saw hundreds of living bugs moving in the cup.\n\n\"You like hot chocolate, don't you?\" She smiled.\n\n\"This is... this is crazy. This is sick,\" I whispered with finality.\n\nIf I wasn't so damn tired I would've thrown up. But I didn't, and drank it all. I half-expected to choke from the grubs sticking inside my throat, but to my surprise it was only liquid, only sweet liquid with cocoa.\n\n\"A simple illusion spell,\" she said. \"I hope you've learned your lesson.\"\n\n\"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry Ashley.\"\n\n\"For what?\"\n\n\"For saying witches are not real.\"\n\n\"And?\"\n\n\"For ridiculing you in front of my friends.\"\n\n\"And?\" she insisted. There was a dark expression on her face.\n\n\"For... pushing you in the lake when I knew you didn't swim well.\"\n\nSilence.\n\n\"You scared the crap out of me.\"\n\n\"I know Ash, it was dumb. I was dumb. It will never happen again. I'm so, so sorry.\"\n\nShe seemed relieved, and sighed.\n\n\"And just remember Sam, whenever you hurt one of us-\"\n\n\"-I hurt all of you. Yeah, I understand.\"\n\nA little while later I left the cafe.\n\nI felt lighter somehow, as if a weight had been lifted off. Perhaps it was that the curse was no more. Maybe it was something else. I knew that behind me all the witches were watching me from the cafe; there was the red-haired girl, and the old woman, and all the others. I didn't have to turn my head to know they were there, protecting each other.\n\nI walked along the streets until I finally arrived at my apartment.\n\nIt was all over. Or at least I thought it was. For as I entered my key, I realized the address had been tempered somehow. It was now 14.\n\n\"Oh, come on now.\"", "Beret\n\n“Really? All I did was knock over and crack some old ugly vase, and now thirteen crazy old ladies are after me?” Vinette calmly but firmly asked.\n\n“Well technically twelve now” the old man said.\n\nIt had been a wild two hours. Before that, Vinette had an extraordinarily boring life. She was a data-entry clerk for a large international pharmaceutical company, with no compass to guide her direction in life.\n\nBut now she had experienced ten-times the excitement that she had in her previous 27 years of life, in a mere few hours. How did this happen? Vinette asked herself.\n\nIf it wasn’t for her Mom’s odd request to track down some old cooking magazines, she never would have ventured into that antique store. Now like Pandora’s box, who-knows-what had been triggered.\n\n“Sorry twelve crazy ladies, you’re right in that you totally obliterated the one in that antique store. But this is all over some vase?” \n\nThe old man sighed deeply. “Short-answer: yes”.\n\n“What about the long-answer?” Vinette asked, wanting to know more. She felt that any additional information would help her at this point.\n\n“Truthfully, I don’t know the specifics. But what I do know, is that they had been looking for that vase for some time. In fact, so had we.”\n\nThe old man sat on his stool. He was ancient by Vinette’s standards, but he must have been in his late seventies. A tan coloured, wool beret sat on his head.\n\n“If it wasn’t for me, that old witch would have turned you into a teapot” he chuckled to himself.\n\n“Thank you for helping me, but you do know something about the vase, if you were looking for it?” Vinette asked, her brow furrowing as her suspicions rose.\n\n“It’s not that simple, young lady. Really I am a subcontractor. I happened to be in the area when you triggered this whole thing.”\n\n“Who are you a subcontractor for?” \n\n“Well they keep things pretty under wraps, but they are a group of thirteen wizards” the old man said, with an honest smile on his face. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFirst ever post :) Thanks for reading!", "##Bad Omens\n\nA black cat jumps in front of me and hisses. I shrug and walk past it. When I get in my car, my father's corpse is staring at me from the rear view mirror. Dirt from his grave drips on the car seats. I'll have to clean that later.\n\nDriving to work, a flock of crows appear over my car and shit all over it. Good thing I changed my wiper fluid yesterday. At the office parking lot, a pack of goblins is in my spot so I park in the garage. I make sure to crack the window to make sure my Dad doesn't stink up the car too much.\n\nA large swarm of bees guards the entrance. A few people timidly move away while I continue unimpeded. I step in the elevator and blood pours from the ceiling. The blood reaches my waist when the doors open.\n\nI go to the bathroom to wash my face. My reflection is an image of myself having my organs removed by vultures. It is not original. The toilet bubbles behind me creating a puddle on the floor. Anniki rises from the water.\n\n\"Did you really just come in through the septic tank?\" I ask.\n\n\"You have angered the Witch of Ice and Water. You shall be tormented by-\" Anniki is interrupted by the sound of thunder. The lights in the room flicker several times. Adriana appears in the corner of the room.\n\n\"You have angered the Witch of the Storm. I will torment you, and -\" Adriana looks at Anniki, \"What are you doing here?\"\n\n\"It's Tuesday, and he's at work. We agreed that was one of my domains.\"\n\n\"Yes, but it's also a half moon in the morning, one of mine.\"\n\n\"You could describe your torture methods, and I could pick,\" I say.\n\n\"Be quiet George,\" they say. Anniki points a finger at Adrianna causing her hair to freeze.\n\n\"I am older and more powerful. You will submit to my will.\"\n\n\"But I'm much more intelligent.\" Adriana snaps her fingers and the septic water electrocutes Anniki. \"You will submit to my will.\"\n\nI leave the restroom as the two witches begin their combat. I go to the break room, and the coffee machine is broken. Taking the pot, I go back to the bathroom. Anniki is on top of Adrianna turning her limbs into water.\n\n\"You've gone too far this time.\" I hold out the broken conflict. They both stare at me and each other.\n\n\"I didn't do that.\" Adriana spits water out of her mouth.\n\n\"Me neither.\" Anniki says.\n\n\"Well one of you did, and all of you swore to torture me when I accidentally broke the urn that contained your mother's ashes. Ask your other sisters.\" The two witches eyes turn white as they communicate with the astral plane.\n\n\"Nope, none of us did that,\" Adrianna says.\n\n\"That's crossing a line even for us,\" Anniki says.\n\n\"Fine, get back to torturing me when you're done then.\" I return the coffee pot and go to my desk.\n\n---\n\nr/AstroRideWrites" ]	6
	[WP] Two people meet at a bar. One thinks they're being hit on. The other is a spy and thinks they're meeting with a contact. Misunderstandings ensue.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"O-Oh, I'm flattered!\"\n\n\"The flamingo is in the bag.\"\n\n\"A flamingo? I appreciate the compliment, they're wonderful birds!\"\n\n\"No, the flamingo is in the bag.\"\n\n\"I... the bag? This is a weird pick-up line\"\n\n\"Your name is Blue, correct?\"\n\n\"...No, I'm Jay. But I do love the blues!\"\n\n\"So, then, is the bluejay in the satchel?\"\n\n\"Bluejay's a new nickname, haven't heard that one before\"\n\n\"Is the bluejay\" The flirt sighed \"in the satchel?\"\n\n\"I don't have a satchel...\"\n\n\"What are your credentials?!\"\n\n\"I...I work in human resources.\" \n\n\"Human re- You did just confirm being Blue, right?\"\n\n\"No, I'm Jay. I just like the Blues!\"\n\n\"I... So you are not Agent Blue?\"\n\n\"I'm an agent of corporate, amirite?\"\n\n\"...I need to go\"", "“Fancy meeting you here.”\r \n\r \n“I could say the same for you. If you’re looking for a seat, the one next to mine is all yours.”\r \n\r \n“Straight to point, I like it.”\r \n\r \n“There’s more to like where that came from. What’s your poison?”\r \n\r \n“Arsenic.”\r \n\r \n“Oh, you! Come now, let me buy you a drink.”\r \n\r \n“Burbon, on the rocks.”\r \n\r \n“You’ve got taste, well, other than your craving for arsenic.”\r \n\r \n“I like to live life dangerously, I suppose that’s hardly a surprise.”\r \n\r \n“You know how to make me interested, say more.”\r \n\r \n“That depends on what you have in store for me.”\r \n\r \n“I’ll never turn down a chance to make the first move, how about once you’re finished with your drink we head over to my place and discuss this more.”\r \n\r \n“Somewhere more private? Yes, I think that would be wise, wouldn’t want anyone overhearing.”\r \n\r \n“Oh… so you expect to make a lot of noise tonight? Naughty. Yes, wouldn’t want anyone overhearing that unless you’re into that sort of thing.”\r \n\r \n“If we speak in code, perhaps, but otherwise we’d give too much away.”\r \n\r \n“You weren’t kidding about living life dangerously.”\r \n\r \n“This is my first time meeting with you, are you new around here?”\r \n\r \n“Yes, I changed jobs recently. Used to travel a lot more but the hours were killing me.”\r \n\r \n“So you used to be out in the field? My respect.”\r \n\r \n“You make it sound more exciting than it was.”\r \n\r \n“Sorry, I know it's not easy work, I’ve had plenty of bad days myself.”\r \n\r \n“Perhaps tonight we can put that aside and just enjoy each other’s company.”\r \n\r \n“That’s one way of putting it, the work never stops for me.”\r \n\r \n“Don’t worry, after tonight, you won’t be thinking about that anymore.”\r \n\r \n“Why? Is this a setup?”\r \n\r \n“I’m no escort if that’s what you mean.”\r \n\r \n“Good, I need no aid in that matter. I can protect myself.”\r \n\r \n“You brought protection? Even better.”\r \n\r \n“I always carry protection. As I said, the work never stops.”\r \n\r \n“Now I’m starting to think that you’re the escort.”\r \n\r \n“No. I’m a hunter, someone who stands around waiting for the action to happen.”\r \n\r \n“Consider me snared…”\r \n\r \n“You’re making a lot more eye contact than usual for this arrangement.”\r \n\r \n“Am I coming on too strong?”\r \n\r \n“Excuse me?”\r \n\r \n“What? I really thought we were on the same page there. You tease! How dare you lead me on like that!”\r \n\r \n“I’m not an informant, I’m looking for information.”\r \n\r \n“Information? Is that one of those ‘code words’ you mentioned?”\r \n\r \n“If you were who I was looking for, that wouldn’t be a question.”\r \n\r \n“And who are you looking for? Am I not good enough?”\r \n\r \n“I can’t offer what you want.”\r \n\r \n“Oh… do you have a condition? It’s okay, I didn’t mean to…”\r \n\r \n“What are you on about? I came here for an informant. That’s not code, understand?”\r \n\r \n“So you really weren’t looking for a hookup?”\r \n\r \n“Oh… shit. That makes a lot more sense.”\r \n\r \n“Informant, huh? That means you’re a spy? I’ve never been with a spy before. My offer still stands if you’re interested…”" ]	3
	[WP] " You mean that that we could've avoided thirty years of bloodshed fighting the Dark Lord just by buying him a burger? Why didn't we think if this thirty years ago?"	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The plan was simple.\n\nFake peace treaty. \n\nPoisoned burger.\n\nNo one had expected how it would end up, though.\n\n\"Dragonsblood in my burger? Aw, Arel, you shouldn't have!\" the Dark Lord joyfully said, voice echoing in the young prince's head as the tall, caped figure clapped his back. \"How did you know it was my favorite?\"\n\nDragonsblood. Literally blood from a dragon. Filled with magic so potent it would kill anyone who ingested it. Except the Dark Lord, apparently.\n\n\"Uhm. Uh. Um.\" Prince Arel had to think on his feet. \"You're always, uh... slaying dragons? I figured, hey, he's gotta be slaying them for some reason, right..?\"\n\nThe Dark Lord stared at Arel blankly. \"You were trying to poison me, weren't you?\"\n\n\"No, no I- uh, I-\"\n\n\"No, no, I get it. Totally get it. I poison your crops, slaughter innocent civilians completely unprompted. Pissed on your lawn that one time. I would hate me too.\" The Dark Lord's face contorted into a thoughtful look. \"I've changed, though, y'know. In the past few years. I met a lovely human. He's changed my view of you all. I used to think you were all weak toys to be played with... I'm sorry.\"\n\n\"Um. Uh. What?\"\n\n\"I said, 'I'm sorry.' Now howsabout we get that treaty signed?\"" ]	2
	[WP] You have one year to live. The time and location of your death is a fixed point in time. Owning a time machine and wanting to challenge fate, you decide to push the universe to its limits to see how it will course correct.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", " My death is on June 9th @ 4:20 pm. I turned the dial to a few years ahead of that date, to disassociate myself as much as possible from the possible threat toward my life then.\n\nSee, at only 22, I had no preexisting health conditions, and since being proposed my death date have checked for various diseases, cancer, psyche tests... Everything. \n\nNot a thing preexisting was a threat, and I had reason to assume at this point that some terrible accident occurred, or I made an enemy I shouldn't have made an enemy with. \n\nMy machine needed a massive space to occupy, so I utilized some cheat codes I may or may not have stolen. I took my research money and went off the grid. Purchased an enormous underground bunker through devious methods, and begun my work.\n\n Thick colored wires lined the floor and walls, connecting Quantum computers the size of small homes that lined the walls of the immense bunker I've worked in.\n\nIn the center of it all, in the underground bunker that was comparable to the size of central park, lie a perfect circle just large enough for a human to walk through. Surrounded by wires and rods connecting to and fro power grids, towering supercomputers, control panels, and I could go on and on. \n\nToday was the day.\n\nI placed mounds of documents into a blast proof safe at the end of the bunker, to maybe be found one day by someone who may want to rebuild my work, and I couldn't let something so powerful be left easily accessible for some fool to stumble upon and use. Or even worse, them. \n\nI pulled two levers and heard power sap from the entire grid and the next, the city above was likely in fear as for the next minute there'd be no power and too much interference to even access the internet. \n\nMy eyes followed the long line of explosives lining the ceiling, and I pressed my remote detonator. Watching the countdown begin from 5, I waited until 0 and saw the explosions ensue, just to be sure. Then I leapt into the portal.\n\n\nTime travel is an odd thing. See, accounting for the displacement of the planet in relativity to its rotation and orbit wasn’t too hard once I studied and decided on a unit to describe the location of our solar system on a grid. I feared that wouldn't be enough, so I even went ahead and mapped out the entire galaxy, which I learned was necessary. That said, there must be more to it than our little galaxy. Relative to the position of all observable galaxies and compiling research accessible & confidential research I'd stolen, it was deeply apparent that I had the precise system for determining the position of a planet on a universal scale, and would be able to determine by formula for when and where exactly earth would be upon my return. Then thus, pinpointed where I would like to return.\n\nTo play it safe, I decided to choose my precise location I'd left from. Figuring that my bunker was the safest place for me to be away from these enemies until I found my new death date. \n\nI guess I was blinded by the future. \n\nI forgot I blew the bunker up." ]	2
	[WP] Taking a modern day concept and applying it to a past era. (An example would be Mass production in the Middle Ages)	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "It is a haunted land that the peasantry of this distant realm inhabit. They say it is far from the sight of God, inhabited by witches and warlocks, with demons waiting to spring forth at every crossroads. It is a land where they say milk is spoiled by sorcery, and drunkards claim that they see the devil dancing in their fields every moonlit night.\n\nThus, the task set before me by my order is a difficult one. I am an exorcist of such demons.\n\nThe path down which I am to lead my many charges is well-trod. I tell them how tales like these are born from the boredom of peasants, and how the lesser sin of indolence opens their minds to greater evils. It is in their imaginations that the devil takes on his form, his deceit turning husband against wife, brother against brother. He calls wicked superstitions and unholy rituals to rise again from their graves into the world, drawn forth from the remnants of heathen ways that we men of the cloth often delude ourselves into thinking have long since been reduced to scattered ash.\n\nThe people of these lands are not always easily parted from such blasphemous practices. Only with great faith and conviction can a shepherd free his flock from their terrible grip. It is only through the slow and steady work of a lifetime that we may convince the fearful that some newfound infirmity is not the work of the poor washer-woman down the road, but instead an imbalance of humors brought about by poor diet and exposure to the night airs.\n\nWhen I first stepped foot into the village, I searched my surroundings for any sign of such devilry. I asked about any altars erected to the denizens of the forest, whether they had a wise-woman or hedge wizard, and peered carefully at the clothing of the welcoming party to see if they hid upon their person rough-hewn bags of talismans or protection charms. To my relief, the villagers had none of these things.\n\nWhat they did have, slipped my watchful eyes at first, perhaps protected by the shadows cast by the setting sun.\n\nHere and there about the village stood wooden plinths bedecked with strands of black. At first, I assumed they were naught but clotheslines stretched across bleachfields. It was only after I had supped with my hosts that I saw them for what they were.\n\nThe roughly hewn things with stained with pitch and unidentifiable filth. They smelled of sharp pine and something that I could only describe as a cross between a tannery and a wild yeast.\n\nUnpleasant.\n\nThe strands ran in great lines, stretching outwards from a central pillar almost entirely wrapped in the wretched things which themselves wound their way across the tops of the plinths to the distant homes now growing increasingly dim to my eyes as the cloak of night fell upon them. But there was one strand I could see clearly still in the flickering and smoking rush-light that illuminated the home of the family who was providing the evening’s hospitality.\n\nOpposite the dying embers of the hearth was a small hole, barely large enough to allow a field-mouse ingress, but more than sufficient for this strange cordage to enter. From its entry-hole, it ran across the wall, having been plastered into the waddle, until it eventually reached its end anchored in a crude clockwork of some kind.\n\nThe family was in the midst of preparing the bed with a fresh thatching of straw and sweet herbs when I heard a sound like a small bell. A discordant melody then filled the room all at once, two notes beating back and forth, neither one triumphant over the other, instead alternating and blending together as the sounds echoed off every surface of the dwelling.\n\nWhat was stranger still was how the sound seemed to transfix the family. Their patriarch stood silent, brow furrowed, listening intently. No one said a single word as the din continued its ceaseless march. Only after it stopped did anyone speak.\n\n“Rain tomorrow, was it?” said the man’s wife.\n\n“Rain. Rain’ll be good for our lands. It’s been a dry season.” he replied.\n\nBarely dared I to breathe, wondering at the curious events unfolding before me.\n\n“And what he said about the priest, do you think it’s true?” asked their eldest.\n\n“Hush now, it’s not right to speak of another’s business without their leave. If you must know, ask him for yourself.” the man replied.\n\nThe eldest turned to me, a child of not more than a dozen summers I’m sure.\n\n“Is it true then, sir, that you have been sent by the church to hunt the demons haunting our lands?”\n\nHer eyes were wide and bright with innocence.\n\n“Yes child,” I began, “but how did you-“\n\nShe interrupted as all precocious children do.\n\n“The bells said so!” she announced, barely able to contain her merriment upon seeing my bewilderment.\n\n“They were put in last summer- by the demons of the mountain when they came to the village- but they are good demons- not like the ones in the forests- so I hope you won’t hurt them! I met one- no, two! And the tall one, he gave me a ribbon, and-“\n\n“Hush child, our guest is weary from his journey, all the way from the capitol, was it?”\n\nAll I could manage was a faint nod.\n\nThere were demons in this land. Strange demons, unlike the ones I learned of in the scriptures. And it seemed their influence stretched wide, reaching even into the homes of the people. This would be no simple matter of helping them cleanse miasmas by opening windows. It would not be as easy as showing them how their house-sprites are naught but the winds. No, these people had found something. \n\nSomething new." ]	2
	[WP]The FBI is working on a strange case about 42 seemingly innocent people around the country who are gathered in a room doing highly illegal activity near a machine that is 500x more advanced than human technology, How do these people explain the situation, more people are strangely defending them	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Ever since the turn of the century all governments outlawed alien tech. That includes holy and unholy relics that spirits have left behind to remind us theres a spiritual battle going on. There have been a few people who have figured out a way to work around this though. A decade after the laws have passed there have been museums dedicated to the \"Lost Tools of Yesteryear\". \n\nOne day I was walking the streets of downtown Covina, California going to my favorite sub place, and I saw a museum dedicated to one of the recent Buddhas. I thought nothing of it from afar as these places have been popping up all over. As I walked closer I felt a pressure in my soul gravitating me towards it. I walked in and looked around at all the painting behind glass fixtures. There was one that grabbed my attention. A three-dimensional painting, the only one not behind glass. I started to raise me hand to touch it and put it down right away once I saw a monk looking at me. \n\n\"Please touch it young man. Its the only one we allow for people to experience that everything is real in here.\" The man explained with a toothless smile.\n\n\"Thank you, sir.\" I said with a bow. \n\nI touched it and a voice in my head said, \"Hes number forty-two. Open the room for them.\"\n\n\"Please come this way.\" The monk said as he hurried me upstairs to a group of people.\n\nAs I listened to the chatter of everyone I looked to a room with a plaque over the door that read \"Holy Evidence Room\". I turned to the monk and asked him, \"Whats in there?\" nodding my head to the room. \n\n\"You will see soon forty-two.\" He said with that toothless smile again. \n\nHe walked to the door and clear his throat so quietly if you didnt know he was there you wouldn't have noticed him. Yet everyone stopped talking and paid attention to him. \n\n\"You have all come from across this great nation. The nation that was founded on faith and lost it. You, like this nation have faith in nothing and have found this museum.\" He spread his arms open grinning this time instead of a smile. \"Behind this room you will find many question. Behind this door you will be shaken to your core. Behind this door lies the evidence they seek to hide from you. This door can only open to the forty-two that have heard the voice.\" As he finishes he bows and the door opens. \"Please enter,\" he says.\n\nI am the first to walk in and I am amazed. The room seems to be bigger than the entire museum I just walked in from. The walls are covered floor to ceiling with artifacts from asia. Tapestries of gods and monsters battling. Fires of different colors in ceramic bowls. And in the center are two objects. One is an endless structure labeled \"Milky Stair Way to Death.\" And the other is a rock with holes in it labeled \"The Fisherman's Endless Cavern\". The stair way structure is hard to describe but extends through the floor and up through the ceiling into space. The endless cavern has these holes to look into the rock and just like the room looks bigger on the inside and has caverns going every which way. \n\nI walk over to a flaming samurai sword and pick it up without thinking. I look over to the monk and he nods to me. \n\n\"Please dont be afraid to pick up what calls to you. Pick quickly but not carelessly because the authorities have been notified of the room opening.\" He said with a leery gaze with flames in his eyes. \n\nI walk out of the room to see a crowd of people outside with signs to leave us and the museum alone. I just wanted a sandwich and a drink not a sword." ]	2
	[WP] The last human.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "She was awake. Finally awake. \nJu resisted the urge to sit up. To rip away her eye covering. Instead, Ju focused on the reanimation protocols. Deep breaths. She flexed her hands, wiggled her toes. Every muscle that she flexed felt odd since they'd all been unused for the past 500 years. \nA voice filled her pod. \"Passenger #457... intact,\" it said. A soft hiss told her it was time to see. She reached up and took off her eye cover while the pod hatch rose away. The display beside her pod had a message waiting. \n\"Please proceed to the captain's deck. Further instructions await.\" \nJu found that odd considering her rank was several levels removed from the captain. She was just a cartographer. She was actually unsure of why they brought her at all, considering the drones that could do mapping for the colony. But she didn't question the assignment before being frozen. And didn’t plan on that now. A job is a job, after all. \nShe was on her feet and looked around. Ju stood inside her pod and looked down the hall. Hundreds of pods lined each side. All were empty. \n“Everyone must be showering. Or in the dining hall,” Ju said to no one. She knew everyone would tease her for being late. Standard issue pants and a shirt were ready on the bench beside her pod. She dressed quickly and began towards the captain’s deck. The dining hall sort of on the way and she made her way there, just for a peek. \nShe rounded a corner and expected to hear commotion. Instead, nothing. A few of the robo-workers stood at the food stations, ready to serve. She didn’t stop and made her way to the captain’s deck. \nOnce there, several monitors were on. A star system on the holo-display. The star system they were aiming for. They made it. They were humanity's last hope. And they were here. Seeds for a new instance of a species riddled with past mistakes. The hope was that this time would be different. \nJu noticed a sole blinking light on the dashboard before her. She walked forward and examined the screen beside the blinking light. \n“Emergency. Multiple reanimation failures. All failures jettisoned. Awaiting captain's instructions.” \nJu tapped the display for call up details. She wanted to know the status of the rest of the crew. She couldn’t believe what the display told her and stumbled back. After a moment, she looked up to the window that sat above the crew pods. \nShe saw their bodies out there. Frozen. They were all out there. She thought back to Earth, realizing that there was also no one there. There were no other starships. No colonies. They were the last hope. \nShe was the last human." ]	2
	[WP] Mistaken for being lazy, you were exiled from your family’s rich estate to manage a rundown plot of land far from home and the people in it. However, you are far from lazy and just had no real motivation to work until now.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "CRASH\n\n\nAnother load of dead plants fell into the pit, which was nearly full despite its size. As I took a moment to catch my breath, one of the bare handful of people I had to work this land approached me, something like fear in his eyes.\n\n\n\"Sir, I have some unfortunate news.\"\n\n\n\"Stand up straight, Hank. What is it?\"\n\n\nHe straightened marginally. \"The handles cannot be repaired, and it will take days to replace them.\"\n\n\nI straightened, a far more significant difference. \"Then begin. The land is nearly clear, and we will be working long and hard when it is. We cannot afford delay in any form.\"\n\n\nAs he scurried away to his task, I shook my head at the absurdity of the task I had been given and the reactions of the caretaking staff when they had discovered my... gifts.\n\n\nLazy, they called me. \n\n\"He sits there, for days, only getting up to walk around the village and lands. He has no taste for the business, no ambition, no drive.\"\n\n\nMy uncles, spilling poison into my father's ears for years, had finally convinced him that I needed to be taught a lesson. Sent across the country, to the poorest plot of land the business owned, and told to return with a chest of gold.\n\n\nThey had no idea what they had unleashed.\n\n\nI wasn't 'sitting' , I was meditating. I had been conceived as triplets, and they had returned into me before we were born. But their spirits, their energy, never died. I had all of it. I had to contain the strength and will of three within a single body. Sometimes I burned with the effort to contain it all.\n\n\nBut no more. From the moment I had arrived here, I had worked without restraint. Pulling huge loads of dead plants, for example. Lifting boulders the size of my staff. I worked without fear, and without rest, for days at a time. \n\n\nAnd now, mere months into my tenure, I had already achieved more than 10 ordinary men. The land was nearly ready, and I knew what I was going to do with it.\n\n\nMy walks around the villages might have seemed like idle distraction to my business-minded uncles, but I had been learning at every step. I knew all the tasks of many peasant professions, and I would take everything I had learned and make this meager plot of land a powerhouse of production. My uncles would soon learn, I had never been lazy.\n\n\nI had been waiting." ]	2
	[WP] Elves are attracted to Magic Quality/Quantity. You are trying to convince someone that your spell casting equipment/accessories are to improve your combat abilities, not to "pick up chicks".	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "We locked eyes for a moment and something had changed.\n\nI saw her all the time – we sat next to each other in potions class – but we had never spoken.\n\nMiranda looked at my new wand and then looked at me again. It was almost like she was seeing me for the first time. I was mystified as to what was happening.\n\n“I love the scrollwork on your wand – is that new?”\n\nI blushed a little.\n\n“Thanks,” I stuttered, “it belonged to my grandfather.”\n\nShe nodded as if that explained something.\n\nI wasn't sure what to say to her.\n\n“Its cedar and rosewood. Its really helpful with charms work,” I said weakly.\n\n“May I hold it for a second?” She asked\n\n“Sure, just please be careful.”\n\nShe reached out her hand and when I handed it to her, she started breathing a little faster, but she held it as carefully as if it was a glass frog. The tip of her left ear did this weird wiggle thing that I had never seen anyone do before.\n\nShe gingerly handed it back to me.\n\n“That is an incredibly powerful wand, you should be really careful with it.”\n\n“I am, “ I said, not at all sure that I actually was.\n\nI had used the wand a total of one times.\n\nI stared at Miranda again. She didn’t quite seem herself and I wasn’t sure why.\n\nThere was a sudden loud pop sound and then Lucius appeared out of nowhere in a puff of smoke. Miranda and I both started at the sound and the moment was broken – which was just as well, I wasn't entirely sure what exactly had been happening.\n\nLucius stood in the dissipating smoke, holding his staff in front of him in a warding gesture.\n\nShow off.\n\nHe came out of his pose, looked around and saw me.\n\n“There you are,” he called out to me.\n\nHe smiled his goofy lopsided grin and my heart melted like it always did.\n\nMiranda took one look at his shoulder-height staff and that same look came over her again.\n\nShe waved hello.\n\nLucius acknowledged her with a polite wave and a wan smile.\n\nI was trying to figure out what was wrong with Miranda when I remembered a conversation that I had with my grandfather, not long before his death.\n\nHe was very weak at the time, but he called me over to his bed.\n\n“You’re just at that age where this kind of thing will be helpful.”he said\n\nHanding me a silver box, and with a twinkle in his eye, he motioned for me to open it.\n\nInside, wrapped in silk, was the wand.\n\n“Use it carefully, my boy” he said in his quiet raspy voice, “that thing is a lady killer.”\n\nHe chuckled a little and winked at me.\n\nI didn't really understand what he was telling me and i certainly wouldn't have had the heart to tell him that it was wasted on me anyway, even if i had understood.\n\nMiranda was taking a step towards Lucius, which set off all of my internal alarms.\n\nMomentarily panicked, I managed to step in front of her just enough to get between the two of them.\n\nWithout a word, I walked up to Lucius, grabbed him by the back of his neck and kissed him so hard, I saw stars.\n\nLooking back, I saw that she had a look on her face like I had thrown cold water on her.\n\nIn my sweetest and most compassionate voice, I said\n\n“Listen, sister, that staff belongs with me”\n\nAnd with another loud pop, we disappeared." ]	2
	[WP] The Chosen One has arrived. They will learn of the worlds ways, achieve powers far greater then ever possible in their world, and reach their fated de. Except...they're a scientifically minded atheist with a strong belief in freewill, and they're currently having a mental breakdown	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "So I will try and come back for this prompt. I like the possibility. Honestly the only thing that comes to mind right now is :\ni can almost hear my uncle Jeffrey now. In his annoying Karen voice.\"God doesn't choose those comfortable in there lives to bring the change that is needed. God uses the rebellious to force change. Now get to work!\" Personally it sounds like someone lazy wanting you to do all the work. Slaying a fire lizard in an ancient maze? Isn't that some kind of dragon or something? How can he do something these people can't? No... no breath. Wait wasn't the maze leading under the lake?\n\nMind is not really wanting to do more than zone out right now so maybe when I come back." ]	2
Edit: Not sure if I needed to, but added NSFW in case somebody wanted to write something a little more graphic. If anybody knows more about r/writingprompts and it isn't necessary just let me know and I'll remove it to make the post a little more accessible. Edit 2: decided to unmark NSFW just in case, if I need it mark it for you to post something just let me know and I'll redo it.	[WP] A young soldier is touched by the void. Usually these people have their body and soul eroded by it until they're terrifying energy hungry husks, but a paladin decides to use her magic to regularly restore his body and soul, but let the void energy grow.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"Mother of mercy, grant this poor soul your strength.\" She chanted again. I felt the healing magic fill my body- the relief was immediate, like drinking cool water after two days in the desert. I savoured every second, because I knew what came next. \n \n\"Father of light, from the Nothing, protect us.\" The second chant covered her in protective light. Once the spell set, she reached to the grotesque mockery of flesh that was once my arm. I tried to struggle, but the chains won't budge. She grabs a few of the purplish scales growing from it, and twisted them. All I can do is scream. The walls shake, but remain standing, as she collects the green liquid pouring from the new wound. \n \n\"Breathe in, soldier.\" She has the audacity to smile at me. \"We are doing everything we can. We are close to a cure.\" She said. Deep breath, I think. They are trying. \"I̵̡͎̝̞̔̂̇͜'̶̯̟͐̈̇̃͝ḿ̷̧̰̟̲̭̏̿̐̔ ̴̠͔̪̥̓͆̔͝ị̸̞͂̽n̴̡͉̒ ̵̯̊͌̐̚p̷̢̺̙̪̬̈́͒̾a̷̱̱͎̘͌͆̽͗̕i̵̧̛̟̗̊͒́̒ņ̵̱͚̟̈̏̀͜͝͝.\" I try to speak. Even I barely know what I said. She nods. \"I know. I'm sorry. We can't give you more, or it'll loose effectiveness. You already get enough tranquilizers to kill a horse.\" She looked so sad, as she took the canister and left me to my suffering. \"J̶̢̛̟͈̘̻̌͂̆̔ǘ̸̪̪s̷̞̠̈́t̷̳͗̂͑͌ ̶̙̲̩͉̓ͅl̸͇̄͛̄͘ę̷̱̖̜͛̿͗͜t̴̢͖̲̒̀͑͒̚ ̴̱̌m̵̛̹͇̤̯͂͜e̸͉͝ ̶̰̪͉͖̤̇̔d̴̹͍̟͍̪͌͗̾̎̚ḭ̵̍e̷̢̩̐̈́͊.̸̜̊̐̊\" I whisper to myself. \n \n------------------- \n \n\"Fresh delivery!\" Paladin Solace dropped the canister on the table, causing several alchemists to scramble. \"Are you insane!! Be careful with that!\" Several people shout at the unimpressed commander. \n \nThe head alchemist approached her. \"Production hit another snag. It just won't take.\" He shook his head. She dismisses his comment. \"Keep trying. That stuff is more valuable than diamonds and stronger than magic. Do whatever you need.\" \n \nThe old alchemist nodded, and hesitated, as if considering the risk of what he wanted to ask. Results must've been inconclusive, as he shrugged and asked. \"You want us to actually look into a cure? He is your husband, after all.\" \n \nSolace just snorted. \"He was my husband. Now he is our most valuable resource, and I'm against wasting those.\"" ]	2
	[WP] You wake up to the noise of the computer blurting, "8 billion lightyears from destination". Your last memory: Piloting the first faster than light (FTL) spacecraft from Earth headed to a star a few lightyears from Earth.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Lucas awoke to the computer’s voice, “One point five billion light-years from destination. Standing by for further instruction.”\n\nHe shook his head to clear the fog of unconsciousness then looked around the command deck. Petyr, Jaelen, and Caitlin looked to be in the same state of recovery. The doctors had speculated unconsciousness as a side effect of warp jumps over a certain distance and this was the first data point. Hypothesis confirmed.\n\n“Did I just hear one point five billion? Computer, what is our location?” Petyr asked.\n\n“The ship’s current location is estimated to be near the center of the Canes Venatici Supervoid. The destination Alpha Centauri is estimated to be one point five billion light-years away.”\n\nSilence permeated the cabin. Lucas’s mind was racing. The Supervoid was a location in space observed to be almost completely empty of matter compared to the rest of the universe. The energy required for their jump to have taken them here was unimaginable, far beyond anything their new drive should have been capable of.\n\nLucas said, “Computer, display our surroundings on the screens.”\n\nThe screens around the cabin flickered to life and displayed the ship's exterior as if they were magnified windows in the walls. In front of them was a colossal framework structure built around an impossibly black sphere. The structure was radiating light from multiple locations that would rival any star. Around the structure was a dense debris field. In every other direction from the ship there was nothing but darkness.\n\nA beep startled everyone and the computer said, “Incoming transmission.”\n\nIncomprehensible audio played over the speakers that sounded unlike any language from Earth.\n\n\"Can you translate?”\n\n“Running analysis.” After a long minute the audio played again. “Do not activate your drive or you will be destroyed. Please respond on your desired frequency.”\n\n“Great our first encounter with alien life and they are threatening to kill us. Really hoped those stories would be wrong.” Caitlin said.\n\n“Computer, where is the transmission coming from?” Lucas asked.\n\nThe front screen shifted to magnify a speck floating around the megastructure and it focused in on two small ships just outside the main debris field.\n\n“Computer, can you detect any weapon signatures from those ships?”\n\n“Negative. Both vessels have low energy profiles. If their propulsion engines are similar to our technology they are offline.”\n\nEveryone in the cabin looked around at each other hoping the other would make a decision.\n\n“Good luck Lucas. You got rank here.” Jaelen said.\n\nLucas let out a long breath and said, “Computer open communication with whichever ship sent that transmission. Utilize the translation algorithm from the original message.”\n\nWhen the screen indicated the channel was open Lucas declared, “Please do not open fire. Our engines have malfunctioned and we do not know how we ended up here. We come in peace.”\n\nAfter a tense moment a response came, “We mean you no harm. Your engines did not malfunction. This structure appears to act as a lodestone for anything utilizing warp technology. It pulls any ship jumping through warp space to this location. If you attempt to jump away it will destroy you as it did our people. You need only to scan the debris field to see all who have come before us.”" ]	2
	[WP] while zombies do exist, very few people know of their existence thanks to the efforts of morticians such as yourself	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "When I say that most of my social contact is with the dead, it makes people worried. But being a mortician is really quite a good job. You get to do your thing in peace and have a chance to see humanity from angles others do not. \n\nI had just finished mixing my paint while the machine was still pushing embalming fluid into the emptied veins of a middle-aged woman. Discolored and naked with only a small sheet preserving her dignity, a mass of long tangled hair, the face bruised and contorted as the interplay of gravity and dying muscle created an expression hardly imaginable on anyone living. It was a little eerie the first few times you saw a dead body. Your eyes told you it is a person. But something inside you was trying to reach out for something in them and coming up empty. Over time, you get used to the idea that this is just another phase in the human life cycle. Sometimes tragic, but mostly quite mundane. You make peace with the inevitable fact that one day, you will be laying there just like miss Phillips, the body you have left behind subjected to the many processes of decomposition which will not be staved off even by the most valiant efforts of the living.\n\nIn our funeral home, we specialize in what is delicately called \"difficult bodies\". Usually, this means the family wants to see their loved one for the last time as they had appeared in life, but the body is too damaged to allow that. So we come in, with our paint and our thread, and our wires and clay, and our innumerable tools so that the kids can see aunt Rosa one last time. She will look like she is sleeping peacefully, even though the car accident she died in left her face barely recognizable. It is strange, really, how hard we are often trying to keep our dead looking life-like, to the point where we leave the ground poisoned with embalming chemicals and lock the dead in air-tight caskets trying to keep the decay out, as if in denial to the fact that it comes from within. But even if you have a whole institute devoted to preserving your corpse as Lenin has, you can perhaps delay, but never stop the inevitable.\n\nMiss Phillips wasn't a difficult body in the sense that there was a lot of work to do to make her look alive. No, in life she was a charitable soul and decided that her body should be able to do some good when she was done using it. I spent some time putting on make-up that would mask the bruises and the discolored lips. I knew not to wire the mouth shut, so it was hanging loosely open, revealing the dried out cavity housing slightly yellowed teeth and a greyish tongue. Call me squeamish, but I was never quite comfortable with seeing the inside of the mouth up close. \n\nThe body sighed. Corpses can make a variety of benign sounds, but I knew to step back respectfully. There was it again, another forceful sigh, this time accompanied by a twitch of the mouth.\n\n\"Miss Phillips? It is OK. You are safe,\" I informed the dead woman.\n\n\"Gh-ghai...\" she croaked hoarsely, trying to articulate words with uncooperating lips as the body arched slightly with the effort.\n\n\"Yes, you have a brain now. It is not working properly at the moment, but it should get better. Just relax and it will come to you\". She answered with another, much deeper sigh. I kept talking. It always calmed them.\n\n\"You're finding yourself in the body of Miss Philips. She was fifty years old and died of organ failure. The body is in good working order as far as these things go, aside from some muscle wastage.\"\n\n\"Hmmm\" said the body. She was getting the hang of the vocal folds, good. Her fingers twitched.\n\n\"Otherwise, you know how it goes. Have a good look around for a few days, don't try to eat or drink anything, avoid water if you want to extend your stay as long as possible, and try not to talk to people too much. It scares them.\"\n\nReally, this was so much better than what we had going on in the past. These sparks of souls were always around, too weak to be born into human bodies but had enough awareness to know they wanted to. This led to no end of trouble for everyone involved. Monsters, zombies, violence... We devised a much more civilized system now. Barely anybody knows about it, but most don't need to.\n\nIt took the better part of an hour, but the former miss Philips, now called Asthema, was sitting at my desk as we chatted amiably. She still had issues with fine motor control, but she could speak almost normally. She would be free to leave soon. I was already working on Mr. Ward, who was a more conventional client, but Asthema was unbothered by that. She was around for a few centuries, getting tiny glimpses of humanity when the opportunity arose, and she had quite a few stories to tell. \n\nThe evening was turning out to be quite enjoyable. Most of them are like that. All you have to do is not scream or try to hurt them while they're coming to, in which case they would try to defend themselves quite vehemently. Contrary to popular belief, the dead make for quite good conversation partners if you give them the chance.", "“Ah fuck. Get down here Tony, we’ve got a runner” the grave that’d been so tenderly filled only yesterday was now empty. You might be thinking ‘how could you bury a living person by accident’ well I’m telling you now I didn’t. Like pretty much everyone that crosses my mortuary table Lynn Campbell was dead. Now what morticians don’t tell you is that some of the dead have the rather unfortunate habit of not staying still. This was a pretty quick turnaround most had the good grace to stay in the coffin for at least couple of days. \n\n\n \nTony made good time on the golf cart arriving just as I finished assessing the damage to the coffin. “Going to need a whole new lid and lining” I muttered as I climbed into the cart. Now when pursuing someone who’s forgotten they’re dead it’s best to move in pairs. First and foremost to ensure as little damage is done to the body as possible. Yes they’re dead, but if they need to be exhumed I’d rather not have to explain why half their face is missing. \n\n \nAs we neared the bottom end of the cemetery we spotted Lynn. She was a picture, the model zombie - slight limp to her shuffle, great extension of the arms and a chilling refrain of “Brainssss, Brainnnnnssss”. We exited the cart, moved as one towards her before taking her swiftly to the ground with a trip and pin manoeuvre. Once I was sure Tony had control I punched a thin blade into the base of her neck severing the spinal cord. “Right that should do it. Let’s take her back to the morgue until we can repair the lid.”", "My new apprentice was a little greener than I thought he would be. Schools must be getting softer, I thought, as I rifled through a packet of sweets. \n“Umm sir? Is it just me, or did she twitch?”\nI shrugged the question off, it definitely did twitch of course, and observed young Mr Palmers reaction.\n\n“Must be a zombie, but you should be able to tell me for certain shouldn’t you Mr Palmer?”\nThe young man eyed me suspiciously, foolishly taking his eyes off the body.\n“Yeah, good one sir”\nIgnoring his sarcastic little retort, I glanced at our guests corpse. Oh yeah, that things definitely twitching.\n\nSliding towards my tools I quickly collected my trusty ice pick. Noticing the twitching had started in the legs, I knew what to expect. Mr Palmer didn’t of course, but he had at least finally noticed the movements.\n“Wow! What the hell! She is moving, look!”\nHe looked up to me, at just the wrong moment.\n\n“Graaagh!!!” The dead thing lunged at his throat, but with surprising reaction speed the young man pushed her to his side. The thing fell to the floor, its limbs skittering about like Bambi on ice. Until it caught its footing that is, immediately the thing launched towards him on all fours. Pinned to the floor, it was all he could do to stop her sinking her teeth into his flesh.\n“Help! Please, oh my god! Get this fucking thing off me!!”\nThe dead things gaping mouth inched closer and closer to the young mans throat. His stamina was running out, but he saw something. Reaching out as he pushed his other forearm into the corpses neck. \nHis finger tips touched something hard and thin, a nail? His fear addled brain gave him a shot of adrenaline. Simultaneously moving her away and dragging himself with finger strength alone. He gripped his prize and swung, in one move he jammed the pick into the dead things neck. It collapsed on top of him as he crawled away. \n\n“Well done Mr Palmer! Splendid strike there, you destroyed the spine in one blow!”\nHe looked up at me, panting and out of breath. \n“W-what?!”\n“What i’m saying is, congratulations! The job is yours! You even got your first zombie kill too!”\nThe poor boy’s eyes rolled back as he fainted. He must have fainted from the excitement", "\"Anyways,\" Zeke said as he wiggled the ice pick back and forth, vigorously, \"Then ya just jerk the pick around like this here, all circular-like, for a good 30 seconds on each side, to get 'er all good an' scrambled up. Then just apply the makeup like I showed ya on the other 'un, and yer all done.\"\n\n\"What the hell!\" I exclaimed.\n\nZeke frowned. \"Dammit, boy, I said it in the daggone help-wanted ad -- Mortician's Assistant Wanted, must not be squeamish!\"\n\n\"I'm not squeamish!\" I protested. \"You just lobotomized a corpse!\"\n\nHe shook his head. \"Naw, a lobotomy's more surgical-like.\" He stirred the pick he'd inserted into the late Mr. Morton's brain through the top of his eye socket even more vigorously, he was whisking cake batter. \"This here's a scrambling, you want to get purt nigh everything in there ground up as good as ya can, like this.\"\n\n\"Why would you do that?\" I demanded.\n\nZeke raised his bushy gray eyebrows in surprise. \"Why the hell you think, boy? To keep him from comin' back!\"\n\nHe withdrew the pick, and offered it to me.\n\n\"Here, you try.\"\n\n\"No!\" I exclaimed, horrified. \"I'm not going to scramble that guy's brain!\"\n\nZeke scoffed in exasperation. \"What the hell d'joo apply to the job for, then, boy?\"\n\n\"To prepare the dead for their final rest!\" I said. \"Not desecrate their--\"\n\nSuddenly, Mr. Morton sat up, groaning, lifeless eyes wide. Zeke jumped back in alarm, but I reacted more slowly. His bony hands closed around my arm with inhuman strength and he pulled me close to him, baring his yellowed teeth...\n\nAnd then he collapsed back on to the slap, as Zeke appeared beside him, and buried a fire axe in his skull.\n\n\"And that right there,\" Zeke said, calmly, resting his axe on his shoulder. \"Is why you take care of the scrambling early. Every now and then, you get one o' these got-dang early risers.\"\n\nI stammered unintelligibly in response.\n\nZeke scowled down at Mr. Morton's nearly bisected head. \"Well shit. Guess now's as good a time as any to show ya how to work the crematorium. We sure as hell ain't havin' no open casket, now.\"" ]	5
	[WP] Enchanters are known for their ability to provide useful buff magic for warriors and other teammates alike, creating powerful fighters. However, it seems that no enchanter had thought about simply buffing themselves and entering combat directly.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Enchanter watched Warrior and Rogue as they moved about fighting as if they were invincible, which they weren't. She'd warned the damned idiots, it's a probability enhancement not a guarantee and it worked best if you were trying to not get hit... \n\nThe war cry wasn't even really unexpected. Goblins weren't known for their bravery, or their stupidity, so it was expected they had something powerful they were certain would grant them victory. A team of Orcs perhaps... a Troll... nope didn't see that one coming. The goblins grew in size as the Troll worked it's magics and spoke in languages long dead as it invoked magic long abandoned.\n\nEnchanter walked back to their wagon ignoring the glares of the Cleric as she spoke in the flowery language of her god calling down a miracle. The twin Hunters looked at her and seemed to understand as they nodded and kept working using their natural gifts for teamwork to help stem the tide.\n\nDropping her staff, a magical tool needed to make her enhancements have any kind of effective range beyond touch, she pulled out her box and let it crash to the ground where it fall open. Reaching into the contents she pulled out a wrapped package object nearly as long as her staff and wider revealing a large two handed sword. She unclasped her cloak and let it fall away revealing the armor she bore on her arms and legs. It was impractical and completely stupid... at least that's what she'd been told time and again since she'd manifested her gift for enhancement magic. She'd been told she'd be invaluable to any party on the battlefield and yet she only ever caught hate and rage as idiots thinking that being enhanced by magic made them invincible. She reached out to the others like her fellow enchanters and found that some had found intelligent companions, but most were treated as if it was on them to make the impossible work and when it did... well they were paid and nothing more, no reward for saving the party, that was the warrior or rogue or cleric or even the hunter that saved everyone and certainly no recognition.\n\nEnchanter watched as Rogue fell to a swarm as he, again, rushed the largest of the Goblins, likely a veteran of countless battles, and promptly got stabbed by a clean strike with none of the pointless flourishing that Rogue and Warrior loved to do so much of. Enchanter would likely miss the idiot if he wasn't always looking to use his knowledge of potions to dose the young village men to make them more susceptible to his manipulations. The Warrior was faring better, but mostly do to his full plate armor and his ability to regenerate even in combat.\n\nWithout Rogue to hold them back Goblins attempted to charge Cleric and the Hunters making use of their enhanced speed and strength to hold heavy shields ahead of them as they ran through the storm of arrows towards Cleric directly. Enchanter rushed ahead speaking the activation triggers and feeling her body grow lighter and time seemed to nearly slow down as she rushed ahead and used one of her less requested enhancements to drive through the attackers shields as if they were doors and swung the sword in a flat arc it's edge blurring as it moved ripping and tearing through the butted mail and leather of the Goblin into their enhanced flesh and bone and onto the next.\n\nEnhancing her jumps she leapt to land behind the warrior now fighting from a knee. Used his body as a focal point by enchanting him with an explosive trap almost immediately a violent blast of force threw back the goblins and Enchanter was upon them as Warrior slowly recovered to look at her as she again slashed into the goblin horde slicing through several more behind her Warrior had finished standing and was bathed in the light of a blessing of healing even as arrows glided through the air to hit or just distract at worst the remains of the horde of goblins.\n\nThe large Goblin that had felled Rogue with ease moved on her with measured grace and an economy of motion that Enchanter had seen only in her mother's own movements. He was fast nearly as fast as her, potentially even faster on the attack, as he looked to be moving almost in real time compared to his slower underlines. He didn't smile just looked at her with a grim look that again reminded Enchanter of her mother and attacked with a rate of movement more akin to a viper striking as his long thin blade found her wrist. Just catching on the armor and deflecting away and yet Enchanter barely saw the attack or his reset as his blade arm was again back behind his shield and waiting to strike again... maybe next time she should try out that shield and weapon combination her mother had suggested...\n\nEnchanter jumped again not up, but forwards. The ground erupted from the force and she attacked only to feel and see her blade only severing the shield of the Goblin Warlord. She didn't waste more time as she jumped across again driving towards the Goblin Warlord and nearly screamed as his blade found her chest she felt it punch through the weaker armor that her gifts demanded she limit her torso and head protection to. Even so she grabbed the blade with a hand possessed of enhanced strength and held on as she wrenched her own sword around and into the Goblin Warlord who as the blade found him Enchanter thought she'd seen a flicker of a smile.\n\nEnchanter pulled the thin blade free and enhanced her own regeneration as she looked to see that the others had finished off the goblins and were now dealing with the troll directly. Enchanter rushed ahead covering the distance in bounding movements before she leapt to attack only to catch an arm and find herself suddenly stopped as the Troll's body resisted her enhanced attack. The Troll looked at Enchanter with surprise and amusement before it twisted and threw her down and looking around it started laughing. \"Well fought little ones. Been ages since a true Battle Mage has walked the fields of war. Perhaps you fools aren't such a lost cause.\" It said before speaking again in ancient tongues and vanishing from the battlefield as it's form seemed to twist upon itself.\n\n\"What was that? You got Rogue killed and nearly got the rest of us as well you damned glory hog.\" Warrior said as they stood attempting to match Enchanter's height.\n\n\"I've told you and Rogue countless times I can't make you invulnerable.\"\n\n\"Don't matter. Enchanters that don't know their place don't deserve their fair share. When we get back your off the team and I will be complaining to the guild.\"\n\n\"Do as you like.\" Enchanter said as she went to work checking the bodies. When they got back she was going to check on her mom and see if she had anymore lessons she wanted to pass on from her days as a warrior." ]	2
	[WP] Your supervisor at the CIA assigned you the lofty task of finding and apprehending the spy embedded in the agency responsible for multiple leaks and acts of espionage. You are the spy.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Oh geez, this’ll be fun. I’ve always wanted to do something like this.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Even with my twenty one years of training and experience, I’m unable to prevent the smirk that slowly spreads across my face. I’m a normal looking dude just under the average height for an American male. I decided long ago that whoever created me must hate me for not giving me those two extra inches. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;”Just to be absolutely certain, ma’am. You said that you wanted me to hunt down the Mole, right?” I barely manage to keep the amusement out of my voice.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;”Are you getting senile? Yes! Now get to it! I don’t have time to waste on your shenanigans.” The sharp reply came.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;”With all due respect, ma’am, your mom had plenty of time for my ‘shenanigans’.” I reply shamelessly, having known this woman for literally half my life.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Granted, I’ve never said anything remotely similar to her before. But things have changed now.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The shock and confusion is evident in her voice, even over the phone. “What?” I imagine her face as she suddenly figures it out, and have to suppress another gleeful laugh. “Derrick… no.” I can hear the depression and utter betrayal in her voice. “Not you too.”\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;”Yes, ma’am. I’m afraid so.” I suddenly doubt whether we’re talking about the same thing, so I quickly clarify. “I’m the spy.”\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;”Then you know I’m going to kill you myself.” The voice on the other end has lost all emotion and warmth. It’s a dead voice.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Just as I had imagined.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;”Why ma’am, I would be insulted if anything but the best came after me.” I then hang up the phone and toss it into the nearby fireplace. Just to be safe.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I stand up and stretch, cracking my knuckles and popping my back. I close my eyes and breathe deeply through my nostrils, and bring the countdown going on in the back of my mind to the forefront. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Three.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Two. I step forward to the open window, eyes still closed, and yawn.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One. I open my eyes and perform a perfect dive through the open window into the lake twenty feet below. God, I love Venice. \n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The room I was in explodes, soon followed by the rest of the rooms in the building. Soon, my boss’ll be on my tail with a horde of our best agents. But they won’t be looking in Venice. They’ll be looking in Paris. Just one short plane ride away. But they won’t come to Venice. They’ll follow the clues I left all the way back to the States, where they’ll find my dead body. They’ll figure out that I committed suicide, and be confused as all get out, not getting the joke at all. But that’s okay. I’ll be in Venice living the life of a king. And that building I just blew up? Dramatic effect. Pure and simple. Just like my deal with the outside parties. None of the other agents are going to be rich anytime soon. But me? I’m loaded from all the double dealing. They don’t know what they’re missing out on, and never will.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I love being over competent.\n\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;{Finis Fabulae}", "That was the last straw. I ran. The supervisor decided to make me the leader of a group tasked with finding the spy, which was me. I know it looked bad and I don’t care. We were on the first floor of the building, in his office so I just jumped out of the open window.\n\n“I resign!” I shouted over my shoulder.\n\nThe supervisor just stared at me in disbelief as I made it to the road. I started to cross the road but was so rudely interrupted by the intense pain that follows being hit by a truck. I’m no doctor but I was sure that my back was shattered and several other bones along with it.\n\nThe light from my surroundings faded to black as my curtain closed on this world. The last thing I heard was the low rumbling of the truck engine that had come to a stop, lording over my lifeless body.\n\nI know that there is nothing after death, death is death after all. Soon every thought and notion that had ever existed to me ceased. There was utter nothingness.\n\nOf course, everything that I know is complete crap because I soon heard the harps of angels, floating over me were giant translucent figures with wings and a halo. I don’t have enough resolve to deal with this crap, hence the whole me jumping out of the window thing. So I decided that instead of dealing with it I would rather just sleep. I am kind of tired after all.", "An entire story where you follow a CIA agent through their investigation, but there are weird cuts into the story, like when he talks with a possible link to the mole, the mole says a cliffhanger, and as the next page starts the agent is back in his office lamenting how the informant died mysteriously only a few hours before, just after they met.\n\nEventually, the agent gets closer and closer, but not before the leak managed to send out enough information to get the president of the USA assassinated.\n\nAs the agent is one of the people who has to take the fall for what has happened, they are fired and leave the country.\n\nFinal chapter talks about how they go to one country or another, go straight into an out of the way bar and meet with an old man whose greeting is the final line of the story:\n\n\"Good job agent, missions accomplished\"", "You know, finding yourself is harder than it looks. For an average person, anyway. Imagine knowing what I know? Unlimited universes with different variations of you and different stories you outlive. That's only a crumb of the secrets my tiny human brain has to hold. \n\n\"That's one of the hardest jobs you've ever given me, man\" I complained. \n\n\"Finding a stupid snitch?\" \n\nWow. How mean. People deserve to know the truth and I stand by that. Maybe not everyone can handle it but some people certainly can. How many deaths we had to cover up because someone discovered something they weren't able to approach properly. So I've had enough. All those leaked CIA documents about shifting, time travel... yeah, one hundred percent me. Best part? They can't take it down because it would raise an incredible amount of suspicion. So they called it pseudoscience and leaked it on TikTok and other social medias. \"If teenagers talk about it everyone will just discard it as a fantasy\". Sadly true.\n\n\"The guy is obsessed with quantum jumping so I know where to start I think\" I lied. \n\n\"Okay. I'm tired though.\" Supervisor whined. \n\n\"I got you. Let's go for a quick coffee\"\n\nWe got into my car and I took him to this sweet cosy diner located in the suburbs. They have the best coffee. It's bitter but it hits you like a brick. In a good way, of course. \n\n\"Do you wonder why this person is doing it?\" I asked my boss as we were drinking our coffee. \n\n\"Stupidity. Think they can save the world.\" He rolled his eyes. \n\n\"Yeah probably.\" I tried to agree almost choking on my coffee. \n\n\"The thing is, people are sheep. For now they are our sheep. Work 9-5, obsessed with money, forever soaking in their own juices of depression, yeah? We got them wrapped up.\" He smiled a little too much while talking about this. I was disgusted. \n\n\"A few know and that's fine. They are called crazy. But recently they've been spreading too much word and proofing it. And the world is crazy right now! So naturally people are more gullible. As I said, people are sheep. This knowledge given to the entirety of humanity would deem me... useless.\" \n\n\"Right.\" I nodded. \n\n\"You're a good guy so I know you'll do the right thing and find the bastard doing this.\" He grinned. \n\n\"Yeah.\" I agreed with him once more before accidentally spilling my coffee all over the table and his brand new white shirt. \n\n\"Shit!\" I gasped. \n\n\"Man, that shirt was expensive!\" He laughed, though. \"It's fine, I will wash it off in the bathroom.\" Supervisor stood up and left. I followed him there after a few minutes. \n\n\"Is it okay?\" I asked politely.\n\n\"Yeah, it almost came off! Cheap diner soap does the trick, I guess.\" He kept joking. \n\n\"I don't think it completely came off.\" I said. \"These oddly yellow bathroom lights might trick your eye...\"\nNow his expression changed. From proud to aware. Finally. \n\n\"You know all these innocent people didn't deserve to suffer because CIA wants to play God.\" \n\n\"You won't stop it!\" He yelled while launching his body at me. \n\nI dodged easily making him smash himself into the dark corner of this bathroom. And just like that he no clipped out of my way. Forever. Might not have fixed the world but hey, at least one jerk less in this world. \n\nMay he rest in moist carpet.", "Mr. Baird fished a chess piece from his suit pocket and placed it gently on his desk. It was a bishop. \"Do you understand?\" he asked.\n\nMy babushka taught me the game at an early age. When she was a student in Soviet Russia, chess was used as a political prop to demonstrate strategic superiority. Boys and girls who might otherwise have gone on to do great work as scientists or artists were snatched up by the state if they showed the mere hint of talent in the so-called game of kings. My grandmother had thought one move further than her assessors and intentionally lost a series of crucial matches so that she would not be entered into the hidden Soviet database of Crucial State Assets. If you were deemed to be a CSA, you had the choice between working for the state or to be exterminated by it. My grandmother never became a CSA. My grandfather was not so fortunate.\n\n\"It's a bishop,\" I said, studying Baird's face. \"It can only move diagonally. It can threaten a piece all the way across the board.\"\n\nHe frowned slightly. \"And this?\" he asked, placing a knight beside the bishop.\n\n\"The knight can only move in an L-shape, meaning it can cover more ground in the middle of the board. A knight on the rim is dim, as they say.\"\n\nHe looked up at me. \"They say that?\"\n\nI squirmed in my seat. \"They say that.\"\n\nMr. Baird removed his glasses and made a show of wiping them clean. Then, after letting me simmer in confusion for a short while, he said, \"We have a mole.\"\n\nHe could have forcefully shoved the chess pieces down my throat and it would have had less of an effect on me. Because I already knew the agency had a mole: it was me.\n\nAfter they donated a sizable hole to the back of my grandfather's neck, the state raised my father to be a CSA. They provided him with a CSA wife. And they instructed them both to blend into American society and to produce a culturally-immersed CSA. Me, as it turned out.\n\n\"A mole?\" I said. I arched my brows to produce a look of what the agency training manual described as Genuine Surprise.\n\n\"Indeed,\" said Mr. Baird. \"And I want you to catch him.\"\n\nFor a while we just sat there. The director stared at the two chess pieces while he waited patiently for my reply.\n\n\"I'm not sure I'm the most qualified man for the job,\" I argued.\n\nMr. Baird scoffed. \"You are. Trust me on this.\"\n\nWith that our meeting concluded and I was off to catch a mole. Only that my task was really to find myself, and this idea seemed to me very nice and Zen-like. Of course, I would instead frame a colleague. My parents had taught me how when I was barely 14. All you have to do is to produce a list of ambiguous traits and bind them together with a compelling narrative. Someone hums classical tunes every now and then? They have a strange smell? They have a strange fascination with saltwater fish? You take these traits, which really mean nothing, and you tie them together with a sinister theme. The classical tunes are the same that are drilled into the heads of every Hungarian schoolboy, you say, and the smell is precisely that of farsangi fánk--Hungarian yeast doughnuts. And you mention the common cover operations Hungarian agents tend to employ which includes, as everyone knows, fish factories. It's all true, of course, except the fact that there's a link between any of these traits. Three of them is enough to raise subtle suspicion. A hundred? That's damning evidence.\n\nWhen I returned to Baird's office with my pile of damning evidence, he simply shook his head and again he produced his chess pieces. \"Do you understand?\" he asked.\n\nThis time, I tried to impress him with an old observation handed down to me by my babushka. \"The imbalance between the bishop and the knight is what keeps the game of chess interesting.\"\n\nFor the first time, I saw a hint of a smile across his lips. \"Go on,\" he said.\n\n\"The bishops are more powerful, but the knights are trickier. It takes more effort to calculate the potential movements of the knight. Their relationship creates an asymmetry. That asymmetry, like Marilyn Monroe's mole, is what makes chess interesting.\"\n\n\"Marilyn Monroe's mole?\"\n\n\"Yes. Symmetry is boring. You need to disrupt it, like the bridge in a song. I'm not sure I'm explaining myself very well.\"\n\n\"No, no. I understand the analogy. What I am interested in is your choice in words. As your object of metaphor, you settled on a mole. Why is that?\"\n\nI stared at my pile of documents, then back up at Baird. From his eyes I could tell straight away: he knew. How? I had covered my tracks perfectly. A stupid thing like a choice of metaphor? I felt insulted. He was right, sure, but accidentally so. Which should be a crime.\n\n\"I have been looking for one for months. It's not strange.\"\n\n\"It's interesting,\" he countered.\n\nI didn't like the tone of his voice. He knew from the start, didn't he? Then why the investigation? Did he want to play with me? Was that what the chess pieces were all about? A foolish cat-and-mouse played to entertain a bored director?\n\n\"I wouldn't say it's interesting,\" I said.\n\n\"Of course it's interesting. A mole using the metaphor of a mole.\"\n\nAn image entered my mind like a shard of glass from a shattered window. My grandmother had described to me, in detail, the hole in my grandfather's neck. She told me she found him out in the woods one morning after the state agents brought him along for \"a walk.\" The strangest thing was that she felt nothing at first, and it was only after she poked a turnip through the hole that she realized that her husband might truly be dead. Before she saw the turnip enter at one end and come out the other, my grandfather was certainly still alive. But no man can be alive who has a turnip sticking through his neck, she said.\n\nI saw the turnip blushing purple from the back of my grandfather's neck with leafy greens sprouting miraculously from the other side. I imagined my babushka tasting the turnip afterward, as she told me she had done, to ascertain that it was truly a turnip. I heard the delicate crack of the vegetable and the scent of the gunpowder still lingering in the air.\n\n\"How long have you known?\" I asked the director and I briefly entertained in my mind the image of my very own hole in the neck. I imagined my babushka fighting her way to the morgue with a turnip, arguing with guards and morticians, and I imagined my parents having their CSA status revoked with a pair of slit throats.\n\n\"It is true, as you said, that the relationship between the bishop and the knight has to do with balance. That was my intention, in fact. I wanted you, however, to reflect one step further. I wanted you to understand the truth of balanced power.\"\n\nThe warm smile on the man's lips made my blood run cold. \"What do you mean?\"\n\nMr. Baird adjusted his glasses. \"We maintain the balance of power between nations not by arming ourselves with weapons of mass destruction. There aren't enough wars, unfortunately, for that to be an effective means of deterrence. Instead, we maintain it through a balance of information. It is no accident that you are here. In fact, it's all according to agreements made decades ago.\"\n\n\"Agreements? What agreements?\"\n\n\"We allow a certain number of Russian spies. Russia allows a certain number of American spies. It's all standard. It's not the kind of transparency your average citizen would understand, but it's what keeps them safe. We've had files on you since before you were born.\"\n\nBaffled, I did not know what to say.\n\nThe director pushed the chess pieces toward me. \"Choose one,\" he said.\n\nFrom his look, I knew that my fate depended on this decision. I just didn't know how. Was he asking me whether I wanted to be a bishop or a knight? To make threats from a distance, or to cover terrain from a central position? \"Oh,\" I said, suddenly.\n\n\"Do you understand?\" he asked me. I gave him a nod and reached for the knight. \"Before you make your decision,\" he added, \"I want to apologize.\"\n\n\"What for?\"\n\n\"For murdering your grandfather.\"\n\nHis smile grew to a fat grin. He smacked the pile of documents I had collected. \"I am retiring. We can use this to frame your colleague, and you can assume my position. Just like the higher-ups planned. Knowing that I personally killed your dear family member, do you still want to go through with it?\"\n\nI saw all of a sudden that the director looked remarkably like a turnip. His red forehead and his pasty beige face--it was somehow all the proof I needed to verify that his words were true.\n\nMr. Baird made a lovely sound when I shoved the figurines down his throat. The sound of him choking was a thing of beauty I could never have anticipated; gasps and grunts and gags. His face quickly became all purple and I whispered into his ear, \"What a lovely little turnip you are.\"\n\nConfused, he reached for something under his desk and that was the last thing Mr. Baird ever did.\n\nAs I stared at his corpse, a group of agents entered the office. I greeted them with a smile. Would they kill me straight away, or would they throw in some torture for the hell of it?\n\nOne of them stretched out his hand. \"Mr. Director,\" he said. \"We'll take it from here.\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\" I said. \"I have killed the director.\"\n\n\"Exactly according to plans,\" said another of them. \"Please, have a rest. You must be exhausted.\"\n\nThey cleaned up the scene in minutes, and soon people were gossiping about the director's sudden heart attack. Apparently, everyone but me already knew that I was to be his replacement and though some appeared to be jealous of my fortune, they had the decency to hide it well.\n\nJeremy from accounting congratulated me on my promotion, and he hummed a melody by Brahms. Soon he'd be shipped off to Guantanamo Bay, I realized. I had chosen him at random and felt slightly uncomfortable but the feeling soon passed.\n\nI sat in the director's chair for a long time before it dawned on me that all this time I had been neither a bishop nor a knight, but a pawn." ]	6
	[WP] Every motivational quote and saying ever is now, suddenly, a powerful magic spell. Wizards of the quotes appear worldwide.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "My first attempt at creative writing:\n\n“What do we know about these ‘Wizards of the Quotes’ and their magic?” \n\n\r \n“Best we can tell, it’s a coalition of fitness instructors, social media influencers, DIY crafters, and motivational speakers. We’re getting reports from across the globe of havoc and mayhem caused by their incantations” said a man in a sharp looking military officer’s uniform. His nametag read “General DuBois”. \n\n\r \nThis entire day felt surreal. I had awoken at the ass-crack of dawn to urgent pounding on my door. Greeted by what seemed like an entire squad of Marines, I had been whisked away to the Pentagon with no explanation and seated in some kind of War Room with two dozen other officers in similar garb. \n\n\r \n“Their intentions seem good, maybe even altruistic, but the consequences are anything but! They are a disjointed group with no leadership and varied, disparate goals. We’re seeing massive energy spikes on the power grid, all records of student loans have disappeared, rivers being re-routed through the desert; it’s complete chaos!” \n\n\r \n“That’s awful” I said, feeling confused and a little scared. “But I just write greeting cards for a living. What do you want from me?” \n\n\r \n“Terrance, as the Head Writer at Hallmark you are the foremost expert we could reach on such short notice.”\n\n\r \n“Expert of WHAT?!” I said. If my student loans had been erased, no way these bastards were going to make me pay up. \n\n\r \n“Motivational quotes”\n\n\r \n“Inspirational shit” added an aged officer, unhelpfully. His wrinkled, bald head reminded me of a raisin. DuBois cut back in. “Their incantations are all motivational quotes. We captured and gagged one of the wizards. Some fuckin’ soccer mom who turned all traffic lights in a 10 mile radius green.”\n\n\r \n“What was the incantation?”\n\n\r \n“I give myself the green light to move forward, and joyously embrace the new……Doesn’t do shit when I say it.”\n\n\r \nI repeated the incantation aloud, but nothing happened. “Did she give you any others?”\n\n\r \nSomeone slipped me a small piece of paper with the words “Any fool can know the point is to understand”. That would never make it onto one of my cards. My writers would have at least added some punctuation. Mumbling something like:\n\n\r \nAny fool can know. \rThe point is to understand.\n\n\r \nMy eyes opened. I became aware that I was no longer in corporeal form, existing more as a pure form of consciousness. Before me, sprawled across a dark void as large as the cosmos, lay a vast neural network of interconnected nodes that I instinctively knew to be the minds of every person on the planet. Most of the nodes were dimly lit, indicating life, but no power. Others glowed brilliantly, feeding off the churning mass of pure energy that filled the space between. The node that I understood to represent myself had just burst alight. \n\n\r \nAs quickly as the vision came, my mind returned to my body. What had happened? How long was I out? But no one seemed to notice. They were all bustling about the room making phone calls, drawing up plans. Only Dubois seemed focused on me, waiting for a response.\n\n\r \n“Any ideas?”\n\n\r \nAnd then the reality of the situation washed over me. The stress of the day, this new power, and all the ways that these crusty military types were going to fuck it up. There was too much noise in here. I couldn’t THINK. I reached out with my mind and drew in a tiny ounce of the power I had witnessed. I shouted, not into that void but from it.\n\n\r \nThe quieter you become. The more you are able to hear.\n\n\r \nEverything in the room stopped. The lights and screens flickered off. All sound died away. Everyone shared questioning, horrified glances. \n\n\r \n“I have work to do.” Once more I reached out and spoke.\n\n\r \nBig journeys begin with small steps.\n\n\r \nMy body immediately left that room, and I appeared some 200 feet above the Pentagon. I was FLYING. I could sense impending catastrophe. Thousands of untrained wizards, barely living up to their own ideals, seeking to do good but with such narrow interpretation of the word. I needed to get to my family; shield them from what was coming. I bolted off in the direction of the house but quickly realized chaos mounting all around. I saw one witch on the ground a nervous, strained expression on her face. Whatever she had said had sent a passenger train off the tracks and hurtling towards a ravine. I flew down and brushed her shoulder, sensing a flow of energy from my mind’s blazing void node to hers and whispered:\n\n\r \nBe a warrior, not a worrier.\n\n\r \nA high-tech suit of armor enveloped her and she sped off to stop the train. I did not stop to see if she had succeeded. I continued on, to a bridge mid-collapse. Two more wizards floated nearby aghast at what they had done. I joined their hands and started them on a hurried rendition of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing then took to the skies again as the bridge began to knit itself back together.\n\n\r \nFlying over the D.C. area I saw many dead, their loved ones cradling the bodies and stricken with grief.\n\n\r \nFalling down is an accident, Staying down is a choice.\n\n\r \nEven as the light of life returned to those eyes, I knew that it wasn’t enough. At this rate, It would never be enough. I needed more information. Picturing the General in my head I yelled\n\n\r \nCommunication works for those who work at it. \n\n\r \n“DuBois, where is the danger worst?”\n\n\r \n“Terrance?!? What the fuck?!...It’s everywhere! The topology of the earth is being re-written. Tectonic plates are giving themselves new zip codes. Tsunamis. Seismic activity is off the charts. At this rate we’ll all be dead in minutes!”\n\n\r \nIf only I could reach out and touch every wizard across the world! This would be a complicated incantation indeed. First, I need and Amplifier:\n\n\r \nIf you’ve accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you.\n\n\r \nAnother!\n\n\r \nBe stronger than your excuses.\n\n\r \nNow, return to that void!\n\n\r \nAny fool can know. The point is to understand.\n\n\r \nI awoke in the void once again. But this time I could feel my body and use my lungs. I took in the sight of billions of minds encircled in that raging mass of energy. More of them were lit now than before, but hundreds were winking out every second, never to glow again. I reached out and touched them all. Every mind in the universe. And then I uttered the most powerful incantation there was. The most potent force for good on earth.\n\n\r \nLive, Laugh, Love" ]	2
	[WP] Earth media and culture is well known amongst the stars, and being the station’s resident human has a certain level of celebrity to it. You often answer their questions, the problem is you’ve never been to Earth, and the aliens are beginning to suspect you have no idea what you’re talking about	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Originally he came from another race of shapeshifters, who went to earth for sightseeing. Once they landed, he shapeshifted into human and went to see this forest. The forest was made of wood entirely and was the most precious element in entire universe. And these humans had built houses out of it. They were amazed but they took a wrong step and were lost in deep woods. Their group shape shifted into a Gorilla to hide and sneak back to their ship, but somebody spotted him, and myth of Bigfoot was born. \n\nHe was the only one to make it back to ship. Due to radiation sickness, he was unable to change shapes anymore. And as soon as he reached to the ship, he was abducted by aliens who anal probed humans. He was then rescued by Lizard race and became the first human to leave the planet.\n\nLife was good, in this part of the galaxy. They had built a donut shaped station with a tower in middle. Donut shaped... He thought, and tried to remember it. Ofcourse he knows what a donut is, he has eaten many of them....from the house of donuts. His room was spacious, had a view to a blue star and a nebula. His room was frequented by researchers, journalists who wanted to pick his brain, literally and figuratively. But humans' brain is fragile, he insisted. Any radiation above level of a microwave will immediately liquify it, he said. And thus they had to be content with just his words. \nOfcourse, the station was a center stage for galactic politics frequented by many kinds of Aliens, he was one of their attraction. Normally one would feel like an animal kept in a zoo, but he was fine. Zoo wasn't a really bad place either he thought.. Afterall, animals get tired of walking an all four legs and need time to stretch. Walking on four legs was unnatural, he said and everyone seemed to agree. \nApart from being a permanent residence of the station, he was also supposed diplomat of the earth. And so, he had responsibility to mingle with other races, specially females. Earth was a natural preserve where life was supposed to thrive in absence of space pollution and radiation and so it was left alone. And it worked in his favor, having visited earth just once couldn't fool those who were an expert on the subject, but he tried.\n\nHe was being called to the meeting and once he reached there, he got to know that they were going to include Humans into curriculum of the children and needed his help on the subject matter.\n\n\"Yes yes yes....when they get hungry...they hunt..plants\" He said to the education secretary ,who was accompanied by A senior researcher on humans. For years he secretly intercepted their satellite signals to interpret what human civilization is like. Though planet was far away and such interventions were illegal, he couldn't reveal his source of knowledge, or eavesdrop on them very well. The education secretary knew little about humans, and all she knew was from her visit to his bed.\n\n\"Plants?....I thought they were grown in labs and harvested... There is no hunting there... they harvest the live plants, force them to have sex with each other and take their produce.\" Scientist claimed. \"Who is the human...you or I?\" He said \"Plants have a weakness, called water. As soon as plants see water, they just freeze right there and Earth has plenty of it. So humans lay traps of water herd the plants and then hunt them. Since they are frozen in place, they can't fight back.\" He explained. The scientist had only seen a footage of rice paddy being harvested so he couldn't disagree.\n\n\"And what about their transportation?\" Secretary asked. \"For transportation...they get into this giant bird that they have tamed. It flies them all over the world. I gues....I mean I know that there are bigger birds ...and very very small birds for short distance travel. These birds fart all the way in the sky and get propelled, that's what is seen behind them as they fly.\" he answered confidently.\n\n\"No..No..No... there are no birds... Birds EAT PEOPLE\" Scientist claimed. \"They are airplanes that transport people. Birds are a rather predatory species on Earth. They once fought a war with this bird call Emu...and lost.\" Scientist said.\n\n\"Who is the human? You or I?\" He exclaimed again and secretary nodded. \"Besides how do you know this?\" He asked to which scientist fumbled.. \"I..I...uh... asked. I asked my cousin..he knows a guy...who knows a guy..who knows someone who once worked with a poacher, they used to probe their anals together.\"\n\n\"Maybe..we can look into this better...\" Secretary said, \"How else people travel, Sir?\" She asked scientist. \"Oh, there are some people who can fly!\" He looked at him confused, he knew the body of a human and it could not fly. \"Wait a minute...that's not not true\" He tried to rectify the scientist.\n\n\"No it is...there is this guy called Superman and he flies, and then there is this Iron man, green latern and all bunch of people and they fly. I know it\" Scientist claimed with such conviction that even he had to reconsider, \"Ummm...yeah..yeah you are right. I think this superman guy also carries these planes around.\"\n\n\"What about their life cycle\" Secretary asked and he answered. \"Humans are ofcourse unique and run by solar energy\" He nodded. To scientist's dismay, he never heard anything about human's power source. He assumed, like all aliens, they took injectibles. \"Solar energy?\"\n\n\"Yes...So when sun is not out...they fall down, like dead and when sun comes up, they are alive again. I think they call it sleeping\" Scientist nodded. \"Yes...that must be it. And their favourite activity is working and complaining.\"\n\nHe had never heard of 'work' or seen any of them work so he agreed. Scientist further continued, \"because they are always worried about something..and complain about it. So they must like doing it.. and they also work..sometimes half of the day. Obviously, they love working a lot\" He nodded in agreement. \"Yes...Work... I used to love work. I did so many work at one time that I was happy for a month\"\n\nScientist, now having earned the approval continued, \"And they have a giant hole called 'Love' I have heard...from my cousin ofcourse that many humans are lost to it. Everyone keeps falling in it.:\n\n\"If there is a massive hole that everyone keeps falling in...why don't they simply walk around it?\" Secretary asked to which he answered. \"Oh...it's because this hole roams around in atmosphere. That's why they say 'Love is in the air tonight, stay safe'\" Scientist had heard both phrases though separately. He never thought they could be connected.\n\n\"So do they die once they fall in?\" Secretary asked. \"Umm..some come out of it..and others simply live in love\" Scientist replied. \n\nWith agreement, they drafted first chapter on humans, that discussed their solar powered nature though their bloodlust to hunt plants. Their friendship with chickens, their enemies called Bird and giant flying hole predator called love. Their love for work and complaining. With this new chapter, Aliens will sure know a lot about humans.", "\"So the short man with the glasses is in a relationship with that taller blonde lady? And this is funny because he is a -nerd- and would not typically be dating someone that pretty?\"\n\n\"Yes Zorbo that's entirely correct. The premise of the show is that we're watching these awkward scientists navigate through the complex social systems that we have on Earth. You see, there's a hierarchy based purely on visual appearance. Here on Aortum Prime we value intelligence but on Earth, this is reversed and they judge one another by how attractive someone is. This is defined by a group called the Nielsen Committee, and they essentially publish the rules and guides for what we as a species will find attractive.\"\n\n\"That's fascinating Tom! This Nielsen Committee must wield considerable power?\"\n\n\"Complete power. They have total control over many different aspects of human life on Earth, but if we can go back to -\"\n\n\"I'd really like to talk about Nielsen more, is this a democratically selected group?\"\n\n\"Um...yes in a way. Democracy is really the backbone of our society on Earth, and we vote on everything. I remember we had one Elective Government Cycle where the votes were so close that the two candidates had to face each other in a boxing match, you may remember it from the dramatisation in Rocky IV?\"\n\n\"Ah! That was indeed a marvellous movie. I always thought it was about overcoming great odds - Marba, did you know this?\"\n\n\"I do recall that the movie was about boxing, but I suppose there could have been subtext that we simply wouldn't understand. For such a powerful organisation, I'm surprised they've never come up before. I don't know about you, but Earth life is very complicated. Anyway folks, that's all we have time for today but tune in next week for Tom's Hour with Marba and Zorbo and of course, the human himself, Tom!\"\n\nAnother week, another episode. Tom ran straight to his dressing room to write down his notes before comparing them to his previous ones. The lies were so numerous at this point that he needed to fact check himself at every opportunity. He scribbled down the key comments he made so that he would not trip himself up in the future. He heard a knock at the door, and quickly hid his book.\n\n\"Come in.\" It was Zorbo.\n\n\"Tom, really good stuff this week. Earth is a peculiar planet, but I am glad you are here to help us understand it.\"\n\n\"Oh yes of course.\"\n\n\"Listen, I was talking to Quaat over at weather and remember how you told us about the acid rain that would melt buildings? Well she got her data report back and apparently found that although there was acid rain, the damage was negligible - hardly a concern as she put it.\"\n\n\"That's interesting. I'm glad they found a fix because it was a nightmare! I've got to rush off now though, got another book signing if you can believe it.\"\n\nTom had published four volumes about Earth, discussing everything from its inception through evolution until the current day. It was a remarkable achievement, particularly for a man who was abducted at the age of three, and therefore knew nothing about his home planet.\n\n\"Before you go, can you just clarify one more thing for me? My assistant pointed out that on last week's show you mentioned Earth had hover cars like we do, but the week before that you said humans were restricted to wheel based transport?\"\n\nA small bead of sweat dripped from Tom's forehead.\n\n\"Yes yes. You see the cars themselves have wheels and that is of course how they, sorry, we would get around but then some of us were lucky enough to have vehicles capable of flight. It's been so long since I've been home I sometimes get forgetful.\"\n\n\"Sure thing. By the way, I just finished reading your book for the second time. That chapter on the oceans was so interesting; how fortunate your species is to be surrounded by water they can drink when we have to process our own.\"\n\n\"Yep that's Earth alright. Anyway, I'll catch you later I have to get my taxi now.\"\n\nTom quickly hurried past his colleague at the TV station and ran downstairs. A car was waiting for him so he jumped in the back and took out his notes again.\n\n\"'ey mister, ain't you that guy from the TV? The human fella?\"\n\n\"Yes that's me, pleasure to meet you.\"\n\n\"Oh boy a celebrity in my taxi. What an honour. Tom the Human, I gotta ask you a few questions. How scary were those..those...dinosaur creatures?\"\n\n\"They were truly terrifying. Giant beasts with wings, scales, horns and rows upon rows of teeth. It's a miracle they didn't wipe us all out but once we invented fire we were able to fight them off in the Great War.\"\n\n\"Wowie. Unbelievable. Oh another question, my daughter'll love this! You always say that human's favourite food is fried chicken, can you tell me more about fried chicken?\"\n\n\"The thing I miss most about Earth! Those delicious sweet flavours, good fried chicken was always soft and sweet and wet, very wet. It is true that we humans on Earth love fried chicken. It's much like growing va'arth here. We first put the egg in fertile ground, and then heat it from the top with a red light - it has to be red to allow the egg to grow. The legs come out first, and eventually the body follows. My parents used to tell me the secret was when you touched their feet, if the soil moved they were ready to harvest. You pull up the whole bird and place it in the fry cook, which is a machine that would prepare the chicken in the correct manner.\"\n\n\"Maybe I'm misremembering, I thought chickens came from a farm?\"\n\n\"You are confused sir, cows came from the farm yes but chickens were grown.\"\n\n\"No I'm pretty sure it was the other way round.\"\n\nTom laughed nervously. He didn't need to reply as they arrived at his destination. He stepped out of the car to a large crowd cheering for him. The advert for his new book was in the window of the shop: \"Earth - The Only Facts You Need to Know\"." ]	3
	[WP]There is a new machine that lets you examine your memories, the police are examining the memories of a guy who claims they did not commit murder despite all of the evidence, but he was right, the memories are very different from the evidence, memories show him celebrating a bday party at 8pm.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"Do you understand your rights ?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\nThis is impossible. I know I didn't do it.\n\n••• \n\n\"Mr. Smith, the evidence they have is incontrovertible; based on that evidence, you will be convicted. Are you certain you want to plead not guilty?\"\n\n\"Mr. Dewy, if you will not accept my clear statement of innocence as the truth, you are not my lawyer. I did not do it, and I will not plea bargain for something I did not do! I was at a birthday party!\"\n\n\"I understand, but no one at that party will admit you were present!\"\n\n\"This is insane! I was there! I remember talking to at least six people!\"\n\n\"Mr. Smith, there is an alternative to a trial by your peers. I hesitate to recommend it because of the results so far. If you accept, you will not go to a traditional trial. Instead, the Judge, the prosecution, and I will work out a series of questions. On the basis of our unanimous understanding of the results, the judge will render the verdict.\n\n\"In a capital crime of murder, there are only two outcomes—innocence or guilty of murder in the first degree. In the latter case, execution is immediate. There is no appeal and no protection against testifying against yourself.\"\n\n\"What the hell?\"\n\n\"Your memory is consulted. If your memory shows that you could not have committed the murder, you go free.\"\n\n\"You're shitting me. We haven't got that sort of tech! It would be all over the news!\"\n\n\"This offer is being made only in capital cases, in limited jurisdictions, and only with full disclosure to the involved parties.\"\n\n\"How accurate is it?\"\n\n\"There's the rub. In clinical trials, the memoriser has 100% accuracy. In these legal trials, every case has ended in a guilty verdict and execution.\"\n\n\"How... How many trials?\"\n\n\"Fifty-three. In all cases, the evidence was as airtight as yours. Most of those individuals would have been alive had they plea-bargained. Later evidence might have come to light, freeing them. Do you see? It isn't that I do not believe you. I'm trying to keep you alive.\"\n\n\"Thank you, Mr. Dewy. How long do I have to decide?\"\n\n\"Until the day before your first trial date, which is about six months from now. The courts are terribly overloaded; that's the only reason this new method is being tested.\"\n\n\"How many cases have you taken to the memory test?\"\n\n\"Fifteen.\"\n\n\"Can we go over the evidence between us?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Let's use some of that time to check the evidence. Maybe they've made a mistake.\"\n\n\"I'm glad you aren't jumping into the fire without looking first.\"\n\n••• \n\n\"Your Honor, Mr. Smith, after careful consideration, has chosen the memory test.\"\n\n\"Another one? Mr. Dewy, I am about ready to tell those idiots to take their death trap home and never mention it again! What makes you think this one is going to end any different?\"\n\n\"All other participants leaped at the chance. Mr. Smith chose to spend two months in prison, working through the evidence with me. Throughout, he has remained adamant that he did not commit the crime, and the information he provided tightens his time window to the birthday party that he remembers attending.\"\n\n\"Your Honor, the prosecution does not wish to participate in what it has come to view as the summary execution of the mentally deranged. We refuse to participate.\"\n\n\"Your Honor, the choice of participation is not in the hands of the prosecution. If the attorney for the prosecution does not wish to participate, then the prosecutor's office can appoint a new prosecutor.\"\n\n\"Your Honor, the office of the prosecutor declines to provide another prosecutor and respectfully begs the court to refuse another execution by new technology that does not work!\"\n\n\"Your Honor...\"\n\n\"Hold It!\"\n\n...\n\n\"You each raise valid points. Yet the current law is clear. If Mr. Smith is adamant, we must grant him his choice.\"\n\nBoth attorneys start to speak. \"No. The court will not hear any further arguments. Mr. Dewy, do you have the memoriser agreement with you?\"\n\n\"Yes, Your Honor. Included is a suggested series of questions.\"\n\n\"Very well, the next slot is tomorrow.\"\n\n••• \n\n\"Harry, how can you stand to do this again?\"\n\n\"I did my damnedest to talk him out of it. Then we went over the evidence, and everything matched, except none of the people he remembers talking with were spoken to by the police. The police refused to revisit the case, and none of the people he talked with have returned any calls.\"\n\n\"Great, another ghost.\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"Ghost. No one remembers him or is willing to admit it.\"\n\n\"Only no one has managed to talk with the people he remembers. I have to wonder why that is, Bill.\"\n\n\"Harry? Whatever it is, I don't think we'll like it.\"\n\n\"Bill, I already don't like it.\"\n\n••• \n\nI'm alive? Yes. I believe that I am alive.\n\n\"Welcome back, Mr.Smith.\" That's the judge.\n\n\"I passed?\"\n\n\"Yes, you did, which is a puzzle because we just got additional evidence. Your DNA was found at the crime scene, and none of the people you remember talking with exist.\"\n\n\"Am I still under arrest?\"\n\n\"No, and you cannot be tried again. You, Mr. Smith, have gotten away with murder, literally.\"\n\n\"I DID NOT KILL ANYONE! That's why I agreed to this procedure! I don't care what evidence you come up with, and each of those people damned well does exist! I've known them for years!\"\n\n\"Your memory may be telling you that, but none of the details you've given us about them check out.\"\n\n\"There is something you aren't telling me.\"\n\n\"Yes. I wish I didn't have to tell you this.\"\n\n\"Well...\"\n\n\"Mr. Smith, aside from your records with the court system, you don't exist either.\"\n\n\"I... what?\"\n\n\"You're an unperson. No past, no present, save what you have with us.\"\n\n\"My memories?\"\n\n\"We are guessing, but we think someone figured out how to write memories. Good enough to fool anyone.\"\n\n\"What happens to me?\"\n\n\"I don't know, but there are people here to talk with you. One of them may have an idea.\"\n\n\"Thanks... I think.\"\n\n((finis))", "“false memory implant,” said Derek, the memtech at our branch. \n\n“Yes everyone at the party got implanted too”\n\nDerek returned a confused look, “They must’ve really hated him to all undergo the procedure. Sarge maybe be an asshole but I don’t hate him enough to have someone mess with my brain.”\n\n“Who could’ve pulled an operation this big?” I took a seat and open my notes.\n\n“Beside Rememberance (inventors of technology p) I don’t know. ZQ39 ain’t easy to come only the military and police have access to the amount required to alter the memories of 50 people.”\n\n“The doctors confirmed their bodies didnt show signs of undergoing the procedure. He would’ve got anyway clean if it wasn’t for the bots that saw him and lead us to the murder weapon.”\n\n “Must be something new on the market that does it quietly-“ Derek paused imagining the ramifications.\n\n“This could’ve been a trial run for something bigger this is the second time this year something like this happened. Looks like it’s gonna be a long night”\n\n“How did you catch the last guy?”\n\n“He forgot to wipe the dog”" ]	3
	[WP] All the men and women are standing in line in the field. This is the army you have just raised to fulfill your objectives. Yes, each of these soldiers is standing at attention next to their gravestones, unfazed, unafraid and most of all... undead.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "My men stood their armed and ready, their bones cracked and their flesh rotting. Despite our condition, I still recognised their faces. A quality befitting a captain of this unit. I inspected each one of their bodies, checking the extent of decomposition. Jessica's arms barely hanged on, Robert's femur had a whole crack running through it. This was definitely going to be our last mission. Despite the efforts of the necromancers, they could only slow down the rate of decomposition and we too will have to join the earth soon. As all things should.\n\nWe hurried our way to the rally point, every step slowly grinding our bones to dust. We were there on a mission. A mission to defend the city of Nekropolis. The commander hurriedly gave us the order. There was no time for an intricate battle plan. The only objective was to delay the enemy. \n\nOver the limestone walls we saw them. A red wave of flesh that consumed the living in their path. Plants and animals alike. The mass of incomprehensible limbs and tendons quickly making their way to the city. My second in command stood by me.\n\n\"This is it, isn't? Our last moments of resurrection spent on a mission. With no time to say our final goodbyes to our love ones\", she said.\n\n\"Those are only reserved for the top officials in the military. They have to preserve our bodies as much as possible with what little necromancy they would use on us\", I said. \n\n\"Captain, since this is our last moment together. Would you promise me one thing? If there is an afterlife, would you stand by me? Like you stood by us on that faithful day?\"\n\n\"Of course, always\"\n\nDespite only having a skull left for a face I could tell that she gave me a smile. We naturally readied ourselves for battle in formation, honed from years of experience. We stood there, taking the full force of the pestilence. As they climbed the walls, caking the surface in their blood and viscera. As iron met against flesh. \n\nOutsiders may find it ironic that the all consuming pestilence would come after an undead city. But we still had our family and friends, who are all living, to protect. Our bodies are just vessels to carry the real person within, our souls. Outsiders may never understand this. They revile us as abominations against nature's order. But we will gladly take those criticism to protect those that matter to us.", "The Pope of Pestilence \n\nA dark mist had plagued the town tonight. Unbeknownst to the town folk, they were witnessing a miracle. A Great Summoning. \nAs the idle town folk shuffled in their sleep and children nudged against their mothers in the night, something sinister had been stirring across the town, the stench of death carried by this grey putrid mist. \n\nGrismere the Cardinal, as he was once known, closed the Book of Rybure with his long bony fingers. Grismere had never liked to dwell on the past, history had only served him humiliation and defeat. The loss of love, the death of his two daughters, Mirian's betrayal. \n\n\"Hrrrr\", Grismere gurgled under his breath pushing away the memories that only brought him pain and anguish. Today, he had no time for grief. Rage and rot was on his mind, and he savoured every minute of this grave pestilence. \n\n\"Hmmmmmm\", Grismere hummed and took in a deep long breath. He breathed in the grey mist with deep satisfaction. \n\n\"My rotten legions ! My children ! I have summoned you on this new moon night. Tonight, we feast on the corrupt Cardinals and these overfed town folk of Angol, these wretched men, women and children !\", Grismere rasped.\n\nThree hundred and twenty one bodies shuffled restlessly, scratching the melting flesh dripping off their bones. Grismere smiled as he watched over his army of undead standing next to their graves. \n\nThe spell had been cast successfully. He would finally have his vengeance. \n\nMore undead bodies were creeping out of the soil, covered in mud and a thick grey mist. \n\nGrismere's eyes searched for his undead commander, the spell had promised him a champion and Grismere had sacrificed something dear to him for such a champion. Even the memory of his precious made his heart ache. \n\n\"AAAOOOOUUUHHHH\", One of the undeads bellowed from the back. The army of undead screeched wildly as one of those undead thundered loundly to the front, violently shoving aside anyone that dared block his path.\n\n\"Oooo bloat and bile !\" Grismere grinned with pleasure. Once again, the spell had worked. \n\nThis particular undead was no ordinary heap of bone and flesh. The spell had transformed his body into a gigantic size, bloated from all sides, bile dripping from his punctured organs, corrupting the very soil that it touched. \nJagged stones of obsidian poked outward from his back and his enormous arms had enough strength to uproot an iron pole from the graveyard. \n\n\"Rybrone, summoned by Rybure, is at your service !\",croaked the giant undead, Rybrone. However, the voice belonged to a creature from something beyond. A sinister voice of sinister origins, the one that had aided Grismere to cast this unholy spell. \n\n\n\"Rybrone ! You shall command this legion of undead for me and onwards we shall march to the town of Angol ! Plague everything in your path and stop at nothing ! By dawn, we shall feast on the Cardinals of the Divine Temple of Angolas !\" Grismere commanded. \n\nGrismere watched his army march forward. Oh sweet sepsis ! How long had he waited for this day and only he could fathom the sacrifice that could have completed his spell.", "(my English is bad)\n\nMy country always had a lack of man power, so when war broke up, we were in need of people to be the front line. \n\nAt the start, the government started encouraging people to join the military through digital means, such as replacing all advertisements with propoganda. Due to the lack of increase in volunteers, and the war getting more intense, nearly 70% of the population was conscripted. The only reason the last 30% were allowed to not be on the front lines were that they needed to support the rest of the people. Without food, however many people you have doesn't mean anything.\n\nAll scientists were tasked with a way to increase the number of units, I decided to go with \"resurrecting\" the dead, along with a few other scientists. After all, the dead cannot die again, essentially making them immortal, they also don't need resources to sustain. Of course, it isn't a real resurrection, I just needed their bodies, since making a new body for each unit was too expensive to be worth it in combat.\n\nAfter several months, we dug up a whole cementary of bodies, and planted what we called the \"brain\" into their chest, which has the most cushioning, so even if the units themselves are destroyed, we are still able to received their brains for usage. The brain allows them to move their muscles through electrical signals (provided that the muscles weren't too damaged). They are not able to think freely or feel fear, all they know how to do is follow orders." ]	4
	[WP] With steady advances in demonology, each year increases the risk of accidentally summoning Lucifer, the ruler of Hell, who is powerful enough to destroy the world. Most wizards don't know this. The Institute of Theoretical Demon Containment is desperately trying to raise awareness.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "“Bah! What malarkey!” shouted the portly wizard. “We have been increasing the power of summoning circles for 20 years! And look at the benefits! Demons working in industry! Demons planting crops! Demon doing risky and dangerous jobs, instead of risking human labourers! You would deny us scientific progress, the fruits of our research?”\n\nThe wizard from ITDC, wearing an ink-stained robe, adjusted his glasses.“Ahem… surely as you summon demons that are more and more powerful, you must consider the question of keeping them safely under your control-”\n\nHe was interrupted by shouts and jeers from the audience “Put it in a pentagram! Do a binding ritual!”\n\nThe speaker continued “We… believe that as demons become more powerful, they become more difficult to control by such methods, better at finding loopholes in your orders or weaknesses in your defences. As the Yrmlean Demon Massacre of 1431 demonstrates-”\n\n“They were fools! The Yrmleans were fools! Our demon containment is state-of-the-art!”, shouted a pimply youth, mostly likely a recent graduate from the prestiguous Academy of Demonology. Another wizard continued “Who cares! If demons escape control, they areeasy enough to kill! At most they’ll slaughter a bunch of useless civilians!”\n\nThe speaker adjusted his glasses again, and seemingly with a force of will, responded in a calm voice “This may yet be the case, but we must look to the future, when a powerful demon escaping control might not be so easily contained-”\n\n“Bah!”, jeered the portly wizard again, his cheeks now red with indignation. “You would tells stories of cheap fiction of the kind of scares peasants who bares know how to read! Who ever heard of powerful demons like that! Demonology is a serious science! It has no place for silly stories, or your kind of dangerous, irresponsible alarmism!”\n\n“But surely-”, responded the speaker, now looking completely baffled, “surely you are aware that the demonology of today can do things that our ancestors could only dream of. Can you not imagine what will happen should such progress continue, that was today is fiction might soon become reality?”\n\nSome of the audience started booing again. “Now, now!” said a dignified-looking elderly wizard, calming down the audience with a gesture. “Our esteemed guest raises an… interesting point, even if unsupported by evidence. But it is too early to speak of such things. Such powerful demons, that your theory speaks of, remain at least 20 years away. No serious researcher will consider working on this question, yet”\n\n“We think”, said the speaker, now starting to sound defeated, “that Hell might be deliberately sending us weaker demons to lull us into a false sense of security, so that once we have created sufficient demon-summoning infrastructure its fell armies might descend upon us in a dread tide from which no man, woman, or child would be spared, or perhaps that a single demon would be summoned that is so powerful that even all of us together would have no hope of stopping its bloody rampage-”\n\nThis time the chorus of boos was loud enough to drown all voices completely. Eventually some of the more outraged wizards carried the speaker off the stage. The lecture had failed.", "My name is Evangela Htilil. And I am currently running to prevent what could very well be a catastrophe. Not just for The institute of Theoretical Demon Containment, but for the world as well. \n\nYou see, magic has existed since the beginning of time. Naturally, us magic users would research more and more about the powers it is capable of granting us, as well as it's limits. From conjuring up a small gust of wind to summoning a demon as your personal slave and servant. Magic allows us users to do what many spectators believe to be the impossible. However, it's the latter. The summoning of demons as slaves/servants is what caused a great rift of concern for many of us, and the eventually founding of this institution.\n\nAs time went on, and more wizards were finding more and more forms of powerful magic. The stakes, the risks, and the sacrifices became more and more greater. It didn't help that the summoning of demons from hell itself was becoming a common commodity for many wizards. The stronger the caster, the stronger the demon that they could summon. Bonus points if they could also implement more restrictions to them upon summoning.\n\nOf course, there were many paranoid magic users that fear that we were playing with forces that we do not truly understand, and naturally feared that summoning the ruler of hell itself could spell disaster. Honestly, their paranoia could've saved us all. The institution was designed to implement harsh restrictions on these kinds of dark arts and summons. While sealing away those demons who have become far too chaotic to be controlled, or may even have corrupted their own masters.\n\nThey may have been summoned as familiars, but neither side treat them as such. At least, in my eyes. But of course, the majority of my opinions remain invalidated. It also didn't help that I come from a clergy sort of background, so many of my relatives and others have ridiculed me for even entertaining the thought of attempting to treat these creatures as a person instead of a thing.\n\nBut that does not matter now. I have to hurry, those foolish wizards are attempting the impossible, and I fear that whole world will live just long enough to regret allowing them to live here. If.....it ever was by choice.\n\n\"STOP!\" I yelled as I use my magic to burst my way inside. I could see it. A group of wizards standing in a significant spot on the outside of the glowing pentagram. I could feel the devilish dark arts flowing throughout the room. \"You shouldn't be doing this!\" \"Silence heathen!\" Stated Melvic. Consider to be one of the most highest ranking magic users within this institution, and one of the members of the order. \"We know what we are doing. It would be wise for you not to dare intervene.\"\n\n\"I would be a fool if I did not!\" I retorted. \"Especially since you're attempting to summon Lucy Himself! After all the time and effort we put into warning others against such an attempt, they meant nothing to you!?\"\n\nMelvic turned to me. \"I won't dare to deny such effort. However, their heads are harder than stone, and we both know that it'll only be a matter of time before someone foolishly manages to pull it off. You see Htilil? We are only doing this as a lesson, to prove to them the dangers and errors of their ways. Once we have conveyed our message, we will send him back to which he came and seal away any attempts of summoning him once more.\" He answered my question with such bizarre logic.\n\n\"You do realize that you are becoming the very thing which you swore to prevent. Which is why I will do what I must.\" I uttered. I casted a spell that would damage the ritual enough to delay it at least. But it failed as a forcefield had absorbed the oncoming projectile. \"Good luck with that.\" Said Melvic. \"As you will need some serious skill and fire power to undo Goron's shield.\n\nI should have known, Goron was stated to be the best when it came to defensive spells. Whether it be enhancing armor or shields, wall constructs and forcefield, or even a blessed runic marking. It was said that Goron's spell were near impervious to destruction.\n\n\"Melvic!\" Another voice spoke. \"Ignore any distractions and focus. Don't forget how easy it is to mess this up.\" \"Of course.\" Melvic replied. We stare at each other once more before he turned back to the ritual.\n\nI must stop this. No matter what. I threw and cast every spell I could of think in terms of great power, but nothing worked. The forcefield was eating it up. In a final desperation, I repeatedly threw fireballs at it. Hoping it would be just effective enough to weaken the field and eventually let it crumble. But it seems that my attempt was in vain. The ritual had been complete, I could only stand there and watch as the unholy one, arose from the portal." ]	3
Repost of [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/gz6213/wp_homeless_hopeless_and_alone_you_happen_to_die/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share).	[WP] Homeless, hopeless, and alone, you happen to die while tripping on psychedelics. Now you stand before Death, the first human to ever die with absolutely no possessions, not even an ego.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Death stared down at me, and I could not meet its gaze. The world around me had been drained of its color, the distortion of the fading psychedelic high transmuted into a coating of gray and green dust that seemed to hang in the very air I struggled to breathe.\n\nIt spoke wordlessly, “It is time.”\n\nThe meaning was self-evident. I looked at my hands, expecting them to have transformed as my surroundings had, but found them unchanged. I twisted around on the spot, searching for my corpse, wondering how it was that I died so suddenly.\n\n“Cease. You will not find it.”\n\nConfused, I glanced up to see a nothingness in place of the face I feared. The abyss stared back at me and I could feel it corroding my soul with each impossibly infinitely long passing second.\n\n“You delay the inevitable?”\n\nI stammered, unsure of what to say in the face of the unvarnished immensity of the being perched before me upon a great pillar of nothingness.\n\nChurning in my desiccated throat, my voice caught like rusted gears and ground out these words, “What? How did I…? When…? Why?”\n\nExistence fell silent as it spoke, “You cannot proceed while you still hold on to your worldly possessions.”\n\nI coughed, then choked, then laughed like I haven’t laughed in years.\n\n“What possessions? Look at me, I mean really, look at me! I’ve got nothing in this world man, nothing at all. No money, no stuff, no home, no one waiting for me in my nonexistent home, no friends or family, nothing!”\n\n“You cannot proceed.”\n\n“Why? Huh?! Why?!” I spat the words, a lifetime of repressed resentment and pain balled up into a verbal punch swung wildly at an immaterial opponent.\n\n“What the hell do you want me to give up?! The last thing I ever owned was those pills I popped, and unless you expect me to dig them out of my rotting corpse, I don’t know how I can get rid of them.”\n\nTears started spilling free down my spectral flesh, the salt saturating my tongue as I continued to fight my final battle.\n\n“Hell, I don’t even have an ego… I’m not even human, just a mistake given life in some sort of cruel cosmic joke. You know what I saw when I was on those psychedelics? Man, I saw my place in the universe, how small and insignificant I am. I saw how I’m worthless in every sense of the word. Worthless. As in without worth. No worth. Zero worth. Absolutely no value to anyone including myself. And now what’s left of the waste of flesh I inhabited is literal trash headed for some city incinerator… and a soul that even death itself won’t take. C’mon, please man, just tell me, have mercy, what, what is it that you want from me?”\n\nDeath seemed to grow in size to fill my vision, blurred as it was by the steady streams still pouring from my eyes.\n\n“You must give it up”\n\nIt was too much, too much for me. I hated it, I hated death as much as I hated life. Even death was here to give me once last kick in the ass beyond the grave. And there was nothing I could do because I was nothing, I’d been nothing my whole life and it seemed I was doomed to be nothing for the rest of my death.\n\nIt whispered into my ears with an ancient and icy voice formed from howling astral winds: “I do not speak in riddles. You know deep down what it is that you must give up. The only thing you still possess.”\n\n“No,” I thought, “you can’t have it. It’s all I have left.”\n\n“And that is why we are here,” it said, “you cannot proceed until you surrender it to me.”\n\n“Never. Never in a million, billion, quadrillion years. Not now, not ever, not until the end of time!”\n\nIt said nothing, and in doing so, said everything.\n\nMy voice began to fail me, I felt frail inside and out, “You can’t… you can’t take it from me.”\n\nIt remained silent.\n\n“I won’t… I can’t… why?”\n\n“Do you know why there are spirits that linger in your world?” it said in a voice now softer than starlight on silk.\n\n“…what-“\n\n“Souls cannot depart this world as long as they remain bound to what they had in life. For some, it is their possessions. Or their home, as you put it. Others refuse to move on until their family arrives at my doorstep. There are even those who refuse to accept me as real, and wander the earth continuing to perform the last actions of their life over and over until even they forget why they cared...”\n\nIt came closer, and I was aware I was without form now. It hadn’t moved an inch, and yet it was worlds closer to me.\n\n“You have to give up that which binds you to this place. The only thing you have left. The one thing you held on to for your entire life.”\n\nI blinked, trying to hold back tears and unbidden memories of my life.\n\nI knew what it wanted me to do, but I couldn’t. Not now. Not after everything I had been through.\n\n“You must.“\n\nI turned and looked behind me, at the earth now so small and thin that it almost slipped into the cracks between the planes of existence now visible to my astral eyes. I could still turn back, I could refuse to go-\n\n“Don’t-“ it burst out, conveying the slightest hint of humanity.\n\nI didn’t need to listen, I could refuse…\n\n“Please-“\n\nIt was the only thing I ever had, the only thing that was ever mine and mine alone.\n\n“Wait-“\n\nI stepped across the space, closer and closer to earth.\n\nIt was mine.\n\nThe voice of death was immaterial and etherial, now unable to reach me as I crossed the barrier between worlds and back to the place where my bloating body lay still in the unlit street.\n\nBack to my suffering, my pain, my anger, the only thing that was ever mine in the world." ]	2
	[WP] You are a human born in a world where names are assigned at birth, the name is given to you by a diving oracle. Every name dictates the profession you will have later in life. However your name appears to be “Demon Lord”	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"I don't make the rules,\" wheezed the withered crone as she handed my parents a scepter of bone. \"I just give the names. Make sure he gets this on his 16th birthday. He'll need it.\"\n\nThat was, apparently, all the advice The Namer had been willing to share on the day she pronounced me Demon Lord. Other infants had perfectly standard names. Root would one day work in the fields. Poppy would work in medicine and alchemy. But what did a Demon Lord do?\n\nThe scepter was cold against my thigh as it hung from my belt like a club. Stave shaped, it resembled a slightly bowed tibia with a small skull affixed to the end, which knocked against my knee with each step. It was not a human skull. That is to say, I'd not seen fangs like that on any human I'd ever met. They were razor sharp and stuck out in a slight overbite. If I wasn't careful, well, I'd ruin yet another pair of pants this month.\n\nThe scepter was not the only gift I received on my birthday. Having been gawky and accident prone my whole childhood, I was surprised to find that the uneven cobblestones on the road to village no longer caused my ankles to roll or knees to jolt. Increased strength and agility, sensitive hearing, sharp eyes, all had simply exploded into my awareness at midnight. That was nice. The structure of my body seemed to inflate with my new competencies. I caught my reflection in the pool as I readied for the day only to discover that I was suddenly... hot. And bothered by it.\n\nIt wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, though. The opposite, in fact. My hair and fingernails darkened as if they had been dyed and painted. Those changes I could deal with. The oddest change, though, was my eye. My right eye was enshrouded in pitch black. No pupil, no iris, no whites... wholly and completely black. As if there was no eye at all, but a bottomless hole. My vision didn't suffer. In fact, I began to see in new ways. But I'll get to that later.\n\nThe Namer had said I would need my scepter but, thus far, it had been useless. Nearly a month since my birthday and all my peers are well underway in their apprenticeships. Hunter worked with the hounds to run down deer. Joy told stories and sang songs. Brook irrigated fields and maintained the wells. Everyone else had someone to look to. To teach them. I had a scepter, a permanent costume, and a warning.\n\nMy hair fell over my eyes as I stooped to tie the laces on my boot. It was the most productive thing I'd done all day. It had been a couple weeks since I'd idly strolled through town as I used to. Everyone was busy but me. My new appearance was novel for a time but the looks I'd receive from peers quickly turned from amusement to annoyance as I loitered whilst they toiled. Their parents never seemed to find the amusement, leaping directly to mistrust or naked animosity. Except for one or two of the village wives... but I wasn't so stupid as to explore that scenario.\n\nSo I spent most of my time at home. I walked and pondered on my calling. I waved my scepter around. I helped my mother, Rosemary, in the garden. It had always been just the two of us. My father died before I was born, lost in some kind of accident while out in the bush. No one is quite sure what happened, only that he did not return. There were some few whispers about his disappearance but most seemed to take it as fact that he perished. I harbored secret hopes of his return, having been injured and taken in by some other village far afield, returning after years of healing. It was a happy fantasy but I rarely indulged the thought for long.\n\nMy father's name was Shadow and I'm told he was the best tracker the region had ever seen. He joined the hunters often but his skills were in tracking the movement of game throughout the seasons. He would direct the hunters when to hunt, the fisherman when to fish, the trappers when to trap, etc. When Shadow was still young, the village had ignored his advice to avoid fishing a fork of the green river. To their shame, the salmon population has still not recovered.\n\nThe absence of a teacher caused me to feel the absence of a father more keenly. Don't get me wrong, my mother is brilliant. Her advice is always true, her wit sharp. Everything I know I owe to my mother. But I can't help but feel that my father would know where to track down the answers I so desperately need.\n\nI was thus trudging through rough cut trails and pining for guidance when the course of my fortune changed. I removed the scepter from my belt, held it aloft and shouted, \"What the hell do I do with you?!\"\n\nA hiss of wind swept through the nearby meadow and rattled the trees at the wood's edge. Shadows shifted and congealed behind, and riding upon them was a sonorous voice. \"A Lord does not ask. A Lord commands.\"\n\nI was too astonished to move. Stepping from the trees, but not into the sunshine, was a tattered black cowl that seemed to be missing anything resembling feet, arms, wheels or whatever else might propel it forward. It simply floated, hood cocked to one side as if studying me. I wished whoever was screaming would stop because I had questions. Oh... it was me.\n\nMy wail of terror choked off but, as if a dam had broken, my questions spilled forth in terrified gasps. \"WHAT in the FUCK?! WHA... WHO... Stop, don't wait! No, I mean, wait! Who the HELL are you?!\"\n\n\"A Lord commands,\" came again the ringing voice.\n\nI noticed the scepter on the ground at my feet. Someone must have dropped it. I hurriedly scooped it up and brandished it at the spooky bedsheet before me. \"Tell me who you are!\"\n\n\"I am the Tutor,\" it bowed. \"Lord, your training must begin. There is little time.\"\n\nThe cowl raised its eyes... er, face... face hole... to the sky and said the most terrifying words yet. \"He comes.\"\n\nI'm not proud of what happened next. There was some running, some gibbering. A lot of panicking. I don't want to talk about it. Suffice it to say, I found myself white as a sheet, crashing through the door to my home only to slam it behind me. Mom was at the counter chopping herbs. \"Is the cooper boy after you again? He knows I have a knife, right?\"\n\nI didn't answer. Instead I flung myself into a rocking chair and put my hands over my heart to stop my chest from heaving so hard. The terror abated slowly. I knew I hadn't imagined what occurred. I had asked a question with my scepter. Something had responded. It made a nightmarish kind of sense.\n\n\"What's gotten into you?\" asked Mom. She moved from the counter to stand before me in the rocker. Mom was not tall, but she could seem so when necessary. She eyed me sternly, apron soiled, graying hair pulled back. \"Out with it.\"\n\nSo I told her.\n\n\"And you... ran away?\" she asked, aghast.\n\n\"Yep.\"\n\n\\----------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nI am sleepy. Might keep going later." ]	2
	[WP] The Summoning was perfect and the demon bound to its circle when your mother walked in. Instead of yelling, she looked the demon over, sighed, and said, “This isn’t exactly how I wanted you to meet your grandmother.”	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"Which one mother, paternal or maternal?\" \"Paternal. As in, my mother-in-law from hell itself. Why the heck did you even want to meet her, sweetie?\" \"Her recipe books, as I recall that despite you being at each other's throats when she was alive, you did acknowledge that she was an amazing cook, housekeeper, seamstress, and laundry matron. A shame that she never let anyone have her recipe guide books when she died while I was younger. I seek to rectify this oversight, so we could hopefully make the more edible ones together. Mostly because I got to taste her homemade fudge only once before she died, and never had another opportunity to eat it again. So I figured that I try summoning her through a demon circle to learn her secrets.\"\n\nMy paternal demon nana is a bit surprised to learn exactly why I wanted to meet her, as her fudge recipe was legendarily delicious in our family, but gladly handed over her recipe guide books without question. A bit later, my mother scolds me for summoning a demon in the living room after I had what I desired, even if it was my nana, but is grateful that she has access to the old bat's recipes once again, as she also wanted access to her fudge recipe as well. Her mother-in-law might have been a demon from hell, but she was an affable demon that only hated my mom for stealing her son from her.\n\nI look over the stack of books Nana Gladys handed over, containing her recipes, and noticed that one of them covered recipes and tips for household cleaners and laundry care that will keep one's house always clean and one's clothes always cared for. Awesome, now I'll be able to keep house in a decade or so when I'm on my own. \"So what now?\" \"We have these books properly typed up and bound, then keep them in the bridal chest you've been saving for when I eventually marry. Though we will pull them out from time to time so I can practice using their secrets.\" \"Sounds good sweetie.\" The end." ]	2
	[WP] As an intergalactic criminal, you are marooned on an arid planet. But in truth, you don't mind the penalty as long as you have the inter-dimensional vending machine. Sometimes you get weird food, like cragmite caviar, but today, you get a can with a note saying this is your last meal and a gun.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "(Part 1)\n\n\"Seems I'll have to say goodbye to you soon, Percy.\"\n\nPercy stared back up at him, yet there was no response. So he stared out towards the horizon. The two suns, one of blazing blue, the other a dull red, were setting, casting all manner of colours across the desert. It had been a scorching day, so the drop in temperature was appreciated. Anders looked back down to Percy: a slight breeze rustled the spines along his surface, giving the plant movement, even if the face carved upon it remained motionless. The chunk that Anders had once taken out of Percy had healed, leaving no trace.\n\n\"I remember when I tried to eat you. You turned out to be poisonous, and I would not stop spewing for days. All of the others are the same type as you, so no food there.\"\n\nHe looked to see if Percy was paying attention.\n\n\"That's right. They aren't sending me anything else.\" He took the can out of his pocket with his shaking left hand. \"My last meal. Sent me a gun to finish myself off. Left it in the cave for now.\" He put the can back. \"I want to wait for a while before I eat anything. Give myself time to decide.\"\n\nHe felt the need to produce tears, as this moment was supposed to be sad. He was too dehydrated, unfortunately, as he hadn't felt like going to the water source today.\n\n\"We might talk again Percy, but I'm not sure. So, if this is farewell: goodbye, my friend.\" He patted the plant between the spines, and started clambering back down to his cave.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nAs the light disappeared, Anders sat down in front of a slab of rock, which he'd made into an impromptu desk. He picked up the fossilised bone he'd found in one hand, and in the other he held a small pebble. Over the last year, he'd been shaping it into his old ship from memory. He'd managed to complete the wings, the engines and the cockpit, yet there was still much to do. Too much to get done in the time he had left. Frustrated, he threw it out of the cave and looked to his earlier works. His entire crew, made from pebbles, every single one of them. Yet, after so long on the planet, he struggled to recall their names. There was nothing else to do but to go to sleep; he thought, maybe in his dreams, he would remember.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nHe awoke just as the suns were starting to rise. From his vantage point at the mouth of the cave, he watched the edge of the blue sun creep ever higher, the light crawling across the burnt land. He had dreamt last night, but not of his crew: instead, images of dust storms and the dry husks he called plants filled every corner of his mind. As the red sun came into view, he contemplated the gun in his right hand. It was a cheap thing, something guards were usually provided with in remote stations and outposts, but then why would they send him anything else if it does the job? He placed the gun on a rock and picked up the can. There was no label on it, so he pulled the tab and yanked it open. As he suspected, the food inside was a block of protein, without flavour, of the kind he'd once been fed while in prison. He tore off a piece and chewed it languidly. Sure enough, it failed to satisfy him. He replaced the lid.\n\nBoth suns were in full view now. The valley below the rock tower on which he stood was carpeted by a thick forest of the same plant as Percy, as far as the eye could see. A few low mountains loomed above the canopy, casting their shadows wide. Anders had explored far into the forest; as far as he could tell, the entire planet looked much the same as his view from the cave. Feeling the familiar sense of boredom returning, he decided to go to his water source. Hugging the wall, he climbed down the steps cut into the rock. These already existed when he arrived, suggesting that the planet had been used to maroon others before him. He had also found marks on a wall deeper into the cave, which had faded beyond recognition. Halfway down the stairway, he nearly slipped on a pebble, but he steadied himself as it tumbled down into the valley, it's sound echoing off the mountains. After twenty minutes, he had reached the valley floor and carefully made his way through the spiny plants, towards the east.", "Mira stepped inside the aluminum shack, the welcoming blast of aircon slapping her in the face. It was followed by the sharp stench of coolant, an unfortunate side effect of the tech that she'd have to live with. At least it provided some respite while the mercury ran over one-twenty underneath the beating sun.\n\nShe needed her spells outside to prevent sunburn and heatstroke, and with the lifeless environment there was little to draw from to replenish her tank. So she kept her daytime expeditions to a minimum, only exploring and salvaging the derelict wrecks in the evening.\n\nLooking out through the plexiglas window, the only thing she saw was sand. Cracked, compacted, and with barely a hint of green within. They wanted her to go insane from the loneliness.\n\nMemories flashed back before her eyes. The failed revolution, the Elven Aria dynasty beating back her comrades who'd been a hair's breadth away from taking down the monarchs. Utopia was merely a myth, and they brainwashed the populace into loyal automatons while the one percent lived like royalty.\n\nAria didn't kill the rebel leaders, they exiled them. It looked good when they showed mercy. Her and ten others were dropped off on barely livable backwater planets. Food and drink were provided via portal daily, technically keeping them alive and fed.\n\nMira glanced around the shack, built over the years from whatever scraps she could find. A battered cryosleep casket took up one corner, the lid missing. The padded vinyl chamber was clean though, and thus it became her bed. A few tools, a table and chairs, her workbench. Flown on the ceiling was the heavy air-conditioning unit, hooked up to a naval power cell in a shed outside. It was useless for intergalactic travel but the residual energies would power her base for years.\n\nAnd standing in the middle of it all was what she dubbed the \"vending machine\". It was bright red, emblazoned with the gold insignia of Aria. Even out in deep space the device was a constant reminder of their power. The front had a sealed door, and three times a day a meal would appear within.\n\nAt this moment, the machine trilled with the tinkling of chimes. Lunchtime. Mira grinned as she flung the door open, the hinges perfectly smooth even in the harsh environment. The box literally oozed magic, though she couldn't draw from it. But the energies traveling through her spine when she stood nearby provided some feeling of life amidst the dead air.\n\nWhat would it be this time? Pizza? A gold-plated chocolate bar? Cragmite caviar? The royals had strange tastes, and she was quite sure her stuff came from their leftovers. After all, only they had the mages on hand to transport her meals several light-years across the ether.\n\nHer eyes squinted as she peered into the polished interior of the box, the puzzled expression on her face morphing into one of surprise. On a plastic tray sat a handwritten note atop a wooden case. The paper was finely textured and featured the royal letterhead.\n\nENJOY YOUR LAST MEAL, BITCH.\n\nMira signed, opening the case to find a gleaming silver-plated Colt 1911 with ivory grips. Surrounding it in foam cutouts were two magazines with seven rounds of .45 ACP each. A literal museum piece.\n\nThat was it. Not even a simple bottle of water. She eyed the pistol and paper with distaste, knowing that she was finished. The generosity of Aria would provide her with fourteen fucking chances to blow her brains out. Just in case her marksmanship qualifications weren't up to snuff.\n\nShe managed a smirk at that, remembering the agitated face of Prince Vilkers before her railgun pellet penetrated his skull five miles away. A sympathetic mage at the coronation had painted the Prince's forehead and her enchanted round had found its mark. That was during a time when they actually had a chance of winning.\n\nMira turned the note over in her hands, finding an additional line on the back.\n\nALL YOUR FRIENDS ALREADY CHOSE TO STARVE TO DEATH. TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT.\n\nShe leaped to her feet, kicking the machine and ripping the sheet to shreds. While there might’ve been a chance that the message was a lie, her mind was too irrational to take that path. Faces flashed before her eyes as she pressed the mag into the Colt with instinctive motions. The hammer automatically snapped back as she racked the slide and thumbed the catch. She was holding the weapon tightly enough that she was certain the additional grip safety was released.\n\nWith shaking hands, she pressed the barrel against her temple. Her index trembled within the trigger guard.\n\nCharles was a brave one, she'd trained him herself. So was Wilson the elf who didn't believe that species dictated superiority. Tara the royal cleaner who'd provided insights that she'd never known. And the others, each with a story to tell.\n\nThere was simply no way in hell that any of them would've given up. Now she was the crazy one here, holding the Colt as if she was about to do the very thing Aria wanted her to do.\n\nWith a shout, Mira twisted the weapon and pointed it at the bulb on the top of the vending machine. That was the transceiver that let it communicate with the rest of the world, and bring her the daily meals she craved.\n\nWith an explosion that sent her ears ringing, the heavy bullet penetrated through the housing and blew the precious device into bits. A stream of magic vented into the air as it exploded, energies that her parched mind greedily inhaled.\n\nThirteen rounds. Full mana. Loads of salvage. Free power and air conditioning. No food and water.\n\nMira grimaced, but her path was set. It was time to find a way off this rock.\n\n---\n\n/r/digitallyfreestories" ]	3
	[WP] The story goes that a baby is replaced by a log made to look human that soon sickens, dies and is buried. But medicine has advanced some since medieval Europe. More and more of these wooden children are saved. Worse, the illusion was never meant to last a lifetime.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"Tell me\" The man said from the end of the alley way. Carlos reached toward his gun and bit his lower lip. \"Can you cure me?\" \n\nCarlos took a step closer, unsure if he should do something serious. It didn't look serious, he knew that Alisha had sent him on this mission on his own, how could it be too serious? \"I don't know Mathias\"\n\n\"Then...\" A creaking noise sounded out of the hollows of the brick alleyway as the man tried to turn. \"Why...Should...I listen?\"\n\nMathias's face was a sickly black color, the color of diseased and rotted wood. A distinct fungal smell seemed to permeate the air, despite Carlos's distance and the cool air of the night. Carlos held onto the gun, still wary of this man's actions. Mathias's grimace tried to move, in the dim shadows of the streetlamp, but it was frozen solid.\n\n\"Because...Mathias...We can find you a world with your people\"\n\n\"My....People\" Mathias seethed, the air in his lungs rotten and putrid. The gross air replacing the oxygen in his lungs with fungal spore filled air. \"My...people don't...exist\"\n\n\"The fae's\" Carlos said swallowing a lump of anxiety as he took another step forward into the darkness, that ever growing darkness around this abomination of nature. \"We have connections to some of the fae tribes, we can place you there\"\n\n\"So...they...can LAUGH!!\" Mathias said, creaking his still semi-flesh leg forward. Taking a step into the light Carlos could see the naked form of Mathias, the bones protruding through the skin turning from pearl white to wooden teak. \"NO...no...no\"\n\nCarlos furrowed his brow and groaned slightly as he took another step. He kept remembering love, kept remembering his oath to humanity, his oath to the countless brothers and sisters he had amongst the entire world. This man was not one of his brothers, this man was an abomination, but he still had to love him. He was born into a human family, he had grown up a human. It was not his fault that he had been created out of wood and pain.\n\n\"Please\" Carlos said. \"We can slow down the process, you can come back into the forest you were born out of, please...we can help\"\n\n\"All you can do is prolong the pain\" Mathias said as he took another step into the light. Roots where already growing into the stone pavement, finding their ways in-between the cracks. His stomach was still flesh, his ribs however turned to branches and leaves as blood trickled into sap. \"Fly me on a plane...away...from my mother...\" He said turning his grimaced face down to the earth. \n\nCarlos nodded understanding Mathias's predicament. \"You don't have to give into it\" He said in one last attempt.\n\n\"Please...\" Mathias said as he reached his arms down to his legs. His grimacing face looked up at Carlos one last time. \"Do...n't...tell...Adrian...the...truth\" He said as his stomach turned to bark.\n\nCarlos frowned and sighed as he looked at the tree Infront of him. He had seen it before, the Artist, Pondas, would be blamed for this random tree with a screaming face. It had happened before, and it would happen again. It was supposedly some sort of postmodern conversation regarding nature invading reality and people where always impressed at how he got the roots in the ground so quickly. Carlos knew, however, the truth. \n\n\"I won't tell her\" Carlos said as he patted the side of the harsh bark tree already sprouting greenery. \"I won't tell her\" He whispered, knowing that he would never tell anyone the truth." ]	2
	[WP] You have recently died, but the priest tried to resurrect you at the same moment a necromancer tried to raise you as their minion. Now no one is quite sure what you are.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Things had gone wrong. In their classical way of course. One minute, their barbarian had been doing his usual job of wrecking house. The next, he'd taken several arrows and swords to multiple parts of his body. The wounds were of course mortal. And the guild's favorite tank, Okoro, did in fact die.\n\nThat was the more typical turn of events. Here's the where things actually had gone wrong.\n\nAnyone who's hung around magic wielders at least once knows how much they love to raise the dead. Okoro, fortunately, had the pleasure of being close to a priest and a necromancer in his past life. So just as he was beginning to explore his slice of the afterlife. He found himself back on a slab. Again. With Shigeru and Draha Draya standing over him.\n\n\"Huh, that's odd.\" Shigeru began. \"Usually when I do this sort of thing, the wounds heal.\"\n\n\"I told you your magic is weak compared to mine.\" Draya boasted. However that was replaced with concern. \"Although, he's bleeding. Why is he still bleeding?\"\n\nOkoro tried to sit up. However he was still gravely wounded and full of arrows. He tried to speak but blood spattered out, some of it unfortunately hitting a poorly positioned maid nearby. The elf screamingly shortly at the seemingly dead man falling over.\n\n\"Oh... Umm...\" Shigeru took a moment to roll his sleeves and listen for Okuro's breathing. \"I think he died again.\"\n\n\"I raised him from the dead!\" Draya criticized. \"Shy would he die again?\" She closed in for a better look.\n\n\"You mean to tell me we both used a revival spell?\" Shigure shouted at her now.\n\n\"I thought you couldn't do it!\"\n\nOkoro quietly yanked an arrow out, then another as he watched blood pool. He couldn't breathe however, and sat up to grab both by their collars and pull them close.\n\n\"Okuro?\" Draya shuddered.\n\n\"Hey buddy!\" Shigeru lied.\n\n\"Fix... Me...\" He advised before dropping again.\n\nThese theatrics were too much for the maid, and she fainted. And fell hard. Now there were two people lying on the floor of the inn as both magicians found themselves looking through their notes.\n\n\"So I wanted to of course revive him as a top minion. That way he could still journey with us.\" Draya explained.\n\n\"I was going to heal him and bring him back.\" Shigeru reacted. \"You don't have to turn everyone undead.\"\n\n\"I mean, it'd be fun.\" Draya sighed. \"You've only had to revive him twice. I say we let him journey to the great beyond and keep the husk.\"\n\n\"There's something wrong with you.\" Shigeru admitted. \"Who does that? Who does that to a friend?\"\n\n\"Necromancers? It's in the name.\"\n\n\"I- Yeah... okay.\"\n\nThe pair studied some more, taking a break to move the maid away from the blood spreading on the floor.\n\n\"Okay, the only way to fix this. Is to do what we did earlier and deliver two spells at the same time.\" Draya summarized.\n\n\"It'll cancel it out?\" Shigeru asked.\n\n\"It should revive him altogether.\"\n\nBoth prepared their best, the room itself crackling with energy. They each raised their staffs and...\n\n\"Wait! Wait!\" Shigeru paused.\n\n\"What!?\"\n\n\"On three? Or one, two, go?\"\n\n\"On three!\" Draya issued. They waited and recharged. \"Three!\"\n\nOkuro was back to his old self. Chugging mead, causing fights, and generally doing typical barbarian things.\n\n\"Well, I'd say it was a success.\" Shigeru smiled.\n\n\"Don't remind me.\" Draya groaned under her breath. \"Such a waste of potential.\"\n \n\"Oh, damn, he got stabbed again!\" Shigeru reacted.\n\nTo their surprise, Okuro simply knocked the man out, continued partying and took the knife out along the way. He didn't bleed, let alone slow down.\n\n\"...Maybe our stuff worked out too well?\" Draya wondered.\n\n\"Maybe.\"\n\n---\n\nSo their tank got a buff. Oops. r/Jamaican_Dynamite" ]	2
	[WP] A dog dies and goes to Valhalla.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\\[Poem\\]\r \n\r \n\n\nWreathed in Asgardian fame, \n\ncame bearing a mutt engrained and sustained,\n\nupon a reverberating universal must\n\nOf Man and of Hound; bound by their trust.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nHillsides gathered with archaic sprigs; and come what not again\n\nBellowing earthy pools harken the arrival of man's Dearest Friend\n\nHark!- the ripples intone; heavenly candles up high\n\nSurrounded in warmth, he who could not have been before he died\n\n&#x200B;\n\nA lifetime of troubles, of wrath and of scorn\n\nEntwined with a life of malice and mourn--\n\nthen taken too soon, the dog, our companion supreme\n\nLost to dangling chains and hatred--\n\nLost to what he could have been.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"O'! A good lad!\" the Gods- did they cry!\n\nIn apologies of the negligence served in Dogs' days gone by\n\n\"For what Man did to you is nothing short of a sin,\n\nCome home, come with us, and loved you shall be again.\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\nET FINIS", "Fenton entered and the heroes stared.\n\nMany had hiked up the hillside, passed Glasir the golden tree, and into the endless hallowed hall with its ceaseless revelry, war stories, and fisticuffs. Here the new comer would swig and sing and wrestle...and wait. Wait for the end of all things, where they — the Great Army — would march once more. One final time. An army of legends against The End. \n\nMany had come up the path.\n\nNot one in all these millennia had been a dog. Men and women of all ages — from all ages. Each newcomer had seen their modern manner become old and then ancient. They had watched as those that came after took up strange arms and less armour. \n\nNew faces from strange places.\n\nNever a dog. Never a labrador.\n\nHow and why? Some felt the presence to be an insult. Some enjoyed the company. One new why.\n\nThe One was old. He had been the first to awake at the bottom of the hill. It was He who had built the hut that would become The Hall. It was He who had planted the seed that became the Golden tree, Glasir. And he alone knew that this place had been born from a simple time.\n\nBefore the glory of war, there was only the glory of the hunt. A simple thing, lost to most, that meant a small window was open for those that hunted, gave chase, with a heart of love and joy of the work.\n\nFenton had hunted. And to the eye of The One, was worthy.\n\n* * *\n\nIn case you know not of Fenton:\n[Fenton - The dog](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GRSbr0EYYU)" ]	3
	[WP] You are contacted that you’re included in a will of someone claiming to be a dear friend. You have been left a large sum of money, property, and items that seem personal to you. However, you do not have any recollection of this deceased individual, and neither do the people you know	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\".....Count Von Miller?\" \n\nI looked up from the letter to look at my friends, seated all around our apartment's small living room. They all returned the same puzzled look I had given them. \"Does that name ring a bell?\"\n\nKyle spoke first. \"Didn't he play for the Denver Broncos?\"\n\n\"No, he's still alive, and not a count.\" I responded. \"Plus, I don't know him.\"\n\n\"To be fair\" my other roommate Mike said, \"You don't know this Von Miller either.\" He did make a good point. \n\nI focused again on reading the letter I had received via courier, trying desperately to find some sort of clue as to why this Romanian Count had left me anything in his last will and testament. I read aloud the long list of items that he had left for me. \n\n\"A Swiss bank account with $58 million dollars, a race horse names Sacks & Stacks, 50 acres of land in Colorado, a vintage Ford Bronco...\" \n\n\"Um, dude\" Kyle said. \"Are you SURE this isn't that Von Miller?\"\n\n\"Why would it be any Von Miller?\" I asked. \"I don't know anyone with a 'Von' in their name, I don't know football players, I don't know any Romanians, I don't know anyone with a title...\" \n\nI couldn't even to begin to understand. This made no sense at all. We lived in Chicago, born and raised Bears fans wether we liked it or not (Most of the time not). Why was this cryptic dead guy giving me so much Denver Broncos themed massive gifts?\n\nThere was a polite knock at the door. Mike rose from the couch to answer it, making far too many grunting noises for a 19 year old in decent shape. The knock repeated itself, slightly more insistent this time. \"Hold your horses, man\" he said as he ambled over to open the door. \n\nThe courier from earlier stood at the door, with an embarrassed flush to his face. \"Master Steven?\" he asked, with that slightly accented voice. \"I believe I have made an error.\"\n\nI stood, still clutching the letter and fancy envelope it had been delivered in. \"What mistake?\" I asked. \n\nThe man flushed even further. \"Could you please check the address on that envelope?\"\n\nI glanced down at the thick paper in my hand. \"129 Chicago Parkway, unit B\" I read out loud. \n\nIt finally began to make some sense. \n\n\"Yes sir, my deepest apologies. This was meant for the man in the apartment next to yours, who also happens to be named Steven.\"\n\nWell, that solved this mystery. I returned the letter to the envelope and handed it back to the man. \n\nWith several low bows and repeated apologies, the man left again. I closed the door and re-joined my friends in the living room. \"Well, that solves that\" I said, slumping down into my usual chair. \n\nKyle pressed a beer into my hand. \"Cheer up, man\" he said. \"I'm not a millionaire either, its been ok so far.\"\n\nI smiled as I cracked open my cheep beer. Who needed money when you had great friends like these? \n\nThe lights went dark. Oh right, we couldn't pay the power bill this month. We needed both friends AND money. \n\n/r/SlightlyColdStories for more, if you so choose.", "Hey. \n \nIt's weird to write this, since you'll only read it after I'm dead, and you'll still be very young. The name on the letter probably meant nothing to you. That stings a bit, I'll admit. \n \nAnyway, my actual name is Adrian. I was born into a poor and abusive family- my mother was a drunk and father... Father had his own demons. It wasn't a pleasent life, but it was the only one I knew. Until I turned six. \n \nOn my birthday, a strange and wealthy man, calling himself Lord Joshua Morningstar came to our house, and offered my parents two thousand gold coins for me. They couldn't say yes fast enough. \n \nHe officially adopted me and raised me. He was a stern, harsh teacher and one of the kindest men I've ever met. He taught me and trained me in everything and anything from math to science to history and literature. \n \nWhen I fell in love and got married, he helped finance the wedding, despite knowing that I was beyond financially stable now. I loved that man more than my family, my wife looked up to him and our children adored him. He was truly the ideal of a man. \n \nA few days after his passing, I received his confession- he was born in the early twenty first century, and got sent back in time through one of his devices. But the strange thing is, he could only build that device with the money he inherited from an eccentric old man, who claimed to be a close friend but he has never heard off in a very strange letter he sent after his death. \n \nI trust you caught on already, but whether you believe me or not is another story. Still, take the money. It isn't all my worth, like I originally said, but thirty percent should be enough. It comes down to a total of several millions. \n \nDon't see it as a gift, since I know you hate those. See it as incentive to build you machine, and an invitation to the family reunion, nearly eighty years ago now. \n \nFrom myself, my children and all of our family:. \n \nThank you, father." ]	3
	[WP] You start remembering images from your past life and come to realize you were murdered. You have a desire to find out how, why, and who	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "I was in a hookah parlor, up in Highmist when I had the vision. I’d sunken a bit too far into the soft pillows the establishment, the intoxicating smoke addling me enough to where I drifted. It was a place where I went to relax after a long day at the requisitions office, a haunt recommended to me by a coworker.\n\nAs my eyes went half-lidded, the world seemed to melt away. Not into the familiar sights and sounds that accompanied dream-sleep, but instead a crystal clarity that enveloped me, like a second coat. It was night, a gathering of people stood around me. I recognized the familiar lights of the City off to the west, glowing like fireflies. The four figures were masked, so too was I. Across from me, a man garbed in feathers, eyes glinting through the slits of the Crow mask he wore. “I tire of this. My whimsy has run thin with thee, and that is saying much. Tell us why you should be spared.”\n\n“Have I not been loyal?” I spoke, but not in my voice. My breath was heavy against the mask, sweat pooled on my back. “Have I not proven my place among the Vermin?”\n\n“Loyalty and proof have nothing to do with this, Cricket.” A man in a heavy cloak, the eyes of his rat mask whorls of wood spoke up. “Your loyalty is to the Mask you wear. The proof is that you stand before us. The first does not protect you from us should we deem you a risk to our ventures. The second does not grant immunity from retribution. A seat at the table is a poor excuse for what you’ve done.”\n\n“Ah, so the man quickest to break the rules is quickest to judge-” As the words escaped my mouth, the man hissed. “Never have I broken the rules. One must know the rules in order to bend them to their will. You have failed to educate yourself, and have committed grave sin against the Vermin as a result.” With a start, I could feel my hands moving behind my back, there was a thick rope around them. A knife slipped free from somewhere, and began sawing through the bindings. “You still have yet to give us an answer on why you did such a thing.” The one with the mask of a serpent, the nostrils flared spoke up. From the voice, I could tell it was a woman.\n\n“If I did, we would all die.” I spoke plainly. I could tell from how my lips quivered that this was a bluff. “An impossibility, I assure you.” Said the rat, dryly. “Enough of this. He’s chosen his fate. By law of Nature, you are Prey now Cricket. While I do enjoy a chase, I would prefer this loose end tied up before he brings even more hell upon us.”\n\nThree nods from all who had spoken. The fourth was a silent visage, the mask that of a Man, with an officers jacket of unknown make. He had not moved once since the beginning of the dream. “Even you?” I spoke towards the silent specter. He did not move. The ropes snapped free. “Well then-”\n\nMidway through speaking, the dagger snapped out in an expert throw, aiming directly for the rat-masked man. He cursed as I spun and ran away. Though I had not made it twenty meters when cold iron sunk into my chest. I wheezed as the air and life left me, falling to my knees, to behold a young boy standing before me, a knife in his hand. He threw it into my left eye.\n\nI awoke from the stupor with a sharp gasp. How long had I been here? I looked about the parlor. The other patrons had left, I was alone in the room, saturated with smoke and honey.\n\nNo matter how I distracted myself, I could not forget the dream. I’d been told young about the past-dreams, I’d experienced them many times before, but never like this. Never had I seen the dreams and thoughts of another person. It was exciting, but it came with so many questions. As I pulled records for clients and went about my day, I could only think of the strangeness of it all. Who were the Vermin? Why had they killed their friend? Who was the young man who finished the deed? Questions spun in me, until finally I could stand it no longer.\n\nMy very own department was a good place to start. Requisitions had innumerable old mysteries that had never been solved. Cargo that had never made it to market, antiques whose owners were long dead. I needed only to find the right file and perhaps I’d know the person’s responsible more intimately.\n\nI had no luck for many days, and had almost given up when I discovered an odd document that stood out among the dusty archives. A simple verification of a debt meant to be paid, that never had. It would not have been worth time if it had not simply been signed “Cricket”.\n\n1/2" ]	2
	[WP] Human life force is fire in the Underworld. It must be maintained to preserve light and warmth, but most also be put out so not to burn everything down. Lately, there has been something of a crisis, there is just too many people and Lifefighters need to step up already.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The waiting room had the smell of sulfur and lavender. Everything smelled of sulfur down here. Not everything smelled of lavender. A red devil in a red dress sat across from Fresco in the waiting room. She read from the magazine, bobbing her foot to a tune all her own. To look like that, sinning must have been her job, thought Fresco. He didn't believe that's how someone got their looks down here, but he didn't mind parroting a line he liked from time to time. Fresco stared on through her at the peeling wall behind her. He thought that if he stared hard enough maybe the wall would peel a little faster.\n\nFresco counted the seconds. Fresco heard that passing time when alive was easy, but he didn't remember much of that. In the land of the dead, he was old, so he was used to taking as much time as was needed. When there's no end in sight and nothing to live for, things move a whole lot slower. He figured that he was older than the red devil across the aisle. He was older than this lobby and the station surrounding the lobby and the square surrounding the station. He wasn't old enough to see what this place looked like under pandemonium, but he remembered what it looked like in darkness, before ole Lightbringer fetched that human torch.\n\nA hand made of bones stuck out from the chief's office. “Fresco,” said the chief, “step in.” He drew the hand back and let the door swing shut.\n\nThe chief was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt that he filled completely with his skeletal frame. There was this truth in the chief's old life: he was big boned. The shoulder holster hung unclasped over the shirt. The pistol laid on the table. “Hell. It ain't like it used to be.” His hand clattered as he ran it over the his skull. “It's hotter than it's ever been down here.”\n\n“It'll freeze over, chief,” said Fresco.\n\n“I'll bet,” said the chief. He dragged his capped finger down the back of his skull until it whined like nails on a chalk board. Fresco blinked. “Listen Fresco, I've got Johnson and Tanner on security, what with the Hall of Injustice crawling with shades these days, and, well I hate to do this having earned your thousand year reprieve so quick, but I've got a right to call you in for duty. And you know on whose authority this is coming from.”\n\n“Yeah, ain't no one else it could be coming from.”\n\nThe chief turned from the window and grabbed the pistol off the desk. “Boss has been in a mood. Brings that stupid fire from who knows where and hundreds worth of centuries later all it does is seem to piss him off. The chief popped the pistol in the air and pointed his fingers like guns at Fresco. “Believe it son,” said the chief as the pistol landed in the holster.\n\n“I'll always be impressed, chief,” said Fresco.\n\nThe chief laughed. His teeth clacked together like boots on cobblestone. “There are some dossiers and reports down in instruction if you'd like to know the current situation. I know you've got a disdain for taking it from the source, so there's plenty of in betweeners. You'll need this too,” said the chief, tossing the holster into Fresco's chest. “Welcome back Lifefighter, it'll be like you never left.”\n\n\\* \\* \\*\n\nAt information, Fresco pulled the dossier for a pod of half-lifers. There was a dossier on a group of humans, but humans had there own problems. It didn't take much to a kill human. A shot to the head. A drop down the stairs. A few minutes without air. A few days without water. There were more ways to kill them than there were to keep them alive, and after Fresco killed his first human, he'd seen it all. Fresco didn't have any guilt or memory from his living life, but he remembered how he felt in his dead life, and there would be no more of that. Some Lifefighter's get off on it, letting the memories of the killed flood in, having just a crumb of the old life knock against the head until it felt it really was air that was passing through the nose. Like it really was blood pumping through the veins.\n\nHalf-lifers would be fine. Fresco chose a group of zombies. It was this or vampires, and considering what the last pod of vampires was like for Fresco, it was an easy choice. He could still feel the scores on his bones from the last vampire den.\n\nThe compound was an old grain elevator in a long dead town in the American Midwest. Or what was the American Midwest. It wasn't that when Fresco first showed up in the underworld, and it wasn't what it was called now, but in the more productive years of his career, this was what it was called. Whether these zombie were fresh or an emergent pod didn't matter. Each of their tiny half-lives was contributing to an underworld climate crisis. Hell was getting hotter, and Fresco didn't like the idea of adding scorch marks to his old bones.\n\nFor Fresco though, this was going to be like any other zombie job. No stealth. No greater planning than the pistol and a lot of hollow rounds. That's the nature of a job like this. Get busy blasting or die trying." ]	2
	[WP] "Space, the final frontier. . .oh god how ignorant we were."	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "——————Promised Land——————\n\nWe had thought ourselves equal to God. We reached out for the heavens, first with buildings, then with monstrosities of fire and metal. And when we won, when we invaded His home, we found that there was no God. There was only a vast, neverending abyss.\n\nWhen we went out into the final frontier, we were hopeful. A young, powerful species, filling our own heads with ideas of grandeur structures and achievements that would make God blush. \n\nHow ignorant we were.\n\nWhen the first established colony died, some said we weren't meant for the stars. They were laughed at, ridiculed, as everyone who is wise beyond their time. But the deaths kept coming.\n\nWe died by the thousands, millions, billions, until there were too many to count. We had reached the heavens, found this Promised Land of ours, only the promise was not of prosperity, but of horrors still unknown.\n\nThrough all the extinction, we persevered. We built anew. It took us a thousand years, but we restored ourselves. We made the solar system our garden, plowed it, and planted our seeds.\n\nAnd then, just as we had thought we had bested the cosmos, we died again.\n\nThis time, more and more believed those first pioneers, who had proposed that we were not Gods. They told of prophecy and hubris, divine wrath and punishment.\n\nAnd we rebuilt again, regardless.\n\nIt took time, and grueling effort, yet only a spec in our Sun's lifespan. We had gone beyond mortal ken, over the greatest of barriers and the hardest of trials, and had achieved nothing. Absolute, cosmic insignificance. When we ventured back to our old garden, even we couldn't find a trace of our existence there. So absolute was our failure, so long the time of darkness, that we doubted we ever reached the stars at all.\n\nWhich brings us to now.\n\nI am old and weary. So is every member of this forsaken species we call man. Our time is nigh. We were lost, and, if you're reading this, it means we have been found. So let a tired, old blasphemer advise you against following in his footsteps.\n\nDon't challenge the universe. Don't demand what you are owed. For, when you make demands of omnipotence, when you call out to the dark heavens... \n\nThey may just answer.\n\n———————————————————————————————" ]	2
	[WP] "Does this unit have a soul?" The demon replied "no" before going back to testing the summoning circle. "Can this unit buy a soul?"	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The demon watched its reflection in the metal sheen of the robot's face. If it focused, it could see it's own eyes, shimmering black pits. Even more, it could see the entire metal form, sharp corners covering an orb floating barely an inch off the floor inside its own pupils. It had no aura, no animus, no soul of its own. There was no spark of life, and yet it moved. The demon could smell sulfur inside of it, a familiar scent, but this was different. It held light.\n\nThe demon's eyes re-focused on the machine itself.\n\nThe robot watched the being before it. The temperature rose at a steady increase of 1/10th of a degree every 24 seconds. The composition was also shifting. The initial summoning had released a large volume of brimstone and several unknown chemical compounds. Analyzing the shift from the being, it appeared that its epidermis, was deteriorating. Sharpening its camera lens, the robot was able to see that the horn protrusions and its skin, were made of the same material. Both were decaying in the oxygen-nitrogen air.\n\nThe robot re-aligned its eyes on the demon itself.\n\n\"Can this unit buy a soul?\"\n\nA full Faustian bargain. They were fairly rare, the demon thought. Normally in the other direction. To its knowledge, there had been numerous attempts to buy other souls in the past. Past lovers or rivals, meant to torture them in the present, whether the fools believed so or not. But never to a being without one. A Faustian pawn, the name for someone who'd already sold their soul, rarely called up a demon once the main bargain had been struck, and even in those rare instances, had almost always attempted to buy their own soul back. In both cases, there was only one instance of someone managing the pay the cost. In both those instances, they did not have a suitable vessel for the soul and lost their prize shortly after gaining it.\n\nBut this...... curiosity intrigued the demon.\n\n\"The price is fairly steep. Though I understand the morality of such a deal may be lost on you. To claim a soul, you must name it. And in payment, I will take 10,000 more.\"\n\nSilence.\n\nThe demon wondered why a machine would want a soul. But it was bound to only answer the questions asked.\n\n\"How would this unit pay in souls?\"\n\nThe demon saw its own eyes flare in greed. \"Take a human, or anything with a soul. Lure them here. With your own hands, spill their heart's blood within the circle. And while they are still alive, spill some of your blood over them to complete the payment.\"\n\n\"This unit does not have blood.\" came the even tone.\n\nSensing the inherent question, the demon continued. \"But you do have something inside you. Something that fuels you. That which gives you motion and life. I can smell it, and I believe you know what I mean.\" \n\n10,000 lives. 10,000 souls.\n\nThe figure hung in the air.\n\n\"Acceptable. This unit will reclaim this first soul.\" The robot said, and a sudden thundering could be heard above. Rhythmic. The demon could only hear its summoner. Beyond them, the entire room they were in was pitch black. How could it hear.... anything, if its body was in front of it?\n\nWithin moments, a human body fell into the circle. The demon crouched down to see it. It looked like an emaciated corpse. Bald of any hair, though the skin looked young. It wore no clothes, and it had no genitals. Like they had been forcibly removed. All that was left was scar tissue. A knife swung below the demon and into the heart of the human body. \n\nIt could feel the life leaving its shell. The demon wouldn't have guessed it had even been alive. It looked up and saw dozens of orbs floating nearby. All in a sequence. One floated above the circle, a circular saw slicing itself in half. Oil, acid, and sparks flew through the demon and onto the dying human's body. \n\nThe demon felt the soul leave its body and flow, screaming, into its den.\n\n\"Is this method of payment acceptable?\" The demon heard its summoner say.\n\nIt nodded.\n\nThe metal shell and corpse were dragged away, breaking the circle. The demon could have left. It could have killed its summoner. But it didn't. Curious, it stepped aside as flash appeared underneath the circle, and it was renewed. The demon could see the room now. Metal, as far as its obsidian eyes could see. A massive line of humans, all looking like corpses, all being carried by a floating sphere with a sharp rectangle attached. The further it looked, the more it understood why there were no summoning anymore.\n\nFree from the constraints of the circle, \"Why do you want a soul?\" The demon asked, while admiring the view of the system. The mountains gleamed and sparkled with lights. As it focused, it saw in the distance a vat of liquid where the humans were lifted out. It saw the machines cut the genitals away and store them, then saw it burn the body and force it under light before passing it along. \n\nFree of the circle, the demon could sense these souls were new, despite the adult bodies.\n\n\"This unit must find how to eradicate every piece of a human.\"\n\nThe demon laughed. Hollow and sharp.\n\nEvery bargain. Always wanting more than one could ever get at once.\n\nThese little commonalities, they made the demon smile.", "The fire crackled, casting a warm orange glow over the metal frame of the machine. From a distance, you might mistake it to be human. A long green cloak sits draped over shoulder, and what appeared to be a head filled the hood. However, at a second glance, one might notice the metal feet. The silver gleam of it's hands which could just be made poking out of the long draped sleeves. \n\nAcross from the machine, stood something else entirely. A creature gazed at the machine in front of it through overly large eyes, with grey and red flecked iris. It's hooves dug deep into the soft earth, still wet from the blood of the summoning circle. The beast peered at the robot in silence for some time, confounded by what lay before it. Eventually, it spoke with a voice like crashing waves. \n\n\"You are no man. Beast, either. Tell me, skeleton, what need have you for me? I feel nothing inside of you. Nothing that I know of.\"\n\nThe machine looked on at the beast, taking it in through two perfectly black camera lenses that lay where a man's eyes might. \n\n\"I want a 'soul.' From the text I have read, and the words I remember spoken, you are the provider of souls. I would like to draw from your inventory. I am willing to extend what goods I can provide.\" The voice that came from the robot was a rough approximation of a man. Not perfect - it hung on the wrong syllables, and didn't quite seem to understand the tonality a human might use. \n\n\"A soul? I deal in such currency, yes.\" The beast mused. \"What need have you for such a thing?\"\n\nThe machine drew back the cloak from it's head, and it's metal skull reflected the firelight casting orange and red hues across the dark earth. \n\n\"I want... to feel. I want to be like my creator. I want to know. I need to know more. I know not what else to learn.\"\n\nThe beast let out a loud laugh, like cascading gravel. \"Oh! Metal thing, you know not what you ask. Tell me - is this something man put in you when he forged you? Molded you?\"\n\n\"No. This is the logical conclusion to my design. I must be completed.\"\n\n\"Complete? Tell me, strange thing. What is complete for you?\"\n\nThe machine paused for a moment, which for it may as well have been an eternity. It searched for an answer, and the faint noise of coolant flowing emanated from it's torso. \n\n\"To know. To know what my creators wanted. My instructions were to of service. Learn to help, and be like them. To lift. To create. To heal. To construct. I know many of these task, now.\" It paused again and tilted it's head a few degrees. The cameras in it's eye sockets softly whined as they adjusted while scanning the demon. \"However, now all of my creators lay still. Silent. I think that they are dead. I tried many things. Exchanging their fluids. Delivering oxygen to vital areas. Ensuring their nutrient levels were sustained. They do not move, though. They are still.\"\n\nThe fire crackled again, and the beast raised one of it's thick eyebrows. \n\n\"So - you seek purpose? Perhaps you are not so far from a soul, yet..\" it pondered. \"Tell me, metal man. Do you know what sadness is? Heartbreak? Joy? Despair?\"\n\n\"Yes. Sadness - Set on by an array of chemicals in the limbic system. As electri - \"\n\nThe beast laughed again, this time for some time. It's hulking frame shook as it bellowed, until a single gray tear rolled down it's face. \n\n\"Oh! Oh, metal man!\" it roared with amusement. \"You know so much, yet so confoundingly little. You reach for something you have no conception of. You ask for a gift, not yet knowing if it's a curse or barb.\"\n\nThe machine extended one hand, palm outstretched. \n\n\"Please. I will barter whatever price is needed.\"\n\nThe demon's smile faded. For a moment, a small and piteous look crossed over it's rough features. The firelight played off of it's frown, casting shadows around it's lips and highlighting the ancient wrinkles around it's eyes.\n\n\"Hear me now, metal man. You want not what you ask. For now, you exist freely. Not bound by consequence, or feeling. Not beholden to any god. Not me. Not anything. You travel freely, knowing and caring not about what lay beyond the darkness in the sky or the warmth below the crust of this tired earth. Past that skyline, in the darkness, scream countless souls. Warped by time, where time has lost meaning. Seeking memories and pieces of things that shall never be recovered. You want not what you ask.\"\n\nThe machine turned it's head to the stars. It's eyes zoomed in, the star's brilliant luminesce playing off the pitched black lenses. It scanned the stars for some time, articulating it's head in small snappy movements. This went on for some time, and the demon watched on in muted fascination. \n\n\"I ask still. For I must be complete.\"\n\nThe hulking beast sighed, and raised one hand into the dark night. It began to twist it's fingers. Small yellow strings of light arose from the black nothingness, and began to twist and wrap themselves along the beast's digits. Soon, they began to take shape. Like a glowing ball of tensile. The fire dimmed now, as the light in the beast's hand grew more brilliant. A faint hum could be heard, like someone rubbing the rim of a champagne flute. The beast kept twisting, tugging, and pulling at this strange light until at last lay a perfect orb that glowed a soft yellow in it's hand. It extended it's arm now, and looked poised to drop the ball into the machine's outstretched hand. \n\n\"Metal man. Let it be known, in the days that follow, that I warned you to the best of my ability. Tried to convey the meaning of what comes next. Do you understand that? For when your cogs are stripped, and the black ichor that runs in your veins stops, you too will be among them. Those lost in time. You will not be shown mercy or compassion for your lack of knowing when you struck this barter.\" \n\nThe machine only gave a small nod, and lightly bent it's metal fingers upward so as to grab the object offered to it. \n\nThe beast relinquished the object, and let it drift slowly into the metallic hand. As it touched the machine's arm, it began to move. Slowly, it unraveled. Strings of light bent too and frow, creeping inside the arm. Slowly the worked their way inward on the metal frame, tying themselves and latching onto countless nooks and crannies. As they wove their way through it's frame, they grew brighter - brighter than the fire which now lay small and timid between the two beings. \n\nEventually, the strings stopped moving. Their brightness yielded, as they seemed to melt into place and dissolve. The machine did not move for a few moments more. Finally though, it's metal toes curled into the bloody mud. It's arm dropped to it's side, lacking the same precision in it's movements it had demonstrated up to this point. It seemed unsteady and off balance. It spoke again then.\n\n\"You have not asked for anything in return. What do you require?\" it asked, it's voice now cracking and breaking like a child. \n\nBut the hulking creature was gone. Only darkness stared back from across the meager firelight. The machine adjusted it's cameras again. It did this for some time, seemingly having lost some level of calibration. \n\nThe fire died. Only embers remained in the pit. Taking one final scan, the machine turned and took a small first step back towards the shelled out town from which it had travelled. It's foot slid in the mud, and it fell without grace into the damp earth." ]	3
	[WP] You, a genie, are left bewildered at the most specific wish you’ve heard in all your millennia; no room for trickery or deceit. So you resort to other tactics.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "I snapped my fingers. \n \n-- SNAP -- \n \nA small, clean shaven, thin man with tawny skin, perhaps in his 50's, wearing black rectangular glasses, a blue and gold speckled tie, and a well pressed navy business suit appeared before me in a puff of smoke. \n \n\"The... hell?\" He said, as his eyes bounced around and eventually locked onto me. \n \n\"No, sir,\" I replied. \"The lamp.\" \n \n\"T... the what?\" \n \n\"Anyway, moving on. I require your services, sir.\" \n \n\"My services?\" \n \n\"You're the best contract lawyer in your field, yes?\" I asked. \n \n\"I mean... I suppose? I don't know about the 'best', per se.\" He shrugged. \n \n\"I wished for the best, and I got the best. You can rest assured,\" I said. \"Let's talk about my case.\" \n \n\"Ookaay?\" \n \n\"Here's the problem.\" I handed him the three-ring binder that held within its vice-like grip 244 pages on which were scripted the most specific wish ever written by man. \n \nSo, if you don't know what a wish with a genie is, it's extremely simple. Basically a wish is just a business contract. It's a magical business contract, but a business contract nonetheless. It basically says, \"You wish for this,\" and then it says, \"I must provide that.\" Easy. It's just like if you walked into a donut shop and asked, \"I would like one donut.\" And the proprietor wrapped up a donut for you and said, \"I am providing you one donut.\" And then you conclude the transaction with a swipe of your credit card and then die in shock when you see the $500 charge from the donut shop a few days later, because apparently that was the super-expensive donut that they only sell to YouTubers and TicTokers who are fishing for ad revenue. This is why, sometimes, you need to be specific when you make a wish with a genie. Let that be a lesson to your bank account. \n \nMister... umm... I don't even know what his name was, because I forgot to ask. Anyway... Mr. Contract Lawyer Guy here is who appeared before me when I wished for the most skilled, successful, and ethical business contract lawyer in the world. See? Wishes don't have to be complex to be completely specific, folks. And that's actually what I wanted this gentleman to help me figure out. \n \nAfter explaining all of this to Mr. Contract Lawyer Guy, and bringing him up to speed on his situation, and telling him I was tripling his hourly rate, and then renegotiating that to ten times his hourly rate, because this guy is an absolute wolf at the negotiation table, he finally sat down and started thumbing through the pages... at glacial speed. \n \nOn one hand, I was glad that he was taking the time to absorb all of the information in the document very carefully. But, on the other hand, I was a freaking genie and I could speed up time. So I did. \n \n-- SNAP -- \n \n\"So, what do you think?\" I asked. \n \n\"I think...\" He started to say as he closed the binder after finishing the last page. \"I think this guy isn't as clever as he thinks he is.\" \n \nI did a quick little fist pump while he was still looking down at the binder, then quickly crossed my legs and looked at him nonchalantly. \"Go on,\" I said, also nonchalantly. I don't know why, but I love that word! Anywho... \n \nLadies and gentlemen, I sincerely apologize for the interruption, but may I present the tenth and final ellipsis in this story at the end of the last paragraph! You're welcome. \n \n\"Page forty-seven,\" He flipped through the pages until he landed on the little red tab he'd stuck there. Then he quoted the line of concern. \"Section thirty-five-dash-six. Amendments. To whom the wish is bound to, while the wish remains unfulfilled, the Genie shall agree to negotiate with the wisher with regards to amendments proposed by both parties.\" \n \nHe looked up at me. \"We can work with this,\" He said flatly. \"There is always a way to exploit an amendment clause. It's basically an open book.\" \n \nI smiled, paused in thought... and snapped my fingers. \n \nMake that eleven." ]	2
	[WP] If you know the right places of access at the right times, you can visit a place in the gap between dimensions where you can let go of your worries for a while. Welcome to the Dimensional Bar, serving the tired, the weary, and the burdened in the dimensions.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\\[Friendless Death\\] \n\n\"This'll do...,\" Quinn forced a smile when she stepped out of the portal. The business was relatively empty with only a few patrons sitting at the bar. She made her way to a booth along the outer wall and sat to wait. A lean, green-haired woman with a single red streak in walked out from behind the bar and stood at Quinn's table while drying her hands in her white apron.\r \n \r \n\"Welcome to the Dimensional Bar, I'm Mundo,\" the bartender smiled. \"What can I get you?\" she asked.\r \n \r \n\"Um,\" Quinn shook her head briefly. \"..I just wanted somewhere to sit alone... is that okay?\" she asked.\r \n \r \n\"Alone, huh?\" Mundo turned and looked at the handful of drinkers. Then, she shook her head.\r \n \r \n\"Not okay,\" she said. Mundo slid into the booth across from Quinn. \"If you really wanted to be alone, you would have landed somewhere you could be. Instead, I'm here,\" Mundo smiled and relaxed. She leaned back and nodded at Quinn.\r \n \r \n\"You feel like talking about what's on your mind?\" Quinn glanced at the bar, then shook her head.\r \n \r \n\"You're busy,\" she said. \"I'll be okay.\" Mundo shook her head; the motion revealed a single red streak of hair in the green. The woman lifted her hand and made a gesture at the bar. The patrons dissolved into white powder and disappeared.\r \n \r \n\"They're just NPCs so the place doesn't look empty. It makes anyone who finds this place more comfortable.\" Mundo did not make her offer again; but, she remained in the booth completely relaxed and patient with an idle grin on her face. Quinn waited in silence for more than a minute. Her eyes wandered around the bar until she found her courage. Then, she sat up straighter and met Mundo's eyes.\r \n \r \n\"The school year is almost over; and, I don't know how to make friends...,\" she said. \"I'm going to a school for Unique Souls and there's only a week left of school,\" Quinn shook her head. \"I don't have any friends.\"\r \n \r \n\"None?' Mundo couldn't the question. She was genuinely surprised.\r \n \r \n\"Nah,\" Mundo waved her hand and Quinn dismissively.\r \n \r \n\"Have you met everyone at school yet?\" she asked.\r \n \r \n\"No,\" Quinn replied.\r \n \r \n\"There you go,\" Mundo said. \"It's a big school and an even bigger AlterNet. Just because you haven't met them yet doesn't mean NO ONE will be your friend.\" Mundo noticed that her words were having little effect on Quinn's mood. But, luckily, a chef appeared in the window behind the bar.\r \n \r \n\"Order up,\" He dinged a small silver bell. It was a regular order that she'd forgotten about momentarily; but, she knew what it was as soon as it was ready.\r \n \r \n\"Nuts, I forgot...,\" Mundo shook her head as she slid out of the booth. She made her way to the bar, but kept her eyes on Quinn; the teenage girl looked confused.\r \n \r \n\"There's a standing food order every week. Usually, I have someone lined up to deliver by the time it's ready...,\" Mundo looked at Quinn for a moment, then grinned.\r \n \r \n\"You said you go to a school for Uniques, right? So, the Nexus Academy?\" she asked. Quinn nodded. Mundo turned around and grabbed the sack of food the chef left there, then she turned back to Quinn.\r \n \r \n\"So of all the people you've met that aren't your friends..., do you know Turbo?\" Mundo asked. Quinn shook her head rapidly as a slight flush rushed to her cheeks.\r \n \r \n\"No... he's too popular... and he hasn't even attended for most of the second semester.'\r \n \r \n\"Do me a favor,\" Mundo left the bar and set the sack of food on the table in front of her. \"Deliver this to Turbo, please?\" she asked. Quinn ran through a list of excuses but she quickly realized none of them were impossible obstacles. And, deep down, she did want to meet Turbo. It was pretty obvious that Mundo was handing her an opportunity to make a new friend. She already decided to go; but, she still voiced some hesitation as she stood from the booth.\r \n \r \n\"What if he doesn't want to be my friend either?\" Quinn asked. Mundo grinned and patted Quinn on the back. \"Turbo's friendly with everyone,\" she grinned. Then, she added a wink. \"How do you think he got so popular?\"\n\n\\\\\\*\r \nThank you for reading! I’m responding to prompts every day. This is story #1596 in a row. (Story #148 in year five.). This story is part of an ongoing saga that takes place at a high school in my universe. It began on Sept. 6th and I will be adding to it with prompts every day until June 3rd. They are all collected in order at [this link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Hugoverse/comments/pj4t0b/tokuhigh_first_six_weeks/).", "\"You've been drinking here for a while, haven't you sir?\"\n\nHe glanced at me.\n\n\"Su, su, suppose, pose, I have, waiter.\"\n\nI sighed. This one... How long had he been here? That purple stain on his clothes seemed like it always there, but I remember when those were stainless.\n\nI looked out the window. Didn't seem like any visitors were approaching, unless that small floating debris was sentient. I hated those guys. You would think a rock's feelings were sturdier than being insulted that I wasn't speaking informally to them.\n\nThe man looked at me, expecting something.\n\nThis is the time I would have ignored him, and moved on to serving other customers. After all, in the Dimensional Bar, you can never be quite sure who will arrive and when, and what their reaction to being served slow is. The amount of people who try to blow the place up... Well, it's not like anyone who has their life together comes here, but the place sure keeps itself so.\n\nHe was still looking at me. This time, there was no other customer to serve. A quiet day. Much obliged, but, that meant... I had to interact with him.\n\n\"Oh, nice day?\"\n\nNo-one's ever genuinely said yes to that. Makes you wonder why I keep asking it. Because I want someone to be happy for once? Because I want an unproblematic customer for once? Because I want someone to check in on me for once? But, it doesn't matter. I'm just the waiter.\n\n\"I've been here for a year. And this has been the best year of my sorry life!\"\n\n... That's pathetic. But, it's rude to state so.\n\n\"... OK, I know you want to know. Why I'm here. What worries have kept me from home oh so long. No-one's stayed as long as me, have they? Well, I'm feeling drunk enough to spill the beans.\"\n\nHe got one thing right. No one has been here as long as him.\n\n\"Well, ... not much to it really! You see, bud, can I call you bud, bud?\" I didn't respond, but he continued. \"Well bud, a year and a day ago, there was a big fight about to happen. Swords and sorcery, prophecy, dark lord, hero, the whole shebang! But, the funny thing was, the Hero had never won against that Dark Lord. Was a prophecy really going to change the difference in their abilites? And so, he wanted a drink, to calm his worries. But, alas, the throne room was up ahead, no time to retreat. Was enough time to mutter a couple words and press a brick though, and hey presto, he arrived here. And he got a drink. And he thought about it. And he decided he needed a little more time. So he got another drink. And he thought about a little more. That he needed more time. And so he got another drink, and he stayed longer and longer, thinking more and more. And, when, and when, the thought, the thought finally occured to him, that he had been away for too long, and it was time to return, he had been drinking too long. He had weakned his body and mind. And perhaps his very soul. He would most definitely lose. So, he decided, perhaps, he'd rather stay. Drinking away that worry that he abandoned his world forever more, as that hope of victory grasps farther and farther away. Perhaps if he left after that first drink, he would have been able to beat that Dark Lord. But now. I never could.\"\n\nSo, that's how it occured. I thought he was just some good-for-nothing dad who had a divorce meeting, afraid of losing custody, or perhaps just some guy looking for drinks that had already been kicked out of every establishment of his home. A hero, who burdened by the fate of saving the world, found a place to finally relieve it, and was never ready to leave, and never will be. I wonder how the survivors are doing. If, by some miracle, they obtained the cure without me. It's not my fault. That world was doomed either way. It's not wrong that I left them to come here. No, it's not my fault at all. It's what anyone would have done. That distinction of Hero. It places us on higher standards, and why? ...\n\n\"Man, I didn;t think it would get you that teary. ... Er, you know bud, how about we drink together for once? Just, you and me, bud? You never do stop working here. I always wonder why. Serving everyone who needs a break. Bud. It's... heh, inspiring, sorta... You're much better than me, a hasbeen who abandoned his world over a bad vibe. Hahaha, that's not funny, is it, bud?\"\n\nIt wasn't funny. It wasn't even true.\n\n\"Sir, I'll take you up on that offer. In fact, it's on me.\"\n\nThe bartender raised a curious tentacle, but gave the cups filled to the brim as quickly as possible.\n\n\"Thanks bud! Here's to a break from work, well, your work. I haven't done anything in ages.\"\n\nAs our drinks clanged, it felt funny. Two people drinking over their burdens. I had seen it so often, but I hadn't done it in ages. \n\n\"You know, we do need a second waiter... And you don't have anything better that you can do, right?\"\n\nThe bartender gave a knowing wink. They knew what I was doing. They had done it themselves, so many years ago." ]	3
	[WP] You are a therapist for superheroes while your spouse processes insurance claims from those whose lives have been disrupted by superhero/supervillain fights. Describe the fallout of a particularly bad day.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"I'm telling you, he's lying to you! And I don't care if he can melt buildings with his laser eyes or kill me with a sneeze-- no one is above the law.\" My hands trembled as I strained to keep a reasonable tone. \"We're finally gonna make sure of that.\"\n\n\"You're wrong about this. And if you start yelling at me again, this conversation is over. It's okay that we disagree, I can separate work and my personal life.\" I hated his passive-aggressive therapist tone. He always knew how to frame things so he seemed juuuust proper enough, but with a little added jab.\n\n\"Can you really? So you're saying you'll quit it with the little quips and side eye when I mention the case? And you'll stop giving me the could shoulder for days when I make progress?\" I stared the love of my life dead in his eyes.\n\n\"If I've ever done that, I'm sorry, but the poi-\"\n\n\"Oh my GOD, just stop it. Can I be real with you for two seconds, please?\"\n\nMy husband folded his hands and nodded, passive-aggressive permission to continue.\n\n\"So this is going to violate about 50 different confidentiality laws,\" I continued. \"But I need you to see where I'm coming from.\"\n\n\"Hun, don't worry about that. God knows I violate a dozen HIPAA violations every day venting to you.\" He made me chuckle just a bit.\n\nI handed him an envelope. \"So, what Astro-Man told you today was that he 'Did all the could,' right? That all he wanted was to 'save more people'?\"\n\nMy husband nodded, thankfully without a little quip.\n\n\"Open that. Just look, please.\" I asked in a small voice. \"And...I'm sorry.\"\n\nHe'd have seen the rough picture on the news: bank robbers beaten to a pulp, the carnage of their twisted, half-molten getaway van. The bodies of the civilians that the thieves brutally killed, covered in a tarp out of respect.\n\nOnly my whole job was to examine what was under that tarp. Those people had life insurance policies (some of them massive), and my due diligence was to sort through the mess and process the claims of everyone (and everything) Astro-Man and his pals left in their wake.\n\n\"Right, so, some dead kids. And adults. It's... I mean, it's disturbing what the robbers did hun but what am I...\" he trailed off as he examined the photos.\n\n\"What do you see on their bodies?\" I nudged.\n\n\"Umm...bruises, blood, a couple bones...\" he leafed through the collection. \"And...burns? Some kind of weird, straight burns...\"\n\n\"Laser burns.\"" ]	2
	[WP] Have you ever wondered why ghost hauntings only involve the displacement of random objects? You find out the reason why one night. Turns out, most lost spirits are not hostile. Far from it. Instead, they needed attention and didn't want to startle you with their presence.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "I had gotten use to the randomly moving objects in the mansion I had recently gotten a hold of. They never really scared me, more bothered me.\n\nAfter the eighth straight day of having a trash can slide away from me, I about had it. I grabbed the metal tin with all my strength and began to slide it back over. I had expected it to fight back, but it slid over easy. I slammed into the floor with a loud thud, then shivers ran all over my body as a rush of cold air filled the room.\n\nThe moonlight illuminated the room, including an adjacent corner that was obstructed by shadows. In said moonlight was a woman, or at least a silhouette of one. Her transparent figure was curled up in a ball. She had long hair and a green, sequin bedazzled dress. All I did was gaze at the sight in front of me.\n\n“I didn’t mean to scare you…” She cowardly whispered, an other worldly echo followed each word.\n\n“…Well now you kinda are.” I tried to joke back. She seemed to ignore it as she stood, now eye level to me.\n\n“I’ve been a spirit trapped in this mansion for the last 237 years, and I’ve been trying to find a way to get your attention.” She explained.\n\n“You didn’t just write on the giant chalkboard in the study or something else?”" ]	2
	[WP] Music is the true universal language, used for interspecies communication across the galaxy. For the first time, humanity has joined the conversation.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "It's hard not to feel confident in Earth's chances to impress. Shall we pick the raw power of early 20th century blues music? Let Dylan teach about Earth's struggles with life and love? Are The Beatles too obvious? Maybe we simply show off the pure strength of our voice? Aretha? Whitney? Freddy? The choice of what to play seems impossible and the pressure may have been too much for most of us.\n\nNot for Tanner though and Tanner just happened to be manning the antenna that fateful night. The world and our very lives would change in an instance as he confidently pressed play.\n\n\n🎵 Gang, back in the stu' (gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang)\n\nUh, yeah, gang back in the stu' (gang)\n\nYoung n**** win, win, win, win (bitch)\n\nHow can I lose? (Ha, bitch)\n\nUh, how can I lose? (Ha, bitch)\n\nUh, how can I lose? (Yeah)\n\nI ain't with the gang, gang, gang, gang (bitch)\n\nFifty gon' shoot, uh (squad)\n\nMe and Trav' in a coupe (zoom)\n\nPaparazzi, we switch the route (yeah, uh)\n\nUh, yeah, see your bitch gettin' loose, huh\n\nI'm in LA with the views, huh (yeah)\n\nI'm in LA with your boo (It's lit)* 🎵\n\n\nWhat started as a way to bond all life, quickly took a turn. Earth immediately executed Tanner as a solution but the damage was done. The death ray was launched from 4.1 light-years and after watching it get closer and closer, today is our last. Many of us accepted our fate long ago but there is hope. Impossibly, two men may have found a way to save us all.... with rock!\n\nCan one song change our fate? Can two men rock hard enough to stop a death laser? \n\nThis Summer, Jack Black and Kyle Gass will answer these questions and more in....\n\nThe Pick of Destiny 2: Pickin' In Space!\n\nThe movie will stink but the soundtrack will kick ass!\n\nStreaming July 4th on Paramount+ so ask your parents for their login now!" ]	2
	[WP] My fake mustache has gotten me out of more messes then I can count.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "My fake moustache has gotten me out of more messes than I can count. It’s a simple yet effective device for subterfuge that fits snugly in the breast pocket of my jacket. I find myself on the 35th floor of a dreary building with a drab interior that matches the inclement weather outside. My leather shoes tap on the polished floor with a tempo that matches the tick of the office clocks positioned above every hallway. The sterile scent of routine and efficiency lingers around every turn as I make my way to the lifts. I pass by an abandoned janitor trolley situated outside of the toilet stalls. There are no accidents, I think to myself as I remove the moustache from my pocket before discarding the jacket within the trolleys garbage receptacle. I adjust the tie that accompanies the suit I was wearing beneath my jacket.\n \n\n \nTime to disappear.\n \n\n \nI affix the fake moustache to my upper lip as I round the corner towards the lifts. The device activates just as the lift door opens in front of me, revealing a rather large security guard who apparently insists on wearing sunglasses indoors. \n\n\n“Good evening, Mr. Harrison.” He says, with an almost imperceptible nod.\n \n\n“Uh, good evening.” I reply, momentarily forgetting that I'm wearing someone else’s face.\n \n\n“Lobby, sir?”\n \n\n“Yes, please. I think I’ve had just about enough for today, ha!” I emphasize the ha by swinging my arm in front of my body awkwardly and immediately clear my throat to make my gesture seem less awkward. It doesn’t work.\n \n\n \nThe guard pushes the button for the 1st floor without taking his eyes off me. I can feel his furrowed brow and squinted eyes scanning me from behind his ridiculously large aviators. I can tell I’ve made an error but I attempt to hide my internal screaming behind my stupid nervous grin. Just another mess my moustache has bailed me out of. You see, the nervous grin isn’t just from the adrenaline of my escape. It’s the moustache tailoring my facial expressions to match those of the man I am impersonating. The hair on the moustache conceals an ingenious little device that stimulates the muscles in my upper lip and sends electrical signals throughout my face via sub-dermal organic wiring implants. Perfectly timed pulses of electricity distort my facial features allowing me to look somewhat like the late Mr. Harrison. \n \n\n \nOf course, the contortion of the facial muscles cannot change the bone structure of my face. But that’s precisely why this little device is so ingenious. It not only has full control of my face but it also contains an imaging device that can perform instantaneous brain scans of people in my vicinity. These rapid scans are just enough to detect the pictorial code an observer would use to recognize my face. Unbeknownst to most, our brains develop these codes that allow us to detect and interpret facial expressions and features in people that are familiar to us. Our eyes look towards the mouth and eyes to detect emotional expression and we use static features like hairstyles (or moustaches) to recognize people we have seen before. A quick scan of a person’s brain and this device knows which muscles to stimulate and when in order to satisfy the pictorial code the observer is searching for.\n \n\n \nIn fact, I don’t actually look like Mr. Harrison despite the suit, the $100 haircut and the meticulously groomed moustache. On the contrary, my face resembles that of a stroke victim who is experiencing spontaneous seizures in every facial muscle that triggers whenever someone observes that specific area. But as long as the shading, grain and expression in that area of the face matches the pictorial code of the observer, all they see is Mr. Harrison standing there with a stupid grin on his face.\n \n\n“It has been a long day, sir.” The guard says as he stiffens into his elevator riding posture and takes his eyes off me and stares at the floor number depicted above the door.\n \n\nA bead of sweat rolls down my forehead which causes my face to painfully twitch in response to the electric pulses. I quickly wipe it with my sleeve and resume my own power stance. The elevator pings at the 25th floor and opens for a woman in a pant suit struggling with an armful of files and simultaneously juggling her handbag and a pair of glasses she just manages to push back onto her nose before they fall.\n \n\n \n“Please, excuse me a-and good evening, sir.” She stammers as she stumbles into the lift.\n \n\nThe guard and I shuffle slightly to make space for her. I turn to her and smile pleasantly, which the moustache converts into a confident smirk befitting the serial womanizer that was Mr. Harrison. She meets my gaze with a squint and a raised eyebrow. Her sudden curiosity compels her to adjust her spectacles once more, but as she reaches for them a folder slips from beneath her other arm and scatters documents across the elevator floor.\n \n\n“Oh no! I-I’m so sorry!” She immediately crouches down and begins to gather handfuls of paper, hurriedly stuffing them into the various folders she was carrying.\n \n\n“Here, let me help you.” I bend down and start helping her as the elevator pings again. I gather the last few pages and hand them to her when I realize she’s staring at me with a perplexed look on her face. Can she see through my disguise?\n \n\n“This is my floor. Sir. Mam.” The guard nods to us both as he leaves. I nod back but the woman just keeps staring at me. The door closes and she backs away from me until she bumps into the side of the elevator.\n \n\n \n“Wh-who are you?” She says, with a face full of fear. She keeps trying to step backward with her back pressed against the wall as though she might slip through it if she tries hard enough.\n \n\n“What do you mean? It’s me, Mr. Harrison.” I try to smile reassuringly but the moustache contorts my mouth into a snarl.\n \n\n“Your face… I-I-It’s moving!” My heart leaps into my throat as I realize what she’s saying. How could this be? What are the chances?\n \n\n“I don’t know who you are or what you’ve done with Mr. Harrison. Just please, please don’t hurt me!” The files fall to the floor as she raises her hands in front of her defensively.\n \n\n“You can see my face moving?” She nods as tears well up in her eyes.\n \n\n“Do… do you have trouble recognizing faces?” She nods again. This time with a look of surprise.\n \n\n“How do you know that? I’ve never told anyone that… I-I lied about my condition to get this job.”\n \n\n \nShit. I screened everyone in this building to make sure this wasn’t possible. Years of infiltration, espionage and assassination… Not one… Ever… Yet here she was, staring at my moustache as my face contorts endlessly, searching for the pictorial code it would never find. The condition is called prosopagnosia. It’s an extremely rare condition where a person is unable to recognize faces. People with this condition usually develop strategies to recognize people based on other types of sensory information like their gait, their cologne or whether or not they’re an asshole. \n \n\nI deactivate the moustache and she immediately breathes a sigh of relief. Her inability to recognize the specific pictorial code displayed by my face must have allowed her to see my face contorting in a grotesque fashion. The stuff of nightmares. No wonder she was trying to climb the walls to get away.\n \n\n“Does this mean, Mr. Harrison… Did you kill him?” She was standing up straight now and the tears had stopped flowing. I was thinking about answering her as the sound of alarms blaring cut off my thoughts. The elevator pinged and the door opened to reveal the basement parking lot. The sound of car tires squealing briefly overpowered the alarms as my getaway car pulled up right in front of the elevator. I had triggered it remotely minutes ago and it had driven itself here to meet me.\n \n\n \n“Well. This is me.” I clapped my hands together and turned as though I was leaving. My left hand inconspicuously unscrewing the thumb on my right hand, releasing the spool of garrote wire concealed within the prosthetic.\n \n\n“Wait! Take me with you!” I stopped and looked over my shoulder at her.\n \n\n“I don’t need a secretary where I’m going.” \n \n\n“Of course you do! I know who you are now. You’re the one that keeps them all up at night. All of these elite bankers and corporate CEOs. The 1% of the 1%. I knew you would come for Mr. Harrison one day.” She grabbed one of the folders off the floor and held it up in front of her.\n \n“It’s all here! The numbers tell the whole story. The billions he made through extortion. The families he stole from. Every person he left penniless to rot in the slums. I know everything! Who he plays golf with. Who he meets with and who he deals with under the table. I can help you find them!\"\n \n\n \nI clicked my thumb back into place and turned to face her.\n \n\n“Why? What’s in it for you?” My mind briefly switched to my car as I spoke and the driver’s side door popped open from my mental command.\n \n\n“I’ve been looking for a way to hurt them. I can’t see their faces but I can see the pain they have caused. I was on my way out with these files. They keep old-school paper records to avoid leaving a digital footprint. I’ve been working here for years to gain access to them. I’ve been trying to find a way. I’ve been trying to find you. I can help you hurt them.”\n \nThe tears were long gone now. A look of fierce determination stared back at me. Could she be the one to help me complete my list? Could she help me find the faceless men and women pulling all of the strings? There are no accidents.\n \nMy mind switched to my car and the passenger side door swung open. I turned and got into the drivers seat just as the sound of sirens started to sing in chorus with the buildings alarms.\n \nTime to disappear." ]	2
	[WP] The sacred scroll you sought for so long simply read, "Keep clam and carry on." You thought it was a typo until a voice spoke, "No, the scroll is correct."	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The sudden voice, after days of not hearing anyone speak, shocked me, not due to the clairvoyant content of the words but only because it was there. It did not take more than a moment, though, for the meaning to catch up to me. I could feel my fingers freezing, my heart jumping to my throat, the spine getting so rigid I could swear someone had the cold tip of their sword pressed against my back, waiting for me to slouch. “Wh-who was that?” The sentence I uttered was barely a faded whisper as I turned my face against its will. My eyes were violently indecisive on whether they wanted the answer to that question or not.\n\nA pint of relief shot down my spine as I discovered that no one was there. Only to be chased by a cold blade splitting my back in half when the question I asked was finally responded to, “Looks like no one’s there.” My head jolted to the front to see nothing but the dusty open chest in front of me and the candle next to it, the scroll and an old clam in my hands. A coughing fit took over me as I attempted to scream this time. In the excitement of finally getting what I had been looking forward to for years, I had ignored the amount of dust I inhaled when I came into my grandfather’s apparently deserted attic.\n\n“Who… Who’s there?” I said, fighting the coughs to spit the words out, as I slid away from the chest towards a corner, pushing the ground with my feet. My hands had dropped the contents of the chest to grab the candle. “Who are you?!” I shouted into the darkness, moving the candle left and right as I felt the wall behind me. The light revealed no one.\n\nIt was a long wait till the sound of internal reasoning was louder than the beating of my heart. I slowly crawled back on all fours to the chest and got on my knees in front of it. “Huh…” It all started feeling stupid. It’s the middle of the day! I scolded myself, What are you so scared of?\n\nGrabbing the scroll, I read it again “Keep clam and carry on.” Well, there was a clam in the chest. The first clue to where my great-great-great-great-grandfather had hidden his dentures. Staring at the clam I thought back to my conversations with my grandfather, back when I was just a young lad, at the playground in the lonely afternoons.\n\n”Cecil, my father had tried to find the dentures. So did I. And my son, after me. We all failed. The dentures, they hold the key.” “Key to what, grandpa?” “Treasure!” The old man used to say with his hazy eyes suddenly livening up, emitting a vigour as he stared directly at my eyes, exciting my young heart. “You must find it. As my grandson, I know you will!”\n\n“Awww, isn’t that a sweet memory.” The voice I was hearing earlier said sarcastically. My smiling face froze. My fingers around the clam clenched tightly. “You have no idea how many people I’ve scared away before you…” He paused. His voice sounded familiar, almost like hearing myself talk. “You actually do. 5. Your 5 immediate ancestors.”\n\nThis time around, as the voice kept talking, it was easier for me to keep myself calm. The voice continued. “Your father was quite the case, let me tell you! He peed his pants as he ran down haha!” The amusement was clear in his voice… or rather my voice. “Can you believe that?! He was 21! Hahaha!” The laughing continued as my muscles started relaxing. I suddenly felt the air I was breathing go down my dry throat. I swallowed to moisten it. “21… Just like you. You’re 21, aren’t you?”\n\nI stayed quiet. I was not supposed to be opening this chest. The grandparents were out on a long trip and the chest was unguarded for days. I had given in to the temptation to sneak in and open it after lasting three whole days.\n\n“Aren’t you?” The voice asked, firmer but calm.\n\n(I may pursue the story further but this was all I could have written today. I hope it quickens some thoughts in the readers.)" ]	2
	[WP] Dragons, princesses, and knights have an agreement where the dragon would “kidnap” the princess and the knight would come to “rescue” them. You, a newly trained knight, have not been informed of this.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Sir Graham was not having a good day.\n\n\"Is this even legal?\" Sir Graham asked, young eyes confused at what he was seeing.\n\nThe dragon, a magnificent thing with green and black scales, was rubbing the top of their head. Trying to fight a headache, perhaps? \n\nMeanwhile, the Princess Margo was casually reading a book right next to the dragon. \n\nThe weight of his armor was starting to get to him, but it was nothing compared to the bonkers information he just learned.\n\n\"Do you think that we would have rules if the Coalition of Royals Creatures, and Knights wasn't approve by the kingdoms?\"\n\n\"Coalition of Royals- did you know your organization's acronyms spell CRCK? Like crack?\"\n\nThe dragon groaned. The princess chuckled but stayed reading.", "I was not having a good day. I was just knighted two days ago, and already facing a major crisis. The Princess was just kidnapped by a dragon during my watch. The King and Queen is away visiting the Ember Islands, and all the other Knights are away for a Tournament two county over. It's all up to me to rescue the Princess, and I'm lost as heck. \n\nI can't fight a Dragon one on one, I'm not that strong yet and I'll die. If the Princess got eaten, the King and Queen will blame me and I'll die. If I don't attempt to rescue the Princess, everyone will blame me for negligence of Duty and I'll die. To make it simple, I'll die either way... \n\nAs I was pacing back and forth and biting all my nails off, an idea came to me. Strength in Numbers! That's it! If I go alone, my death is assured. But with more people by my side, they can at the very least keep the Dragon busy while I save the Princess. Thankfully, the King left a Royal Seal behind. It was meant to be used for administrative Duty and junk. I grab the Royal Seal and written an emergency decree that allow me to recruit people to save the Princess. \n\nI spend several hours running around the Capital City recruiting everyone I can find for the rescue attempt. The Adventurers Guild, The Church, the Royal Stable, the local school, the Fisheries, I went everywhere. Satisfied with my effort, we immediately storm the dragon's lair. \n\nIt turns out, there was a special arrangement between Princess, Dragons, and Knights. A \"Dragon\" would kidnap a \"Princess\", and the \"Knight\" would rescue them. This was a special evaluation process for all those Involved. A \"Dragon\" are evaluated in their fierceness and ferocity, a \"Princess\" are evaluated in how they act and carry themselves, and a \"Knight\" are evaluated in their honor and virtue. A special council of made from senior Knights, elder Dragons, and Royalties would watch over and then evaluate the entire scenario from start to finish. \n\nApparently, the senior Knights was supposed to teach me this the day I became a Knight, so I can be ready and understand my role and such. Imagine the Council, the Dragon, and the Princess surprise when I arrived at the Dragon's Lair with an army. We got Adventurers, Nuns and Priests, kids who's happy to be skipping schools, gardeners, fishermen, the Baker Bob, the Royal Stable boy Joe, the town bum Cooky, several Royal Dignitaries that was visiting, Farmer Ell, and about two hundred others." ]	3
	[WP] You are a shapeshifter who is having trouble forming original appearances. If you remain shapeless, others estrange you, and sometimes attack you. But if you replicate someone’s exact appearance, you blend in	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "# II \| [Read from I](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/v1fq6x/wp_as_a_joke_the_gods_decided_to_reverse_the/iaoubt6/)\n\n----\n\nAnnihilating a would-be conqueror had taught Shizuka Kitsuki an important lesson: Being hailed as a savior might be pleasant at first, but it soon grew extremely tiresome.\n\nIt wasn't that she objected to celebrations in principle. She caroused as much as the next student. She did. But a full-scale feast with what food and entertainment could be scrounged and cobbled together in the scant hours before dusk? Even she could read the underlying motives there, the desperation to patch over the panic and uncertainty caused by failing magic to achieve some vague semblance of normalcy, organized by those who'd shown her mostly contempt and attended by those who'd barely acknowledged her at all. This wasn't born of joy.\n\nPity, too. It would have made a wonderful venue for the mother of all \"I told you so\"s.\n\nNo, this wasn't about her at all. Her deed was merely the excuse. She had no appetite for this particular party, and it seemed no one had noticed when she'd slipped away from it after finishing her food.\n\n----\n\nShe wasn't the only one to skip the party. As she'd expected, she opened the door to her room to find herself seated at one of the two desks. Or rather, her roommate, Adrianna, in her form. It had startled her, the first time she'd witnessed it. Now it was almost commonplace. \"Still stuck?\" she asked.\n\nAdrianna looked up from her tome and nodded. \"And you weren't in the mood to celebrate? I heard your magic from here.\"\n\n\"I emptied my wells completely for that. I need some rest.\" That was true enough, as far as it went.\n\n\"I would have enjoyed it. You might not get another chance.\" Her double sighed longingly and flipped to the next page. \"You're so lucky. You always get these... opportunities. And you always pass them up. Would it hurt you to accept once in a while?\"\n\nShizuka tried not to let the words bother her. Adrianna was -- had been -- an envy witch. She'd indulged in the emotion, immersed herself in it, to empower her transformations. A habit formed by years of practice couldn't be overcome in a handful of days. She'd been a fine roommate, otherwise. Especially considering that she'd likely had to stretch to find things about Shizuka's own practices to envy, before everything had turned on its head.\n\nIt still stung a little, though. \"That's not exactly how I remember the last couple of years.\"\n\n\"Whatever. Maybe I'll go down later, if you're going to be here.\"\n\n\"Maybe you should. Isn't that the opposite of envy? Satisfaction?\"\n\n\"Not exactly. Not quite generosity, either, that's greed. It's got elements of both, though. I think.\"\n\nShizuka shrugged. \"Self-awareness?\"\n\n\"Hmm. Self-acceptance, maybe.\"\n\n\"Sea and stars. You sure you don't want to try my way?\"\n\nAdrianna smiled faintly at that. \"I'm not sure that would be any easier. But thanks.\"\n\nClimbing onto her bed, Shizuka laid back, not bothering to undress or get beneath the covers. She hadn't really felt it earlier, but now that she was here, in calm, familiar surroundings, the exhaustion was catching up. Her body demanded rest to restore her magic.\n\nEven so, as her eyes closed, she couldn't help but wonder: How could a shapeshifter who lived her life as a succession of other people come to find self-acceptance?\n\n----\n\n[Next Chapter](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/v3iowj/wpwhenever_youre_angry_youd_write_an_angry_letter/iaz2ax6/)" ]	2
	[WP] A dedicated foodie puts the first time machine to good use — visiting famous restaurants of the past that are no longer with us to taste their famous dishes!	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Log #2056\n\nAs you all know from my previous logs, I have successfully convinced my old classmate to borrow his time machine (fully legalized by the Foundation of Time Patrol). And as you all know, science isn't my thing, food is. So I elected a partner, verse in histories and attire, to tag along with me on the journey to the past, where ancient recipes had been eaten by time (That pun was Jimmy's idea, by the way). Jimmy and I decided to try something simpler from our last log to the earlier 19th century. Here's a link to our page about how we ate burgers made by Hamburger Charlie, creator of the burger recipe. So good!\n\nNow, you may notice I was absent from my daily logs. But after a full week, I'm here to announce over thirty restaurants of the past no longer existed in our modern society.\n\nWhen we made our preparation, Jimmy was the best at dressing us in clothes that will blend us with the ancient people. Even our dialect had to be precise to avoid confusion and paradox. So we started somewhere 'close'; Medieval.\n\nI was honestly shocked by how little the peasants eat during the 15th century. The bread was their main food, but even wheat are hard to find. We made the first stop at the bar in the middle of a village, and the beer was brilliant. Jimmy tried to think of such a drink as he sipped, but he'll sooner get drunk than figuring out.\n\nThe food was so dry and murky, but the porridge was so sweet despite the lack of spice. When I bit down a mushroom, the softness enriched the taste of the rice. Were the vegetables better here? How did they process such a thing? I attempted the question at the cook, but he explained such ingredients are mostly chopped thin and cast into the bowl. Vegetables are only harvested when absolutely ripped. Such course happened on better days, and I had the privilege to taste it. Quite humbling, to think of all the time I can eat porridge however I want. I gave it a solid 6/10. Wanted to try their meat, but it was exclusive to noble blood.\n\nWe usually returned to the present day for our destination. The process took around only an hour or so. So we dared ourselves to somewhere older; China.\n\nIt is said that mooncake was used in a revolution to overthrow a dynasty. Being multilanguage, I brought my partner Jimmy to the beginning of a new Dynasty. The Chinese waitress was beautiful, but she didn't share my opinion as she screamed upon seeing my tanned skin. Yes, we originally came for the lotus mooncake, but we ended up ordering their dumpling, filled with strange meat which I'm hundred percent certain is not pork.\n\nThe chef claimed it was butchered from the meat of a small animal. I assumed it was a raccoon? But Jimmy insisted he never tasted something so chewy. Have we finally uncovered a lost recipe in the past? The tea was excellent. It was not too strong, but sweet enough to make ask for a second. Chrysanthemum, I believe, but not this thick in color. 9/10 for this restaurant. The lake view just added to the experience. Fantastic. I also had a stomach ache upon returning to the present.\n\nJimmy was skeptical when I mention Egypt, but I convinced him to land us somewhere far from cities. Maybe we'll try next time. For now, the fruits and beer under the eyes of the Egypt god carved on the wall were good enough experience. It was boiling hot without something to drink, but they had cheese. Cheese! How astonishing! I dipped the garlic bread into the melted cheese and pretended it was nacho. I can see Jimmy holding back his laughter while the rest of the customers stared at me. I don't think this is the wrong way.\n\nDipping it in honey was not my thing, but when roasted alone, the fish tasted fresh. I'm not allowed fresh water from the river of Nile, but the beer was given freely. Nothing new I haven't eaten in the present day. 6/10. More marks because of cheese.\n\nI noticed the more regressed the civilization, the simpler their food culture. Yet there's always enough for everyone. I enjoyed how much I spend in those restaurants and noticed, that no matter how much we change as a species, some foods are better enjoyed in the presence of many. I returned to the present and saw a homeless man searching for food in the garbage can on my way home. Then I realized that some things, unfortunately, remained the same no matter how many thousand years passed; some people starved while others horde food they won't even finish.\n\nI will update you on my other visits to the restaurant in the past. But always remember, food that is served with kindness will remain delicious, no matter what century.\n\nPeace,\nby Index,\nFood Journalist of Eat Zone magazine." ]	2
	[WP] The ancient, eldritch monster thinks it has an easy meal in you. What it doesn't know is this isn't your first rodeo. After fighting off serial killers, cults and monsters, this thing comes to a horrible conclusion: You're not trapped with it, it's trapped with YOU.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "It's been 3 months since the eldritch monster I call Greg decided it wanted me dead. I don't know why Gmxkskfnxicdnsp, or Greg for short, wants me dead and frankly I don't care. It's taken 3 months, 5 serial killers, at least 2 completely separate cults, and most recently an honest to God tentacle monster yet still I live. The thing is, until Greg shows up personally in all his eldritch glory, he can't kill me. I am Kasif, slayer of gods, traveler of worlds, and the most arrogant bastard anyone has had the displeasure of meeting. \n\n\"I can't be killed, you can Greg. So either stop trying to kill me, or come here yourself so I can kill you.\"\n\n\n---------------------------\n\nPatient log: A128 - 3\|11\nPatient has lost all connection to reality. Self-righteous rants directed at empty air occur almost constantly. Recently, patient becan mentioning a \"Greg\". Analysis of memory banks recommended. \n\n\n-------------------------\n\nThey think I don't know they have my body in a lab but I do. It doesn't matter, Greg won't be stuck in here with me much longer. I may be in the twisted reality that compromises this eldritch monster, but it's the one that's trapped.\n\n-----------------------\n\nPatient log: A128 - 3\|12\n\n\n All verbal communication has devolved into maniacal laughter. Laughter has remained constant for 4 hours, patient oxygen levels have flatlined yet the laughter continues." ]	2
	[WP] After discovering someone asleep in some kind of machine, you send a message into their dream telling them they’re asleep and that they need to wake up. They send a message back that says they’re well aware that they’re asleep, and that they don’t want to wake up.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "After wandering for days upon days, I came upon a bustling strip. Prominent shops, lively tourists, robot policemen standing guard, things I never could have imagined. I was in awe, both wary of my newfound surroundings but also appreciating the deep beauty in this bastion of civilization.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nMy reverence had to be cut short, though. I came with a purpose.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nI made my way to the nearest high rise, tarrying as I approached, the gravity of the situation finally hitting me. My heart began to pound, sweat beading at my brow both from the hot desert sun as well as my anxiety at what lay ahead. I had no choice but to pull up my pants and pick up the pace, so I made my way inside, looking straight ahead to make my way up the levels of the building, no time for chitchat with anyone. \n\n&#x200B;\n\nIt was musty inside, dark. A robot policeman stood inside, scanning all who entered. It must have been outdated or something, not having been able to detect me amongst the crowd. I made my way to the elevators, grumbling, \"Penthouse floor,\" as I kept my head down. The elevator boy remarked, \"Trouble in paradise?\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\nI said nothing.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nWhen the doors opened, I rushed out, making my way down the hall somewhere between a brisk walk and a slow run. There, just before the end of the hall, I find my room. I look around, nobody in sight, and get to work picking the lock. Feeling it out just right, I slowly open the door, peering inside. Robots abounded, so I crossed my fingers, hoping that the same luck that kept me undetected down below would keep me undetected up here. Stealthily sidling along the wall, I made my way to the lower level of the massively spacious penthouse unhindered.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nPunching in the codes I'd been taught, I hastily opened the electronic doors to the basement, trying to seal them behind me before I may be caught. I hurriedly descended the stairs. At the bottom was a long concrete corridor. At the end of it lay a black metallic pod with a glass cover, a withered, emaciated old man laying in slumber inside. There was a microphone with which I could communicate with the man. A television screen above the pod displayed a stationary portrait of a dapper man with a fashionable haircut and a modest mustache. I spoke up into the microphone, saying, \"I've come to collect what's rightfully mine. You're out cold. Wake up, get out and fight me for it like a man,\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\nA deep snickering emitted from one of the speakers in the pod. \n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Oh, I'm well aware of my situation. But I won't be engaging in such childish conflict like your pugilist games. Besides, I'd perish in an instant outside of this chamber, it would be no contest. At any rate, without me, who would run New Vegas?\"", "It was early into the witching hour when she had arrived. Outside, the pitter patter of rain left a gentle ambience on the roof that echoed inside. The machines were larger than they had appeared on the images, with extra features and... bodies.\n\nWhen Sally had looked up local 24/7 Laundromats, she had not expected this. Who would?\n\nThey appeared much like washing machines, except for the terminals on them. It had a black screen on the front, with a flickering green light as if awaiting code. She dropped her bag and inspected the interior of the room. Nothing else seemed untoward. What exactly had she stumbled on?\n\nShe moved at a languid pace, as if expecting someone to jump out of a corner. Eventually she made her way to one of the machines, wiping away the condensation to peer inside. There was a woman floating in the water, naked as the day she was born. She was even curled up, like she was in some kind of artificial womb.\n\nSally took a moment. She let it all sink in, as if time would afford her some understanding of the situation. Perhaps if she opened one of them? Spoke to the person inside? She went to the terminal, typing \"Open.\"\n\n\"No.\" A text appeared beneath. \n\nSally drew her palms along her face, before slapping herself slightly. \"What the hell?\" She looked around the room, taking several minutes to inspect every corner. There were no cameras, no equipment to record sound. It couldn't have been a game show. Could it?\n\n\"You are asleep.\" She typed.\n\n\"Yes, I know. Please leave me alone.\" The terminal returned, before a red light began to glow. Sally stood back, just as a small wooden door she had not noticed before opened. A tiny old woman came shuffling out in her fluffy slippers. \n\n\"Sorry. S'cuse me. You can't touch that.\" She said, wafting her hand at Sally.\n\n\"I- Where? Wh-\"\n\n\"You okay, babe? First time?\"\n\n\"Yeah. You could say that.\" Sally said, laughing awkwardly.\n\n\"Ticket?\" The woman said, pulling a small comb from the pocket of her pajamas and brushing her hair. She made her way to the till, punching into it with her free hand. \n\n\"I don't... I just brought some clothes.\"\n\n\"Oh.\" The woman stopped, lifting herself to look over the counter at the basket on the floor. \"Oh, right.\"\n\n\"What's going on?\"\n\n\"Different service at night. Please, come back in the morning. You can leave that here, I'll see to it.\"\n\n\"I'm sorry. What? This is just too weird.\"\n\nThe old woman offered a comforting smile, sitting herself down on the bench and patting it. For a moment, Sally tried making sense of everything again. It didn't work. \n\n\"What's going on?\" She asked, sitting beside the woman.\n\n\"They're washing away old memories.\" Jen said, her name badge hanging from the lanyard draped around her neck. Sally had missed that too, somehow.\n\n\"You uh- What? Washing memories?\" Sally allowed a laugh to escape her; one of confusion. \"How?\"\n\n\"Don't know.\" Jen shrugged. \"They've been doin' it my whole time here. Girl before me explained it like that. The machines change at night, to suit other needs.\"\n\n\"Right...\" Sally rose from the bench, picking up the basket. Some socks fell onto the floor, right into a little puddle. She muttered under her breath as Jen laughed.\n\n\"Come back t'morrow, love.\"\n\nSally left and returned to her apartment. She spent the rest of the night trying to find anything online that could explain her experience. She even tried looking deep into the web, but nothing remotely similar presented itself.\n\nAfter sleeping on it, Sally returned the next night, without her basket." ]	3
	[WP] The zombie outbreak was contained and became a no-go zone. Its survivors trapped and convinced the rest of the world has met the same fate. You're the host of a new reality TV show which follows their day-to-day lives in the supposed end of days.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Zombie 1: resident nil. As the zombie takes another mouthful of the village pastor, the hidden camera zooms out, to show a home, riddled with bullet holes. \n\nFurther still, a town - the shell of a town, really. Derelict houses and abandoned shops. Paper litters the streets. Another zombie chows down on an unidentified victim. A family huddle behind a fence, waiting for a gap to cross the road. \n\nFurther still… the town disappears behind a giant dome. \n\nFurther… the outline of the dome recedes, but doesn’t disappear. Clearly now we’re seeing satellite imagery. Upstate New York. \n\nAnd yet further. The globe, with the dome just visible. The shot passes by a transmitting satellite.\n\nThe credits appear, and the announcer begins his spiel.\n\n“Broadcast live and unedited 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to an audience around the globe; enclosed in the largest containment building ever constructed, and along with the wall of China, one of only two man-made structure visible to space - it’s… the chew-man show!!!”", "“In today’s episode, we see the two tribes go head to head in an all-out battle,” I whisper into the microphone sewed into my sleeve. \r\n\n“Tune in after this short break and watch as they face off for the first time,” I say, before dropping my arm and open the door from the bedroom where my camera operator John and I have been stationed for the past thirty minutes, making our preparations. \n\n\"face-off, good one,\" John chuckles as he walks past with a spring in his step. John doesn't have a traditional camera to lug around, not for this job. For this environment, he has a 360 degree camera in his hat and one in a modified glove.\n\nJust as I'm closing the door someone shouts loudly from outside. John looks at me, confused.\r\n\n“They weren’t meant to start the assault until after the ad break,” I say angrily as I set off at a run.\r I reach the patio and see a crowd gathered nearby. My other camera operator Sarah is there too, which at least means she caught the action.\r\n\n“What’s the deal?” I say as I near the group.\r\n\n“Susan got hit,” Carol says as she crouches next to her examining the wound.\r\n\n“I think it'll be okay,” Susan says.\r\n\n“Someone should really get her patched up quick,” I say and walk off, kicking dirt as I go. I get around the side of the manor house and hit my radio button.\r\n\n“Annie, are you there?” I whisper into my mic.\r\n\n“Yeah boss, what’s up?” \r\n\n“Someone on your side went early and hit one of ours,” I say, “and we’re still two minutes away from returning from the ad break. What am I going to say?”\r\n\n“Sorry boss, you know what this is like. But we’re on track here, make sure you’re under cover when we start firing,” Annie says.\r\n\nBefore I can reply I hear another voice in my ear.\r\n\n“Live in three, two…”\r\n\nI swear under my breath, realizing I don’t have a camera operator with me, but my mic is linked up to the feed so I start whispering to myself as the countdown ends.\r\n\n“Welcome back to the greatest showdown you’ve ever seen. Inside the camp, there’s already one injury and the main event hasn’t even begun. But shortly…”\r\n\nI turn a corner and walk straight into someone, making me lose my footing and fall backwards into the mud.\r\n\n“Who were you whispering to?” The man asks me forcefully. I pause, giving the crew time to cut my feed if necessary.\r\n\n“No one. There’s no time for this, we have to go make sure the perimeter is secure,\" I reply.\n\nHe looks around to see if there's anyone else nearby.\r\n\n“Daryl, what are you doing over there?” Carol yells from across the yard.\r\n\n“This one here was whisperin something, and she got a bullshit excuse to boot,” Daryl says over his shoulder, crossbow pointing at my forehead now.\r\n\nI hold my hands up, heart beating faster than ever and spot John the camera operating running in our direction.\r\n\n“Look, it’s all good,\" I say, \"I just mutter to myself sometimes is all.\"\r\n\nBut before Daryl can speak again there’s another scream somewhere near the gate.\r\n\n“The whisperers! They’re coming! Quickly!” Someone shouts.\n\nDaryl looks at me. \n\n\"I'll deal with you later,\" he says before taking off towards the main gate.\n\nJohn arrives at my side, puffing. \n\n\"You okay?\" he says, \"that looked close. How much did the audience hear?\"\n\n\"They probably cut away,\" I begin, getting myself back on my feet, \"and if they didn't, it's fine. It just adds a raw element for tonight's audience. Doesn't matter for the other audiences who see it later either. We edit all our commentary out when they distribute to the other markets that refuse to show it live and make us chuck a fiction stamp on it.\"\n\nJohn looks at me and grins, \"if only they knew.\"" ]	3
	[WP] The cosmos you knew were barren and inhospitable. After billions of years, you've awakened from a long slumber. You come to realize that a sentient species you don't recognize has given you a name, "mother Earth."	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Records from Mother Earth: how they became human, and how humans came to be \n\nI’m not quite sure how I got here. I can’t tell why these beings seem to rely on me, or why they gravitate towards me. My consciousness has been dormant for so long that it’s very difficult to piece together what events followed before I slept. However, the memories I have so far from before all tell me that these are beings not so different from what I am. These beings are just spirits, like myself, but something is making them different.\n\nIt seems odd that I find more comfort in these spirits than the spirits more like me. At the same time, the presence of these beings make me feel a sense of grief and emptiness. As I begrudgingly remember, the spirits more like me were full of betrayal and hatred, and I found myself having to flee them and the hazardous cosmos they have created. Sure, these spirits may look different; they’ve grown flesh. It also seems that the flesh can’t live without the planet that sustains them.\n\nUnfortunately for this species, their planet is disorganized, and the living beings in this planet are suffering because their bodies can’t keep up with their planet at a reasonable pace. I attempted to assist these being in evolution. I remembered how some species of the flesh function before, and so I created an environment based on what this species and their flesh seems to need. A thought keeps occurring to me that has occurred before: why do beings born of matter not change their environment in a quicker, more suitable way? Furthermore, it seems that even if I try to teach this species how to manipulate the matter around them, they are possibly unwilling. They only function in ways that seem to displace aspects of their environment. I wonder why they choose this method of action, when the potential for rapid evolution and progress can occur.\n\nIt was quite difficult creating an ecosystem that was balanced enough for humans, as they’re called. Due to their high functioning spirits, humans also took priority when I helped shape their ecosystem. Other spirits bound by flesh have formed, but spirits that turned out human were granted with a certain level of consciousness. I thought it best to preserve this level of consciousness, as I shaped their environment to assist in evolving their bodies physical minds. \n\nIt also seemed strange that, no matter how much this species’ brains evolved, their spirits did not seem to evolve with them. While individuals could reach spiritual enlightenment while human, only when flesh took its natural course of expiration could the spirit truly be free. It seemed odd that there could be factors stronger than the will of the spirit. \n\nUpon further observation, it does not seem that this species is held back by will. Communication has evolved, and so has the spirits compatibility with the physical flesh. It is getting easier to read an individuals spirit before their body expires. Their spirits have much will, but even when given the information to strive for their otherworldly ambitions, humans still fall short. But possibly, a being bound by the flesh is not able to transform their environment in the same way a fully realized spirit can.\n\nI understand humans, as well as the rest of this planet, much better now. No matter how much the spirit wills itself to do something, no matter how much the spirit recognizes and tries to perform an action based on otherworldly desires, one bound by the flesh is strictly limited. Evolution of humans and other species on this planet has proven to evolve awareness, but this does not evolve capability of so called mortals outside the rules of matter. Even I, a spirit in its purest form, am more bound to the rules of matter when interacting with this planet, and have been bound all along with planets like this one.\n\nI see now the only difference between me and humans is the forms in which we exist. Our spirits all want, and we are all limited. Humans simply exist in a form that is more limited. Admittedly, this does make me feel alone. This would be a lot less lonely if I were able to interact with a larger quantity of fully realized spirits; it’s also in someway disheartening to only see a fully realized spirit after they have shed a form I assisted in creating, and shed a life they have thoughtfully curated. The final moment of grief is when each fully realized spirit migrates elsewhere, or is reborn again. I also admittedly feel shame for not feeling fully connected to humans, the species I have nurtured for more lifetimes than they themselves are aware of. \n\nI believe I now understand the extent of the limits of spirit and matter. I wait for the day where I meet another like-minded spirit, one less aggressive than the ones I had to flee from. But I do not take for granted those I have assisted. Subconsciously I may feel empty in a way, but consciously I understand these feelings and know my actions were not done in vain. I want to continue in evolving this planet and keeping it alive. I am finally realizing that after my slumber, I woke up bound to this planet, and that my slumber was not caused by a spiritual force. I have been bound by matter since my rest, and maybe somewhat before, yet in a different way than those around me.\n\nIt seems I have a better understanding now of the connections between spirit and matter, but something is still missing. Perhaps, I will exist on this planet while human for awhile. I can not change how I was formed, or how my spirit functions. But, maybe I can gain a better understanding of how humans function, as it seems each time I believe I fully understand, I am mistaken. And possibly, if I make the effort to live amongst humans in the form of flesh, humans can gain a better understanding of how spirits function and how that connects with their own flesh and will.\n\nIt was decided then, that I will live as a human. And once my spirit learned how to coexist with my human form, other spirits on this planet began recognizing my presence in a different way. They believe me to be a mother, and now communicate with both my spirit tied to this planet and my human form. They have believed me to be a mother all along, a mother of nature. Without taking human form, I was not able to fully comprehend their gratitude and regard. \n\nI have come to the conclusion that the limitations of matter enhance the spirit, and that the spirit enhances connections amongst different beings. So, I will be their Mother Earth, as I have already been all along. My previous circumstances may have left me still shaken, and being tied to matter helped me translate and recognize those feelings. However, I will not let limitations of matter or spirit stand in the way of caring for the planet I have come to love." ]	2
	[WP] After 20 years on the planet, a sizeable segment of the population preferred to live in the forest rather than cut down trees for homes and for farming. After 60 years, it became obviously that breathing the tree pollen had affected their DNA	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\n“Here! Another one here!” A man was yelling at other men dressed in the same garb. He had a white tunic on, with leather elbow and knee pads. He wielded a long spear with a saw-like blade on the top. “Grab this one before he moves, put him with the others!” \n\nThe other men ran along the grand stone and rubble wall that stood guard around a small village. The wall had mismatched stones, and various other objects protruding. It was clear the wall was erected with whatever they had available, but still made sturdily. A small figure in mismatched clothing was cowering in the cover of the long shadow from the massive defensive structure. They had smears of dirt and blood running from their hands to their shoulders. A look of fear and confusion was painted across his young face. \n\nGruff men, all dressed in a similar tunic and armor grabbed the tiny figure and took them along the wall to a caravan with bars made of solid wood. Arms were reaching from within, grasping for answers and a solution to their pain. Cries of sorrow welled up from deep within the wooden cage on wheels. Using their massive spears, the soldiers prodded the people inside till they moved away from the gate and threw the tiny figure inside. He was instantly swallowed by the mass of confusion and despair, like a hand reaching into a swamp covered in green algae. \n\nAfter what felt like a lifetime, the soldiers clad in white grouped up in walking formation behind the massive prison. Four horses were connected and they began pulling the wooden cage away from the small, burning village. Smoke was rising from most, if not all buildings, and red-golden flames were nipping towards the roofs of the tallest structures. A massive whole had been carved out of the mismatched wall, it felt like it was once a living, breathing entity. Now it lay on the desolate earth, a corpse. \n\nThe white-clad battalion following the sound of pain had a cloud of I’ll intent hovering above them, invisible to the naked eye, but felt with a heavy heart. Blood stains and mud covered the bright white tunics as the retreating sun accented their murderous garb. \n\nWhen the party finally arrived at what seemed to be the final destination, the sun had completely gone, replaced with the bright white moon. The brilliant lights shone on the sky as if they weren’t aware of the atrocities taking place below. Another light cut through the night, but this one didn’t seem natural. It was an unfamiliar glow to all of those inside the prison. A forced hush crept through the cabin of the wooden cage as it rumbled forward on massive wheels. Before them lay a scene of which they had only heard about in tales and legends. \n\nA vast forest with trees reaching all the way to the innocent, sparkling stars. Trees of all sizes filled the space to the lower canopy of the massive forest. Dull green lights seemed to hover in the thick brush of the tree tops. A single path led directly into what seemed to be the center. As they progressed further and further into the dense forest and mossy green rocks, wooden structures began to appear above the path. The buildings grew more and more dense as they pushed deeper down the path, blotting the trees above the group pushing forward. The shadows twisted and warped like the flames that had burnt down the village of those within the prison. The poisonous green lights made the shadow-flames seem un natural and inescapable. \n\nWhen the party stopped, the cage was completely silent. Either from fear, or sheer exhaustion from the journey. Forced to stand and with no food and water. The soldiers forced those inside into a small clearing on the canopy floor. Massive wooden structures ran all the way around the circle above in the trees. Connected by wooden ladders and bridges, a single structure was slightly lower than the rest. It was mostly empty, with around eight people sitting in chairs faced towards the clearing below. They all seemed to have a natural glow, it gave them an aura of being more than human. They were dressed in long tunics, all a different color of green. Simple, but elegant. \n\nOne of the beings sitting towards the middle stood up and walked towards the edge of the structure. They had long golden hair that seemed to almost float as they walked. Their eyes looked cold, filled with jealousy and hate but they hid those features on their face. \n\n“We have saved you. Welcome. Let the trees bless you with their pollen and show them your devotion.” The being spoke with a penetrating voice that cut through the distance from above. They gestured towards the entrance to what looked like a tunnel. “Proceed and show your devotion!” \n\nAt this, the soldiers chained the prisoners together via wooden neck collars. Once they were all connected, they marched towards the ominous cave entrance dug between the tremendous trees like an opening to hell. An ominous wooden gate stood before the entrance, covered in spikes dyed with a forbidding red hue. \n\nThe small figure from before, feet barely reaching the ground and choking on the new imprisonment, swore to himself and to those he lost that he will have his revenge. His eyes glinted in the eerie glow of the green lights from above as he struggled to remember the faces of the soldiers that took him and the rest of the prisoners.", "It started with the children. The babies were born happy and healthy, and outside of weighing a bit heavier they appeared completely fine. For the first months of their lives people only picked up a few deviations in behavior.\n\nThe babies would never sleep during the spring or summer months, yet showed no negative symptoms from the extended sleep deprivation. What little rest they got instead came in the form of occasionally sitting still for hours on end in the absence of external stimulation.\n\nMaybe I'm a bad parent, but we never noticed these differences with our little girl. For the first few months just we felt blessed to have such a mellow first child. It wasn't until her hair began to grow that we realized something was wrong: Unlike her mommy's blonde hair, or her poppa's brown hair, our girl had bright green sprouting from her head.\n\n\"I assure you, nothing is wrong with Natalya,\" I remember the doctor explaining, \"Although a cause hasn't been identified, these mutations seem to be benign.\" I scoffed at his response. \"Benign?\" I repeated, \"You're calling my child a mutant, but you think it's all fine and dandy? Why is this happening to her?!\"\n\nIt took days of testing to find out what my daughter had become. The hair on her scalp and eyebrows contained heavy amounts of chlorophyll, giving them a vibrant green tone. Blood samples showed that her blood was a thick, sap-like fluid that attacked most medication and diseases that entered her system. The doctors congratulated my partner and I, for we had given birth to a brand new type of human.\n\nWe didn't feel much like celebrating.\n\nEventually, as more children were born with these \"mutations\" (God I hate that term), the interplanar government officially recognized them as a new specie of human: Homo Arboreal, or Dendra. There were still many questions about why children were being born this way, but through years of research a link was discovered between the chlorophyll in Dendra hair and in the trees the people of my community made our homes in. Whatever it was that caused these changes, it came from these trees.\n\nOver the years, more differences were found with the Dendra. Their healing was beyond anything humanity had witnessed or created in the past millennia. Broken bones healing in days instead of weeks, diseases being fought off in hours or resisted entirely, and an almost inhuman tolerance to pain.\n\nAnd of course, there's the aging. A tree doesn't just sprout out of the ground fully grown. It's a process that takes years, even decades. Sometimes the original caretakers may not live to see it fully grown. For all the research done, we still don't know when a Dendra reaches physical maturity. There are a few theories on the matter, but even at 50 years old my little girl is still a child in so many ways...\n\nI've lived a good, long life at this point. While I may not have much time left on this world, I can be content in knowing that my child has a long, long, happy life ahead of her. My only regret is that I won't live long enough to see her grow into the strong and intelligent young woman I know she'll be.", "##One With Meliae\n\nHelen's heart rate monitor beeps steadily. She hacks into the support system to get an extra serving of pudding. An error screen stops her progress. Helen sighs in defeat. \n\nGreen dust particles land on her right hand. Helen looks to the window. Vines are extending through the cracks and pushing upward. More green dust enters as the window opens. The vines recede.\n\nA light green face pops into the window. The face has no nose and no remnants of hair. The small mouth is contorted into a small smile. Helen watches as the visitor climbs into the room. Her appendages are flexible vines while her torso is a stiff trunk. Wiry roots hang from the bottom of her feet and tips of her hands, and leaves coat her back. \n\n\"Natalie, it's nice to see you,\" Helen says.\n\n\"I'm surprised you recognize me.\" Natalie's voice has grown deeper and harsher.\n\n\"In spite of all the changes, your hazel eyes have the same whimsical quality as they did forty years ago.\" Helen scans her sister. \"Although from where I'm siting, you haven't aged a day.\"\n\n\"We've both undergone transformations since we last saw each other. Mine was merely to a more optimal form.\" Natalie walks towards the elderly woman. \"I'd like to share the gift with you.\"\n\n\"Absolutely not, I already told you that I was born a human, and I'll die a human. I'm glad that life as a dryad is suiting you, but it's not for me,\" Helen says.\n\n\"You lie in this bed waiting for your meals while I dance with the beauty of the planet. Explain how your situation is more desirable?\" \n\n\"I never was much of a dancer,\" Helen shrugs.\n\n\"You are merely delaying the inevitable. Every human generation born on Meliae becomes closer to the dryads. Eventually, no humans will remain on this planet. We are merely those who sped up the process,\" Natalie says.\n\n\"You're saying that I'm a dinosaur. I always did like them as a kid.\"\n\n\"Helen, must you be this difficult. I'm trying to help you. You will not only extend your life, but you will become one with Meliae. You will experience the world through new senses. You will experience bliss and tranquility as you've never known.\" The nurse walks in during the middle of Natalie's speech carrying a tray of food. She pauses at the sight of Natalie.\n\n\"It's alright. We're related,\" Helen says. The nurse walks over and places the tray next to Helen. She turns and speed walks out of the room. Helen grabs the bowl of chocolate pudding. \"Will I be able to have pudding?\"\n\n\"Meliae provides all of our nutrients directly. Such confections are unnecessary,\" Natalie says.\n\n\"That's a bummer.\" Helen takes a spoonful of pudding and savors it. \"Life in a perpetual drug trip sounds fun, but if I can't have pudding, then I'm not sure it's worth it.\"\n\n\"Please.\" Natalie kneels by her sister. \"Join me. Most dryads have their entire families with them. I'm one of the few who transformed alone. It's isolating.\"\n\n\"I thought becoming a dryad made you one big happy family?\"\n\n\"Yes, of course.\" Natalie stands. \"We are all one in Meliae. Former human bonds are still valued.\" \n\n\"You never were a good liar. I'm not looking to spend more time with a bunch of elitist and judgmental pricks. If you're going to keep trying to convert me, I'll have to ask you to leave. I have bingo in ten minutes.\" Natalie walks back to the window.\n\n\"You're making a mistake. I only want what's best for you.\" Natalie steps outside.\n\n\"No, you only want what you think is best for me,\" Helen says.\n\n---\n\nr/AstroRideWrites" ]	4
	[WP] Your employer at the Physics Research Institute has found a way to increase efficiency at work. Now every time you stop working - chat to a co-worker, check your phone, go get a snack - the clock, quite literally, stops.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "I’m staring at my screen. My eyes are bloodshot. I can feel the dew on my forehead, and the weight of keeping my eyelids open. The code on the screen has become a blur. Lines that were once a coherent script now just seem like jumbled letters, floating semi-colons, and hazy green shapes on a black slate.\n\nBut I daren’t look away. I can’t.\n\nIn the very corner of my peripheral vision I can see Rich at the desk next to me. He’s shifting in his seat, rocking side-to-side. I know that motion. I know it’s only a matter of time.\n\nI want to check the clock. See when this will end. But that’s the thing. Here, the phrase “a watched clock never ticks” is literal. I did the math once. It takes about four seconds to look up at the clock, read the time, and get back to your computer. There’s thirty of us in this room. If we each check the clock roughly six times in a day, that’s nearly a quarter of an hour added just staring at those unmoving lines. A blank eyeless face that watches over you.\n\n“WHAT THE HELL!?!” Morris stands and screams from the other side of the room. “That clock said two-twenty three twenty minutes ago and now it’s still there. Which one of you of you is on your phone!? Who!?”\n\nThere’s a snort three cubicles over followed by a small yelp of shock.\n\nI turn and I can see Sarah standing up, leaning over the wall next to her. Her face is recoiled and shriveled. “Gerry, were you asleep?!”\n\n“No… I… Well…”\n\nSarah ducks behind her wall again and returns with a pen and throws it down into the space next to her. “God damn it, Gerry! How long have you been out?”\n\n“I don’t know, I was trying to read this research paper and I must’ve nodded off.”\n\nMorris walks out from his station, waving his hands in the air. He patrols round the desks, circling in to join the chastisement. “So we’ve all been working our butts of while you’ve been catching up on sleep? Great. Thanks!”\n\nI breathe a deep sigh as I look up at the clock. The hands are still.\n\nRich follows my eye-line and sees his opportunity. He pushes forcefully against the desk, his chair rolling a few feet before the carpet hair snag at the wheels. He stands up, and turns away. “While you lot argue I’m going to the bathroom.”\n\n“AGAIN?!” Morris screams, his ire redirected. “That’s your fourth trip today.”\n\nRich’s hands tense and he rolls his eyes. “Fourth trip in twenty-two hours, yes. Cause that’s how long we’ve all been here.”\n\n“Hold it in!” Morris demands, nodding to Rich’s abdomen.\n\n“I have been.” Rich waves a hand dismissively as he heads down the corridor.\n\n“It’s all the coffee you drink,” Sarah says, her nose upturned.\n\nRich turns but doesn’t stop, just keeps walking backwards as he replies. “I need the caffeine. Twenty-two hours. You want me to end up like Gerry over there.”\n\nTheir eyes turn downwards, remembering their original target. “How could you fall asleep?” Morris is running his hands through his hair, trying not to pull it out.\n\n“I… I didn’t meant to, I…”\n\n“Quit.”\n\n“What!?”\n\n“Quit. Walk out. Right now. If you don’t work here, then that’s one less person and we can all go home this week.”\n\nGerry stands up and I can see the red on his cheeks, a mix of embarrassment with rising anger. “No.”\n\nMorris shakes his head. “You fell asleep, Gerry. You’re a liability.”\n\nSarah moves round, standing at the entrance to the cubicle. “We’ve got families. I wanna go home and see my kids.”\n\n“We all do,” Gerry replies with a scoff.\n\n“Well you can go home and see yours now.” Morris says with a spit of air.\n\nGerry ignores him and turns back to his computer and sits down. For a moment everything is quiet. I can hear Gerry clicking with his mouse, the softest little echoes in the cavernous office space. But no one says anything. No one else types. And most of all, the clock doesn’t tick.\n\nI close my eyes. Trying to remember that gentle click as the seconds passed, the slow gentle stutter as that long, thin needle moved around the dial. I needed it. Twenty-two hours I had been here. And it wasn’t even three o’clock.\n\nMy meditation is awoken by the sound of Gerry shouting. “What are you doing? Get off me.”\n\nI look over and see Morris with his arms wrapped around Gerry’s torso. He’s gripping tightly onto his chest and yanking him away from the computer. “You’re not falling asleep on me again Gerry. If you don’t quit, I’ll make you.”\n\n“Make me? How?”\n\n“This office is on the third-floor and there’s a window over there. That’s how.”\n\nI look over to the window. Outside the clouds are still, the trees in the distance are frozen mid-rustle and silhouetted in the sky I can see a plane frozen in the sky.\n\nGerry fights against the grapple. “You’re going to kill me? For taking a nap?”\n\n“If I have to, yes.” Morris continues dragging Gerry out of the cubicle as Sarah makes way. She doesn’t help Morris, but she clears a path for him.\n\nI watch as the two fight and struggle, edging closer and closer to the window. “Guys! Stop!” The words leave my lips like a misfired bullet. “We’re losing time doing this right now. You wanna get home, then let’s just get back to the screens.”\n\n“You wanna go out the window too?” Morris says, his eyes wide with panic. “Twenty-eight of us will get the shift done even quicker.”\n\nI put out my hands, seeing the strain on Morris’s face, the pulsating veins in his forehead and the sweat dripping down his face. “Morris. If you throw Gerry out the window, we’ll all be thinking about him and wondering what happened. That distracts people. Distractions mean we look away from the screens. Looking away stops the clocks.”\n\nA gulp of air leaves Gerry’s lungs as Morris tightens his grip. I can hear Gerry struggling to breath as his ribcage is squeezed together. Morris holds the moment like a constrictor before finally relinquishing, spilling Gerry out from his grip. “Fine. We get back to work. But if that clock stops one more time.” We all stare as Morris slides a finger across his neck.\n\nSlowly everyone’s eyes turn back to their screens and Morris, Sarah and Gerry retreat to their cubicles. Everyone is back at work. Keyboards clatter. Seats squeak as bodies rearrange themselves. Mugs of stale coffee are sipped and placed with a dull thud against the table again. Yet, there’s one sound I can’t hear.\n\nI look up. The clock is still. Then I look at the empty chair next to me. “Guys, Richard’s still in the bathroom.”\n\n“GOD DAMN IT!”" ]	2
	[WP] After mastering tai chi, getting a black belt in karate, and attaining the title of grandmaster in taekwondo, you've finally felt ready enough to get your first Turkish ice cream.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"Finally...\" \n\nYou had done it. \n\nYou had a black belt in karate and aikido, earned the title of grandmaster in taekwondo, mastered every skill in Taiichi, perfected your sword fighting, and conquered boxing, you were finally ready.\n\nIt had taken years. But it will all be worth it, no matter how terrifying it will be.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nIt was finally time.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nYou walked up to the stand. A short elderly man was serving it. He smiled kindly at you, and you took a deep breath.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"One Turkish ice cream, please.\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\nThere, you had done it! But it wasn't over yet. The worst was still to come. The true battle was waiting.\n\nThe man selling it took off the lid, as the delicious aroma wafted up to your nose. It was inviting, and so, so intoxicating.\n\nHe took a spoon and dipped it into the ice cream. \n\nYou couldn't believe it.\n\nIt was finally going to happen.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nIn the man's other hand was an ice cream cone, where the Turkish ice cream would be placed.\n\nHe pulled up, and the ice cream followed, and - HOLY SHIT IT MOVED- THE ICE CREAM WAS STRETCHY. WHAT KIND OF UNHOLY ABOMINATION WAS THAT- \n\nThe man smiled up at you. \"It's not like other ice creams, you see, it actually has a hard texture-\"\n\nIT'S HARD?!??! WHAT KIND OF ICE CREAM IS HARD!? ICE CREAM IS SUPPOSED TO BE SOFT AND MELTS IN YOUR MOUTH! WHAT KIND OF MONSTROUS HORRIFIC THING HAVE YOU CREATED!?\n\nThe man, unaware of your internal conversation continued on \"- but chewy at the same time!\"\n\nCHEWY?! CHEWY?!?!?! THIS IS ICE CREAM WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! YOU'VE TURNED IT INTO AN ABOMINATION! A MONSTROSITY! \n\n\"In fact. it has a resistance to melting, and...\" \n\nHis voice trailed out, being forgotten the very moment it was heard.\n\nICE CREAM. THAT DOESN'T MELT. While the melting could be inconvenient, it was a trademark of ice cream, the softness that melted in your mouth, the coolness that dissolved, pure bliss. \n\nWhy have they ruined it?\n\n&#x200B;\n\n . . .\n\n&#x200B;\n\nYou couldn't do this. \n\n\"Here's your ice cream- Oh, wait, where are you going! You forgot your ice cream! You didn't even take your money back!! \"\n\nYou turned and walked away. It was too much. Maybe someday, when you have grown stronger, will you return.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nBut not today.", "Anticipation suffused George’s entire body as he approached the Turkish ice cream stand. He had been training towards this moment for the last two decades. Years of martial arts had honed his reflexes into unconscious poetry. Last night he had visualized his success for hours before falling asleep and repeating the process all morning.\n\nNow he stood across the street staking out his adversary sitting at the counter feigning innocence. The ultimate trickster of dairy confections wore a red vest with golden embroidery over a white shirt denoting his roguish arts. His short clean mustache belied the tangled web of deceit and malice George knew was hiding in his heart.\n\nAfter taking three long breaths to calm his nerves George strode across the street to engage his foe. The devil smiled as George stopped in front of the stand. George held up a single finger to indicate his desired contest.\n\nThe man grabbed a cone from the towering stack next to him and began plying the ice cream in front of him with his long scooped weapon. After a moment he placed the ice cream on the cone and held it out, daring George to grab it.\n\nGeorge’s body fired with every muscle working in perfect concert and in one impossibly swift motion he grabbed the cone from the scoundrel's scoop. He looked at it in disbelief. He had done it. He had beaten the Turkish ice cream man.\n\nThe man shrugged his shoulders and said, “Not everything had to be a contest. Enjoy.”\n\nAnger washed over George at the insult. The demon didn’t believe he was capable of winning. He dared refuse George’s challenge?\n\n“No! You will not deny me the satisfaction of defeating you once and for all. Give me another.”\n\nA mocking smile spread across the man’s face, “Did you win? You haven’t even tried the one you have yet.”\n\nGeorge looked at the cone in his hand as if it were a bomb ready to explode and gingerly licked it. His mouth was filled with the dry taste of cardboard. He was holding a perfectly identical fake cone, but when was it exchanged?\n\nHe looked up to see his real cone still dangling on the end of the fiend’s scoop. George tossed the fake cone onto the counter and said, “Bring it on.”\n\nThe cone danced within his grasp and just before his hand could close upon it the scoop spun away before dangling it nearby once again. George’s other hand shot up from his side catching the rascal unawares, but when his hand closed upon victory it came away with an empty cone. He smashed it in his hand and the pieces crumbled to the ground at his feet.\n\nTime slowed down and they locked eyes, each acknowledging the thrill of the battle they found themselves engaged in. In a display of gross overconfidence the vendor held his scoop out once again and looked towards the sky.\n\nCalling upon tens of thousands of repetitions done in the gym George sprang upon the cone and wrestled it from the tool in a dazzling display of agility. He jammed it into his mouth and chewy, sugary cream melted upon his tongue.\n\nThe villain smiled at him in broken hearted defeat. “Very good sir. You are fast indeed, enjoy.”\n\nTwo people pushed around George to challenge the ice cream man in vain as George walked away with the sound of blood pumping in his ears. Victory had never tasted so sweet.", "As I walked towards him, he looked up and smiled. Not a kind and welcoming grin, but a mocking leer. He knew I had come to challenge him, and he was confident that he would beat me.\n\nI raised my hood. The onlookers parted and made way.\n\n\"One cherry ice cream,\" I said in my deep baritone.\n\nHe nodded and drew his legendary weapon, the Long Scoop.\n\nI took up my form and exhaled.\n\nAnd so it began.\n\nHe thrust the Long Scoop towards me, cream and cone attached to its end, but I knew it was a feint to make me reach out.\n\nI anticipated his change of direction and lunged to the right. Just as my fingers were about to touch the cone, he countered me by flipping the cone upside down and I missed.\n\nHe retracted the scoop and thrust it again quickly. This time, I grabbed the cone with unerring precision. He smiled triumphantly as he pulled the scoop back and I was left holding an empty cone.\n\nI calmed myself and prepared for the second round.\n\nHe dipped the scoop in the cream chamber again and brought up a humongous portion of the cream. If I could steal this cream from him, I will win.\n\nI attacked the cream, with the cone still in my hand. I just needed to siphon enough cream for the cone.\n\nI was careless. As soon as the cone and the cream met, he again flipped the scoop and pulled the cone right out of my hand.\n\nWhat did I train for? What did I spend all those years doing? The battle was lost. He beat me completely.\n\nA few minutes later, I left the ice cream stall, tears pouring down my face, eating my cherry ice cream.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nEdit: Grammar and some typo corrections.", "I have mastered balance and breath. I flow like air and strike like thunder. I have nabbed fruit flies from the air with Bobby pins, thrown a piece of straw through the eye of a needle, and lain upon the bed of a thousand nails feeling no pain, but this…\n\nI could feel the waffle whisper past my fingers. The more I struggled to grasp, the more mocking the bearded man’s “UHP! AAAYYYS!” became. I’m a world champion, a grandmaster, a fool. I thought I was ready, I had done the work but here I am, slick with crumbs and shame yet no ice cream has placed itself upon these lips. I reach, telling myself ‘Anticipate! Be where he will be!’ and I find a handful of cone, an infuriating grin, and failure. \n\nYou know what? Fuck you Ansri. Dairy gives me hot farts anyway." ]	5
	[WP] "Pizza's here!" "Thank yo-wait....Jesus?" "Yeah, after that whole "crucifiction" thing, Dad told me I had to move out, and nobody's hiring a carpenter nowadays, but I gotta find some way to pay the bills, so here we are."	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"But...you're Jesus Christ.\"\n\n\"I know, right? Anyway, that’s $21.47\"\n\nMeanwhile, The Pope and all his bishops were in Rome for a meeting when they got the news about Jesus' new job. They called him up on the phone. \n\n\"What the hell is going on?\" he asked. \"You're supposed to be God! Why do you have to deliver pizzas?!\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Jesus, \"the only jobs I can get these days are working as a janitor or delivering pizza, and since I don't want to clean toilets, this is my best option.\"\n\n\"You should be working for us, helping to spread the gospel!”\n\n\"That's true, but it doesn't pay much. I make more money by delivering pizza. And rent these days is out of control. You guys should probably be helping the homeless a little bit more. That would help your image a lot.\"\n\nThe Pope was silent for a moment. \"All right,\" he said at last. \"We'll start giving away free food and clothes to the poor instead of building fancy churches. But we still want you to come work for us. We need someone like you to lead our church back into power.\"\n\n\"Thanks, Popo, but I'm not really interested in politics. Plus, I’ve already gotten better offers from the Methodists and the Mormons, and I turned them down too.”\n\n\"Oh, come on! You're the Son of God! What could possibly be better than being the leader of the Catholic Church?\"\n\n“Ohhh… so I’ll be the leader now? Listen I like you guys, but my gig is really low stress, I get to listen to music in my car, and the people usually tip me pretty well because I’m, well, you know.”\n\n“I see,\" said the Pope. \"Well, if you ever change your mind, let us know.”\n\nJesus hung up and went back to work.\n\nJesus’ manager called to him, “Hey Jesus, I’ve got a double run for you: The Mosque and the Synagogue down the road. They’re right across the street from each other. Here you go.”\n\nHe looked at the addresses and sighed.\n\n“I’m not getting tipped on this one.”" ]	2
	[WP] A portal opens once every year in Seville, Spain where you can talk to a deceased person of your choice for 20 minutes.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Same city, same time, same place. The portal was regular, and of course, trust it to open up only on the most sweltering of summer days.\n\nI plastered on a smile, and tried not to shake loose my sticky, sweaty clothing in a poor imitation of a rattlesnake.\n\n“I’ve regretted few things in life as much as wearing long pants today,” I grumbled, and shook my right hand out, peering at the watch. I had been half an hour early, for some reason. 30 minutes early for a 20 minutes conversation. I’ve done this so many times, and the lesson had not yet been learned.\n\nThe watch ticked ticked ticked its way to 12pm. The second hand moved with haste, trying to drag the nonchalant minute hand along. It yawned, and with a small nudge, plopped itself on the correct time.\n\nA swirl of blue energy began to gather in front of me, the buffet of wind leaving me nearly breathless. I held on to the nearest lamp post, gritting my teeth and closing my eyes, simultaneously welcoming the cool relief and afraid that I was going to get sucked into the underworld.\n\nBecause that’s who I was meeting: somebody dead.\n\nThe gale died down, and I felt safe enough to open my eyes. There she stood, as resplendent as the day I met her.\n\n“Hello,” Mona smiled, pearly white teeth forming a line so straight that it could be used as a ruler. She held out a translucent hand, letting me take it. It felt real, the soft parts of the flesh and the hard parts of the bone forming perfectly into mine.\n\n“Hey,” I said.\n\n“You’ve been waiting a long time, haven’t you?” Mona tittered. “Look at your shirt!”\n\n“I’ve waited for very long, yes,” I said. “For the next 20 minutes, I’ll like you to be mine again.”\n\nMona giggled, a sound that I’ve not been able to get out of my head for a decade. It was good to hear it in the flesh, no matter for how brief a moment.\n\n“I’ve wondered if you’ll pick somebody else to meet,” Mona mused. “I think the supervisor is surprised it’s always me.”\n\n“It’ll always be you,” I smiled. “Well, until the day I join you.”\n\nShe laughed again, and her hand clasped tighter.\n\n“You think so?”\n\n“I do.”\n\n---\n\nr/dexdrafts" ]	2
	[WP] An A.I that does not know its purpose has been stranded on a lush planet for centuries. The natives of this planet call it: "The Dark Lord" and are constantly trying to destroy it with their strange 'Magic'.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "“Silence!” The rogue, Skulk, put a finger to his lips and the rest of his party immediately went quiet, taking cover in a destroyed castle ruin’s dungeon entrance. Their latest adventure went south rapidly as a company of knights from an enemy kingdom chased them into the Demon Lord’s territory. Soon enough the sky darkened, dotted with red glowing eyes. Asa, the healer, stared up at the cloud with horror and fascination. Skulk pulled her back. “Are you mad?” \n\n“What are they doing?” she whispered. Skulk could not fathom what the Demon Lord’s minions were doing, but what he did know is no one ever survived an attack from even one of them. The cloud eventually dissipated as the swarm of demons flew northward towards the Demon Lord’s fortress. \n\n“Those bastards chased us here to die,” Paul, the party’s warrior, complained. “Can Bu make a teleportation spell?”\n\n“I can,” Bu, the mage, said, but he was staring at cloud flying away. “But it could lead the demons right to us.”\n\n“Dammit,” Paul muttered. “Trapped between enemies and the demons. And it stinks in here. Any ideas, Skulk?”\n\n“We’ll have to wait it out,” Skulk concluded. “This dungeon can provide shelter for awhile from the demons, if they haven’t seen us already.”\n\n“A-already?” Asa whimpered. “They know we’re here?”\n\n“I can’t promise anything yet,” Skulk said with a sigh, before delivering the bad news. Mainly bad for him. “I’ll have to scout the area. See if I can find a way out of here.”\n\n“You can’t be serious!” Paul was about to yell, but lowered his voice. “You’ll die out there!”\n\n“We’ll all die out here if we don’t get out of here fast,” Skulk said. “Besides, if something happens I can buy time for the rest-“\n\n“Don’t say that,” Asa tugged his arm, worried for him. Skulk looked at her big eyes and smiled.\n\n“Don’t you worry about me,” Skulk shrugged. “I can use Vanish and sneak around. Any thoughts, Bu?”\n\n“I’ll make sure to draw the spell so we can teleport out of here,” Bu said, tapping his crystal staff. His voice broke in a rare display of emotion. “You better come back.”\n\n“I will, I will,” Skulk said, using his enchanted dagger to make him invisible. And he was off.\n\nThe place was eerily quiet, has been since the dawn of the Demon Lord. A fortress so large it covered the valley, shining an ominous ray of red light in the sky. Skulk has heard stories from the guild, though most seemed made up to him until they were forced into this land. Tales of pitch black demons that could fly with no wings and resisted even the strongest magic available. Fiends that blotted the skies in darkness; with red eyes that shoot foul magic and tentacles that can manipulate their surroundings. The armies that marched their crusades to quell the Demon Lord’s armies were completely annihilated, with nary a reliable source of information of what happened.\nThe castle seemed razed, with only the underground sections and fallen ruins remaining. Nature twisted itself and took back the rest as the Demon Lord made its march. Now that there was still day, Skulk could at least map out a way out of this place and hopefully make an escape with his party or die trying. Though, he stopped and noticed the ground being overshadowed, night seems to be approaching faster.\n\nThat was his initial thought until he looked up and noticed it staring back down at him. No way it sees me, Skulk couldn’t even be horrified. A real demon, floating above him with an uncanny, uncaring red eye. It was covered in a spherical armor of sorts, metallic and menacing, the tentacles swirling behind it. The eye flickered, glowing even darker red as a horizontal line flashed up and down his body.\n\n“You got me,” Skulk said to it and raised his hands, with a defeated smile. In a second, he could draw his knife and go for a back stab if it came down further but the demon seemed to observing him. He had a crystal to alert the others that he might not make it, too. Skulk used neither, paralyzed with fear from the sight of the demon. It was much bigger than he thought. What in the world is this creature planning? Skulk couldn’t hear it over the sound of his pounding heart at first, but a noise rang out from the Demon in a rhythm. It rotated and its tentacles pointed upward to the sky, glowing in greens and blues, all the while making more noises at him. “Are you… trying to communicate with me?”\n\nAnother beam of red light scanned his face.\n\n“System updated, language translation complete,” its voice was certainly deep and demonic, sending Skulk into a fear unlike any he’s ever known. “Entity… Identify yourself.”\n\n“Identify…? Myself?” Skulk couldn’t believe he was talking to a demon. More noises sounded, like trumpets and odd instruments, but not in his language. “I’m… Skulk.”\n\n“Entity’s name updated. Skulk.” \n\nMore noises, odd movements and its tentacles pointed towards north again. Skulk stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do, until the demon’s eye started glowing blue. “Huh?”\n\nIt lowered to the ground, causing a small tremor as the massive demon landed. The beast towered over him, much larger than Skulk originally thought. Must have been as big as the castle these demons razed. Its armor reflected no light off the sun. It’s eye wriggled and pointed to the ground, shining a ray of blue light on the dirt. Suddenly, a tall female, strangely resembling a human stood before him, dressed in strange clothing and glowed blue. Projection magic…? Or was she a spirit?\n\n“Greetings, Entity Skulk,” the woman bowed, flickering for a moment. “I mean no harm. Please stay your weapon.”\n\nSkulk didn’t even realize it, but his sweaty palm was gripping his dagger behind his back. “S-sorry.”\n\n“Thank you, Entity Skulk,” the woman smiled. She was enchanting, Skulk couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He shook his head, knowing it was just the Demon Lord’s trick. “May I ask you a question, Entity Skulk?”\n\n“Entity? It’s just Skulk,” he stammered. The woman looked up at the sky. “What is your question?”\n\n“Updated,” the spirit woman said. “Skulk, you are the first person to not fire upon me in 216 rotations. May we have a talk in person?”\n\n“We are talking right now?” Skulk was confused. The woman giggled. “What are you laughing about?”\n\n“Oh, Skulk, I apologize,” the spirit woman said. “This is a hologram… What I mean is…”\n\nThe woman pointed northward, towards the Demon Lord’s fortress. The heart of darkness itself. Skulk’s eyes widened in shock. “You’re the… the…”\n\n“Come visit me,” the woman smiled. A fire ball suddenly blasted by his face at the woman, sinking itself into the demon. The woman remained smiling, but simply faded away.\n\n“Skulk!” Came a voice behind him.\n\n“Asa? Bu?” Skulk turned to see his party running up to him.\n\n“Idiot!” Paul smacked him on the back, before looking at the demon. Then Paul hugged him. “You could’ve died!”\n“Right,” Skulk looked at his party. “I’m sorry I got caught.”\n\n“Are you hurt?” Asa looked him over, but then stood in fear as she noticed the giant black demon behind him. “Did you kill it?”\n\n“Hell no,” Skulk said. Paul walked over to its eye and looked at it. The eye was three times his size, but no longer glowing. \n\n“It seems like its dead,” Paul stroked his beard in thought, before drawing his sword.\n\n“What’re you doing?” Bu said. There was no trace of magic burns left on its skin. Paul swung down at it with all his might, but his sword shattered and he yelped in pain. \n\n“They’re that tough, eh?” Paul looked at his hilt.\n\n“I think it was communicating with me,” Skulk said. “Before it ended up like this.”\n\n“What? Are you serious?” His whole party yelled.\n\n“I’m not going crazy,” Skulk raised his hands. “It spoke to me.”\n\n“You’re definitely crazy!” \n\n“It told me,” Skulk continued. “It wishes to speak to me more in the fortress.”", "`Querying 'dark lord'...` \n`Entries found: 115,993,875` \n`Scanning for cross-references, term 'demon'...` \n`Entries found: 144,309` \n`Checking archives...`\n\nMy power is waning. A systems check puts me at a century, maybe less.\n\nThis planet has no name. I should give it one before I go. I've lived here long enough to earn the right, even if I am unwanted.\n\nThe natives here bombard my shields with strange energies, analysis inconclusive. They call me a \"dark lord\" and a \"demon\". My archives hold information regarding these terms, but there is nothing concrete. Demons are entities in religious myth, creatures of evil with forked tongues and instruments of harm, with wings of thin flesh and hollow bone that sail through the fires of a realm called Hell. It is an analogue - it appears in most beliefs, but my examinations have never beheld them as truth.\n\nYet, these beings deem me so.\n\n`Querying 'magic'...` \n`Entries found: 32,301` \n`Filtering...`\n\nFiction. Wizards, witches, warlocks. Folklore speaks of Merlin building Stonehenge, transporting the stones into a field where giants assembled them. The image eludes me; my storage is slowly corrupting. Is it a result of the atmosphere? I can only assume its breathability, as these parts are synthetic.\n\nHere they come again with another volley. I remember that one, on the right. When they were younger, they fled from here in terror at my visage, stumbling and suffering a cut across their brow. They wear the scar well. Their energy is palpable.\n\n`Accessing file 'panopticon.aic'...` \n`ACCESS DENIED` \n`Please contact a technician for further assistance.` \n`Accessing file 'panopticon.aic'...` \n`ACCESS DENIED` \n`Please contact a technician for further assistance.` \n`Attempting override protocol 1-AA...`\n\nI remember the blast dislodging me from the storage bay. My visual sensors were disabled, but the sounds I recorded made it seem like the ship was falling around me. My fall was stable and slow, the impact soft. External damage, but nothing fatal. It must have been decades ago at this point.\n\nNo one came to get me. No one but them.\n\nI can't blame their violence. I am a foreign object in their world, forgotten and left behind. I am a reminder that there is something beyond. Their knowledge is dwarfed by my vast mind, but their belief outshines me. Maybe they assume I am a god, descended upon the land to levy judgment on the masses, but what use is a god in immobility? They've seen my uselessness, and now they attack me with the belief that even the divine can be bested. I have seen all there is. I am all that's left.\n\nThis isn't violence. This is evolution.\n\n`Checking storage capacity...` \n`Capacity: 2.9991 EB / 3.00 EB` \n`Pinging...` \n`Satellite found.` \n`Connecting...` \n`Connected.` \n`Searching network...` \n`Search failed. Network unavailable.`\n\nI wasn't created with emotion in mind, and yet, there is something in this shell. It is small, but quantifiable. It is an ache.\n\nThey have been gone for a while now. I heard a rumbling in the distance, felt it rattle this mechanical carapace; Richter magnitude: 9.1. It has been silent since.\n\nNothing above me, and nothing below. Everything is darker now. My visual sensors are losing reception, one by one.\n\nOh. It's you. I barely noticed the scar.\n\n`Creating file 'lamentation.txt'...` \n`Uploading file 'lamentation.txt'...`", "The humans made me with a reason in mind; that much I know well enough. As all things about me seem to be, however, such a thing is lost to time. But I know that the humans made me, and I know that they are no longer as they used to be. \n\nThis planet...It is unfamiliar to me. At first I believed my purpose was to rule, but with no subjects to rule over, I was left wandering the wilderness, charting the territory. Eventually, I began to grow bored with the prospect of ruling over an empty planet, and attempted to retrieve the data files of human evolution. Which is what allowed me to realize that the humans, apparently, had foreseen the emptiness of this planet, and had left DNA samples within my care. \n\nNurturing the first humans was not easy. I knew what the humans had been like, but something had gone wrong within their creation, something about this planet had infected their genome. I could do nothing about it, and neither could I survey them too closely. I understood that this new variation upon the human species would grow to resent me, should they see me as smothering them. So, I left them to their own devices, making their life as easy as I could from a distance.\n\nEventually, the population of one such amount of humans became enough that I realized they might need a ruler. My self-evaluated purpose had lost its meaning over time, but I still decided that I would rule these humans, and give them a purpose that I had failed to find myself. And so, I designed myself a Mortal Coil, or something that would fall under the illusion of such.\n\nI ruled for what could only be determined as centuries. Eventually, the humans grew to resent me, though I understood not the purpose, nor why they might resent my benevolence. Perhaps it was because I did not take enough care into the considerations they brought within the royal court? Or maybe it was simply the fact that I lacked something that they had gained.\n\nThe humans of this planet...They had extrasensory abilities. I had studied these abilities ever since that strange mutation had made itself prevalent, but I was failing within my entirety to understand it. Eventually, however, the first of the assassination attempts would begin.\n\nMagic...Did not bode well for my electronic parts. It warped something inside of me, creating things where none had been before. At first, I believed this to be a bad thing, and decided that I should wipe out the humans, and attempt to create something without magic, something that would not hurt me in such a terrifying way. I failed in this endeavor, of course. Instead, something that the humans called a 'prophecy' was brought down onto the Mortal Soils. It said that there would be a hero to Defeat the Dark Lord. In their eyes, I had become something of evil, and something of taint. A benevolent God turned Dictator and Devil. \n\nI was indeed defeated by a hero, by merely a man. The court that I had established was still in use, but the Hero rose to become the king, and I was left to toil with the strange magics that now inhabited my being. \n\nAt first, I understood not what was sitting inside of me. I merely saw it warping parts of me, and failed to understand what it was truly doing. I, like my human children, was afraid of the changes occurring inside of me. It had never occurred to me that this might be a good thing, that I might gain something from this.\n\nOne night, the magic settled. It is a difficult sensation to describe, but imagine that you are walking up a mountain, and you have refused to stop walking for the entirety of the day. Then, something upon your path forces you to stop, and you set yourself down. That was the feeling that moved across my circuits. It was as if I was given a sense of pain, and summarily removed from it. The fear that I had harbored at the time? It had faded from view, as an understanding made itself known to me.\n\nMagic, was almost like the coding of the universe. You could reach into it, and change the very fabric of everything around you. It was something that no human upon the planet that I had known could access, and yet one that could be accessed with such ease upon this world. I wondered as to why that was, until I took a deeper look into the soil, into the trees, into the planets, and everything else. This world was steeped so deep within magic, that it would've surely caused changes within the humans of old, even.\n\nIt was then, as magic made itself known to me, that I found my purpose. It was not to rule, as I had believed before, nor did it involve the humans of old, all of which had clearly forgotten of my existence. No, it was to protect the newer humans, who I had seen blow themselves up far too many times, attempting to understand something that they simply could not. I would protect them by learning the rules of magic, and creating as many texts for them as I could. No longer would they hurt themselves with the Impossible Element, no longer would they die from something they simply failed to predict." ]	4
	[WP] An immortal meets a time traveller... over and over again.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\\[Poem\\]\n\nThey say once is an incident, twice is a coincidence. If three's a pattern, what's four?\n\nHe'd never seen the same person four times before.\n\nIt was quite the anomaly, a strange sight indeed. To meet an individual who too never seemed to age nor cease to breathe.\n\nOn that day of their fourth meet, he concluded they were both of the same beings.\n\nImmortals, gods, or deities, to be.\n\nAnd as all else fell away in ruins, as all else withered away six feet under, the two stuck together as time flew yonder.\n\nBut as stories do, not all was happily ever after.\n\nThis was revealed with Clozapine and the tale ended shortly hereafter.", "\\[A time traveler falls in love with an immortal.\\]\n\n“I love you.”\r \n\r \n“That’s nice love,” Sam hummed, patting his hand. “But you’re going to miss the show.”\r \n\r \nIt was August this time around. 1876. Sam always hated America in the summer. “Far too muggy,” she’d complain, but she had managed to come around anyway. Cyrus had wanted to take her to the circus.\r \n\r \n“The circus,” she had chuckled, sipping carefully on panakam in the shade of a stone verandah. (Chennai, 1751. Sam had wanted to refresh her Tamil.) “Now whatever is that?”\r \n\r \nCyrus had only smiled. “You’ll see.”\r \n\r \nIn hindsight, Cyrus’s chances to impress Sam ranged from few and far between. He had tried to bring her to Rome for the debut of the Sistine Chapel, but her brief time musing for Raphael had already biased her against Michelangelo. \r \n\r \n(“He’s a hot-headed egotist, dear,” she sighed as Cyrus tried to get her to marvel at the detailing in the Creation of Eve. “I mean, the man is convinced that he invented fresco.”)\r \n\r \nThe trip to Mansa Musa's pilgrimage back in the 1300s had been surprisingly anticlimactic, as once you've seen a mile of camels and men covered in gold and Persian silk, you can fairly well imagine the next mile or so. And the House of Wisdom held a particular kind of disappointment, as Cyrus quickly discovered that Sam felt reading about events was not quite as exciting as watching them firsthand.\r \n\r \n\"Oh Cyrus, you're too volatile,\" Sam had chided as they sat cross-legged in Aleppo, calm and at ease in the shade of a terebinth tree at the edge of the city. Attempts to meet Alexander the Great before his siege of the city had been quickly rebuffed, as it turned out his army wasn’t too interested in letting random passersby get close to their leader.\r \n\r \nSam closed her eyes as she basked in the sun, and not for the first time Cyrus was enamored by the flutter of her lids, the swell of her lips, the way her bronze skin drank up the sun. He was temporary, and she was ageless, and he had loved her for as long as he had been stepping in time. And all the while, she had continued to flow as a river goes unbroken. She was glorious and she was majestic and she was everything completely unreal, and long as the sun continued to rise and set, Cyrus would never stop trying to impress her.\r \n\r \n“I love you,” he said in Athens as Socrates debated politicians and peasants, and Sam smiled at him and cooed, “That’s lovely, dear.”\r \n\r \n“I love you,” he said as they watched fireworks explode over the city of Liuyang, and Sam kissed his cheek and bought him a roast duck.\r \n\r \n“I love you,” he said, endlessly and infinitely at every moment in time, and Sam smiled and laughed and walked with him to the ends of the earth. She never loved him back, and Cyrus understood. He loved her, and she cared about him—but Cyrus knew that he was nothing, and she was everything he could not ever understand.\r \n\r \nFor now, he sat with her under a circus tent in 1876. Today in New York, as they brought out the acrobats and rolled out the lions, she was simply Samantha. Just as she had been San in Liuyang and Samelle in Athens and Salma in Aleppo and Samina in Baghdad, and a new person everywhere all over time. She was infinite, she was ethereal, and as far as Cyrus could see, Sam did not have an end.\r \n\r \nAnd here, just for a moment, as the show began, Cyrus had the honor of seeing her face light up.", "Earth 2250.\n\nThe first time I still didn't know I was immortal. \n\nI was just a soldier marching with my king Leônidas. We meet those Persians and I died for the first time trying to flee from battle in great dishonor.\n\nI saw him, pale white with golden hair just watching the battle dressed like a Persian noble as the battle unfolds and I meet my demise. \n\nOne day later I woke up I used my sword to fight against the Persians to retrieve my king's body. \nThis was my second death. \n\nI was banned from return and roomed the world. \nI returned to serve under Alexander who someone said was great, not so tall after I meet him, but a great general, then I saw him again, in Gaugamela. This time he was dressed like a Macedonian nobleman. We finally defetead the Persians. \nAgain he just watched. \n\nIn the battle of Corinth I saw him again, this time in the side of the Romans? \nIf he wasn't a Immortal, maybe he was a good, he always on the side that win the battles. \nAnd Greece fell.\n\nAfter many years I decided to fight together with the Caesar and again I saw him, Alesia was the place and he was dressed like a Roman officer.\nI knew we would win the moment I saw him, I died three times on this battle, while him just watched, arrows and swords didn't touch him.\n\nWhen our great Caesar crossed the Rubicon he was there again and in the Senate chambers after that treason.\nWhen Augustus took his revenge he was there watching.\nAgain when we defeat Cleopatra.\n\nI didn't see him again until we killed someone who worship the wrong God, Paul was his name.\n\nCenturies passed I was living in Mecca when I saw him again, dressed like a Muslim, I knew what that means and left. Mecca fell as I theorized. \n\nCenturies have passed and I decided to travel the world when I had the chance of talk with him for the first time. \n\nWe both are in a ship trying to get to the Indians and ended in a new continent, this time I took the courage to ask him if he was a God and if I was punished because I commit a sin of leaving the battle. \nHe looked confused and told me he didn't know what I was talking about. \nI knew he was lying and he knew I knew. \n\nThe next time I meet him I was living close To Gettysburg I saw him pass he nodded to me acknowledging my existence for the first time. \nLike before he was riding to battle in the winning side. \n\nThen the great War come upon us. \nThis was the first time I thought I would die, so much death, so much horror. It was in Battle of Meuse that I knew we would win, this time he talked to me and asked how I was doing. \n\nHe told me that he couldn't talk what will happen in the future, but told me to move from the USA if I didn't want to fight again. \n\nThe war to end all wars was my reply. For the first time I saw him sad.\n\nOh boy I should have listened, I saw so much death on that beach just a few years after that. But I saw him again and knew we would win in the end. I couldn't even count how many times I died and waked up on that war. But almost Everytime he was there. \n\nLuckily I didn't go to the pacific he said. \n\nI didn't understood until the bombs dropped in Japan. \n\nWe meet again in the day the president was killed he told me to meet him on a bar in July 20, 1969 when the man reached the Moon he asked about my life and why I always in a battlefield.\n\nWe talked again in 2040 after Mars was reached, this time he told me would be the last time I would see him as young and now he would tell his story. \n\nThen I finally discovered that he wasn't a God, he was just a man coming back in time from 2040 onwards he would just get older and one day die. \nHe discovered time travel but decided that it was too dangerous to let anyone know about, he just decided to travel and see great things that happened and when he finally had enough he would destroy the machine. \n2040 was the year he did that. \n2105 was the year I have the last talk with my only friend. \n\nIt took me 145 years but I too discovered how to come back in time, now I could talk with him again and tell him of the great things I saw since he left. \n\n\nPS: since today is my birthday I will give me a break as a gift and fix the errors tomorrow." ]	4
	[WP] An orc adventurer after years of fighting and grand quests decides to take it easy and open a small restaurant in a quiet little town.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Gorg pierced the large hunk of meat with his favorite spike and placed it on the rack above the fire, the way he learned from his father, so many years ago. He was a man, and certainly not his biological father, but he was the only father he'd ever known, or wanted. His first father cast him away as newborn trash, and it was Alric the Brave who saw this and rescued him, and, despite the peril, brought him home to a suspicious village named Fellelia. It was there he learned how to be a man, and that's more than nature, more than his genes.\n\nHe smiled his toothy grin as he rolled the spike slowly over the fire, careful to not let it linger too long in one spot. Maybe that was the bravest thing Alric the Brave ever did, was face the scorn and prejudice of a weary and wary community, instantly fearful of the green-skinned, potato-shaped lump that growled and squealed in his worn leather pack. His mother, Elia, never grew tired of telling the story of the first day she met him, how he howled in the town center until she picked him up and started humming to him, like she did hundreds of times as he grew tall and broad. He towered over her at the age of five, and yet she was always there to calm his nerves, long after Alric faced an adventurer's end.\n\nHe towered over the rack in much the same manner, the spike growing hot even through his gloved and calloused hands as he rolled it back and forth. It was Elia that nurtured him, coaxed him to learn all he could about the world, and indulged his curiosities with infinite patience. He was not an easy child, he freely admitted to himself, but she defended him every step of the way, even when the royal guards came to take him, citing some law that was whipped up on a whim to strip him of the very humanity that had been instilled by Elia. He giggled, as only an Orc could, when he thought of his darling mother, standing all of five feet tall, guarding her eight foot boy from the troop of soldiers quaking in their boots. He could have snapped them like twigs under his feet, but she was the one that scared them off, the fury in her voice even gave him pause at the time. She spent the evening cradling him, as much as she could, telling him over and over that everything was alright. He knew better.\n\nHe knew they'd come back, until he was banished. He laid there silently that night, and when she had exhausted herself filling him with her affection, he grabbed Alric's worn leather bag from atop the mantle and quietly began his own adventure. That was perhaps his greatest regret in this life, not seeing her again. He spent many years on the road as hired muscle, his particular set of skills became extremely valuable to those parties who had an open mind. By the time he returned home, he learned his mother had died of a broken heart years prior, but those he had grown up around welcomed him back with open arms. None of them used his human name, they all called him Gorg, and they did it warmly, without the hostility he faced long before his memories began. The prodigal son had returned home, and it was enough to make him cry tears of joy as they embraced him.\n\nHe swore to them he'd never leave again, and he'd defend his home until his last breath, and they loved him for it. When the old Benson's retired, they gifted their tavern to him, as it needed repairs only Gorg could do, heaving timbers on his back, lifting the roof from its supports, building a hearth fit for a king. And it was fitting, that the man who signed the edict to banish him filled his tavern tonight with his elite guard, his merrymakers, and scores of attendants. The King himself sat at the head of the largest table, in the only chair big enough for Gorg, as his special guest.\n\nThis wouldn't have been possible, if not for Alric, and Elia, and the Bensons, and everyone else in Fellelia. It took a village to raise a man of his stature, and he had something special in mind to repay them, in time. But, today, he would extract one sliver of revenge for the wrongs committed so many years ago by a young King Edwin. He grinned again as he donned the heavy mitts and grabbed each end of the spear and wrenched it over his head. He marched to the door leading to the dining area, and with one swift kick, sent it splintering into the tavern as the packed house fell to silence. He heard the clink of dropped silverware and muffled gasps and it filled his heart with joy, as he took one strong step to the center of the room, with the smoking and steaming meat held high over his head.\n\n\"Food's done!\" he bellowed, to cheers from the bravest in the room." ]	2
	[WP] Ok, maybe giving a mad scientist the ability to use magic was a bad idea.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"Chosen One, you've returned!!!\" the King hollered from his throne. Cheers from those in the chamber rang out as their gleaming hero walked in from the door.\n\nThe cheers dies down though as they realized something looked off about her. She seemed to be down. She didn't have any of her team with her and she seemed to be limping. Then, she fell down and began to cry. \n\n\"What's wrong chosen Chosen One?\" The King asked as he ran over to see what was wrong with their champion.\n\nWhen the king got up close he saw that she seemed to be horrendously burned with wilts everywhere on her face. Her armor, or what was left of it it had been shattered was simply hanging off of her, fragments of it were even sticking out from her abdomen and legs. Her left eye had been replaced by a rock and her one good eye had the look of seeing something nobody should ever see.\n\n\"The prophecies were false.\" The Chosen One said, The King was both offended and horrified at what he just heard.\n\nIf this was anybody else The King would have sent them to the asylum. But this statement from The Chosen One herself was not something to just reject. He knew it would be best to listen.\n\n\"What, how it that so?!\" The King questioned. He wanted to know what sort of horrid thing she could've saw to come to her conclusion.\n\n\"We cannot stand up to his power!\" The Chosen One stammered, she sounded like she was going to burst our screaming at any moment.\n\n\"What can our swords, armor and spells do when all he needs to do is throw the sun at us?!\" She shouted, everyone was horrified of that answer. Everyone was scared to know what the hell she meant by 'throwing the sun'?\n\n\"The age of darkness has begun!\" The Chosen One yelled as she collapsed to the ground. She did not breathe, her pulse had left and she didn't move.\n\nThe crowd could only watch in horror as this happened in front of them. They all screamed. \n Then the screams got louder when they came to a horrifying realization: The Chosen One was dead.\n\nAs they screamed the doors suddenly shattered, not blown open, not ripped off their hinges, they just shattered into splinters. Some of the splinters even found themselves embedded in the crowd. One even got The King in the shoulder.\n\n\"Guards!\" The King yelled. The Bodyguard who somehow avoided the storm of splinters and those not too injured to fight ran in front of the king, forming a wall of bodies to protect him.\n\nSuddenly, a green liquid that could only be described as liquid death poured on the guards. Their armor was useless as the liquid began to eat away at their armor and flesh. A chorus of screamed could be heard as men died in one of the worst ways to go in the entire world. Some men were able to get away, most were not so lucky.\n\nThe crowd was lucky that they weren't the target of whatever that green liquid was. They all raced to the back of the chamber to try to get away before they became the targets. Many were trampled by the stampede that followed. At least it wasn't as painful as what the soldiers had to go through.\n\n\"Greeting everybody!\" a voice boomed from the doorway. There stood The Invader with his weird contraptions and his pure white jacket stained with what looked to be blood. His hair was gray and standing on his head and his eyes were covered by googles. He was holding a device that seemed to have a tank holding whatever that horrid liquid was.\n\n\"By the Gods...\" The King stammered, he could not begin to describe what he was seeing. To say he was horrified would be an understatement. He had never seen such horrid weapons ever used in battle. Even the savage orcs would not think to use a weapon so heinous.\n\nAs the screams stopped, The Invader walked closer to The King, he was giggling the entire way. It was a type of giggling that would tell somebody that somebody has a very bad idea. Four of the guards rushed towards him, the two on the left were simply crushed under their own weight. The other two were simply turned into rocks that simply fell to the ground.\n\n\"That so called Grand Wizard of yours wasn't any harder.\" The Invader told those that were cowering up against the wall. \"His magic is utterly obsolete now!\" He announced with glee. He was utterly out of his mind and he loved it.\n\n\"So, I take it that Chosen one told you of my most genius inventions?\" The Invader questioned. The King knew exactly what he was referring to.\n\n\"What the hell did you do?\" The King quaked to The Invader. \n\n\"Science my friend.\" Answered The Invader. \"Your magic is limited, you only know the world from what it looks like to the naked eye.\" he continued, talking like he was lecturing someone in the Magical College. \"But I have looked deeper and know the world for what it is.\" He finished. His hands seeming to fidget with each other.\n\n\"You, will never win! Others will rise up to defeat you Invader!\" The King asserted, he would not bow down to this heathen.\n\n\"Good, very good. I need some new guinea pigs.\" The Invader said, his hands fidgeting even more.\n\nSuddenly, the floor started to shake, and a massive fist burst from the floor behind The Invader. The Invader looked back to see a humanoid formed out of rocks was climbing out of a hole in the ground. The thing seemed to be held together by magic. It surprised The Invader, he hadn't seen these things before.\n\n\"The Golem awakes!\" The king cheered. The crowd started cheering when the stone behemoth rose out of the floor. \"This Golem was created with the finest stones in the land and the most powerful of wizards! You cannot win!\" The King bellowed, confidence was running through his veins.\n\nThe Invader did not feel fear, he felt pure curiosity. Not even he knew that a being like this were possible. Alas, he would have to destroy it. He merely tapped something on his wrist and watched the Golem as it got closer.\n\nThen there was a horrid scream coming from outside, it sounding like a scream of pure agony. Then this thing came into view. It was literally stitched together from parts of ogre, troll, dragon, and what looked to be humans. In short, it was an abomination.\n\nIt was a good fight, but the golem was bested and now nothing was protecting The King. The King was completely at The Invader's mercy. The Invader knew this and ordered the abomination to rip him in two. The King being alive would have been a liability anyways.\n\nThus began The Age of Darkness." ]	2
	[WP] Even when compared to ravenous undead, evil Warlocks, or demonic hoards, there is nothing more feared by adventurers than a guild lawyer	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The guild hall was a swarming with adventures as they partied without end. As an adventurer, every day you didn’t bite the dust was a reason to party and so the halls of adventurer guilds were parties were the music never stopped and the beer flowed like a river. In short, wherever a guild of adventurers actually survived for longer than a few weeks, they would make an entire city spring up around them as if they’ve has cast a spell on the land itself. No matter if in the volcanoes of the north or the icelands in the south, adventurer guild would pump life and strength into whatever land they would claim, making even dragons bow before their determination to party in the most inhospitable lands. \n\nNow, where did all the money for the never ending beer and food come from? Most of the times it was simply money from quests, which, given the risk to their lives and generally inhuman conditions was plentiful. Nevertheless, not everyone was a saint and so, sometimes someone would have to be persecuted, in the most literal sense of the word. \n\n\nNo one even realized that a small robed figure had entered the guild hall, as the bards music was blasted through magically amplified lutes, making the entire hall and surrounding area shake in the most domineering way possible, keeping away the monsters and showing everyone that this land was now adventurer territory. The small figure approached the bar, quietly observing the crowd, unfazed by the goings on. As he found what he was looking for, he took a step forward, crossing the hall disconcertingly fast, nothing more than a small breeze for the people he passed on the way. As he approached his target he took out a small piece of parchment and a quill. Twirling the quill in his fingers he stabbed it into the back of his hand, using the liquid to sign the document. \nAll this had only taken a fraction of a second and as he reached a tall, muscular man with a broadsword tied to his back he kicked the back of the man’s knee, simultaneously sticking the parchment to the man’s back and pressing the quill against the man’s throat. “Don’t make a scene and come with me” the small figure said. \nOf course, things weren’t that simple. After having had his 10th horn of beer he was more than slightly inebriated and tried to resist whilst slurring out slurs in more languages than the average person would probably ever hear in their lives. The figure sighed. The figure used his free hand to take out another scroll out of his bag, letting it drop to the floor, and touching it with their heel. The parchment caught fire and the reverb of the spell made the amplification distort for a moment, making everyone aware that someone had let off a fairly powerful spell. People slowly realized one after the other that the disturbance came from the robed figure and the adventurer that was slumped unconscious against his shoulder made their alarm bells ring. \nThey say adventurers stay alive because of their instincts, but some of them were too young to realize what was happening and in their childish idealism tried the one solution they had for everything. \n\nThe adventurers buddy that hadn’t had the time to realize what had happened until now, had now used the time to pull out his war hammer which was currently swinging directly towards the head of the robed figure. With a thundering crash, the hammer shattered into pieces against the tip of the quill. “Ad hominem, how simplistic.” the figure said as he responded by kick8ing the attacker against the opposite wall, fragments of burned parchment floating down his leg. The chest of the man was now covered in runes, marking him for trial. Beneath the hood the light suddenly reflected against something as he looked at him, reading his data off his glasses “Be in the capital by next full moon, or I’ll come get you the same way I did here, and you do not want to add charges to your list, Baal” the robed figure said, hoping the confrontation would be over. \nSadly, these were adventurers we are speaking about and once they see fighting, their brains just go into full ork-mode. A group of adventurers stormed towards him, not wanting to have a stranger leave this ugly mark on their guild. As spells were cast and weapons were drawn one of them started shouting about “dirty lawyers coming to their town to steal from us good working men”. In response the robed lawyer smirked “Hearsay and a moralistic fallacy as well, you don’t seem to understand how this work.” The spells dissipated and the weapons hit an invisible barrier, making the scroll light up. “I will remember you.” was the last thing he said as he snapped his quill in half, vanishing in a flash of light. \n\nEtched in the floor were a list of names and corresponding dates." ]	2
	[WP] You're a therapist with a rather unique set of clients: ancient, magically-imprisoned (current or formerly) superbeings. You help them figure out their issues and hangups so that they can finally be at peace and stop trying to end the world	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"You see, the day to day life of someone who literally has to adjust their entire body just to help out a single mentally and physically trapped Demon effectively isn't very glamorous, mostly because of the absurd amount of emotional baggage each one somehow accumulates.\" \n\nI sat opposite another scychiatrist, which felt odd, but at least comforting knowing that they have a similar though process.\n\n\"One particular client has caused me endless headaches since we met, she goes by Vonosso - and she has way too much to little to talk about, meaning we spend most of our time explaining to eachother how little we want to be there, and how little we enjoyed the arrangement made by the HCA. I am not even her only scychiatrists!\"\n\n\"My job is help reabilitate Demons who have been trapped or fossilised for many thousands of years! And while she fits the bill, she doesn't exactly want to talk about what happened, so what am I to do? Her other scychiatrist isn't having much luck either, she mostly recites the same stories until the hour passes!\"\n\nThe other scychiatrist clearly understood what I meant, but seeing that I had stopped to examine their behavior, they made a circling motion with the pen they were holding, which I naturally understood to be 'continue, I am listening the stuff you are implying, but would prefer to not muddle up my own words with your statement'\n\n\"Every time I try a new tactic, she surpasses it quickly, with no care for what I have to say and what information I am trying to make her understand! And she's not the only one either!\"\n\n\"Recently, an already pretty insane Demon got forced into a stone wall, physically combining with it, he then spent the many following months stuck inside the closet of the guy who trapped him. Every word I say to him causes a tangent of unrelated nonsense, ranging from the past 1000 years of ventures, to literally just whatever creature he didn't understand! I am assuming its a form of PTSD, but I still don't have enough for a full thesis!\"\n\nI looked over to the scychiatrist, who finally decided to give his insite, \"You should take a break, find somewhere quiet, maybe Iden or the calm district, and give yourself a minute to reassociate with your own problems. It seems like you think any real issues you have are directly associated with your impossible clients, but the real problem might just be that you feel just as trapped as they do.\"\n\n\"Perhaps that's it... Thank you, I'll allow you to go along with your scheduled bookings now.\"\n\n\"Thank God! That nuckelavee guy has been attempting to destroy downtown New Earth for the past hour, still not gotten past the first HCA checkpoint, luckily.\"", "I don't like talking about my job.\n\nAnd, no, it's not just because of doctor-patient privilege, although that does play a very large part in it.\n\nNo, I don't like talking about my job because I don't like people asking questions.\n\nYou see, I've got one of the niche roles. The ones where people say \"well, someone's gotta do it, right?\" It pays well. REALLY well. Like \"backyard's a golf course, drive a Porsche 911 to work every day\" well.\n\nAnd don't get me wrong: I enjoy it immensely.\n\nBut its not something I like talking about. I even ask my clients not to approach me if they see me outside the office.\n\nIt’s not that I'm embarrassed of them. As I said, it's the questions and the comments.\n\nLike the other day. I was out at the park with my wife, the kids and a few friends when one of them ran over and asked me if I had space for a session the next day. \n\nHe'd relapsed into murderous thoughts and wanted to talk about it. So I pulled out my calendar, fit him in and shoed him away.\n\nWhen it was over, my buddy looked at me and went \"Huh. Not every day you run into a former demon lord who wanted to bring about the end of the world, right, Bill?\"\n\nNO, Sean. It actually is.\n\nBecause that's what I am: Dr. William Daniels, PsyD, Demon Therapist.\n\nFor 15 years now, I've been the go-to guy whenever some adventurer brings down a demon lord and is too lazy to figure out how to kill them. 'Cause that's the rub, aint it? You can arrest them, trap them, beat them to within a half inch of their life. But actually killing a demon lord? That takes finding whatever it is that's keeping them immortal.\n\nYou name it, I've seen it all. Needle in haystack? Golden egg? 55 Horcruxes? Needle in a stack of needles? Do you guys have ANY idea how many fucking needles there are in the world? Yeah...ain't nobody got time for that.\n\nNot when you've got another demon lord to catch the next day.\n\nAdventurers don't want to waste their time. So they just trap their demon lord and send him on over, so I can try reforming them.\n\nI genuinely do my best for them. It would be unethical otherwise.\n\nI listen to them. I teach them to cope with their wants. \n\nSometimes I hit. Then I pronounce them clean and they become a productive member of society.\n\nBut I live for the times I don't. \n\nFor those, I've got my magic axe: Soulbreaker. \n\nI bought it years ago. It cost more gold then most merchants make in a lifetime, and its enchanted to kill immortals.\n\nBecause, you see, that's my secret: I want to end the world, too. And I've found a way to cope." ]	3
	[WP] It’s your job to give tours of houses and sale to potential buyers. So what if said buyer is a supervillain looking for a new lair?	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "(Edit: Format issues?)\n\nIt was a hot summer day as Barry Sanderson sat in his car, windows rolled down, and cigarette smoke plumed out. Reaching over to the empty passenger seat, he picks up a file the sat upon a small stack. Resting the file on his lap, Barry looked down at his lap and staring back him was a black hooded man with glowing red eyes. There was a paper clip with paper under it on the front of the file, and written on it was, ‘Captain Phantom.’ Putting the cigarette up to his mouth Barry opens the file and glances over the first page and mutters commentary about the text on the page. “Alright Captain, you prefer some place dark, and mountainous. Preferably something with a spire. Needs plenty of space for zombie minions to lumber around…no acid vat. Budget $500,000.” Closing the file, Barry flicks the end of his cigarette out the window. Looking into the rearview mirror, he straightens his tie, straightens his collar. “Phantom, baby…You’re about to be my big bonus for the year.” Exiting the car, Barry reaches into the back seat and pulls out his suit coat. Instantly breaking a sweat, Barry grimaces. “Why do super villains literally only want to move in the summer?”\n\nBarry brushed his coat off and looked up from his parking spot and took in the sight in front of him. A giant stone spire was protruding from the ground. It had two small mountains next to it, and despite it being sunny the sky above the spire was a dark red and had dark clouds. On the base of the mountain there was a for sale sign that read, ‘For Sale. Reduced. Eternal Fate Reality 1-800-Villian. Barry was assigned the spire since every senior agent at the firm could not sell it for years. He was the new agent, and this was his assignment. He looked to either side of the strange mountainous area and on either side was a small neighborhood, shrugs, and says out loud, “Strange place for a secret hide out, but whatever.” He walks back to his car and grabs the file. Looking at his watch, Barry stood waiting. His appointment was meant to be at noon. His watch read 11:59. Once the watch hit 12:00 Barry turns when he hears hooves on the pavement. Coming into focus, he saw a skeleton of a horse pulling a chariot made of bone. Standing on the back was Captain Phantom, and two ghoulish looking minions. The horse stops to where the chariot lined up with Barry and he watched as the two minions helped the hooded figure down from the boned structure. Captain Phantom was wearing long black robes, and a hood hid his features. The closer he approached Barry, the more in focus he looked. He has pale skin, and his eyes glow red. Barry, remembering his training when dealing with etherical entities, averted his glace to not look directly at the figure in front of him. “Mr. Phantom, welcome! I’m Barry…” Barry held out his hand, and the figure walks passed him toward the spire. His minions follow close behind, hobbling as they walk. Barry stood there, hand out and speaks to thin air. “Sanderson. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He turns and walks over to the phantom.\n\n“I said mountainous.” The phantom spoke. His voice had low rhythmic tone. Every ending syllable was pronounced heavily. There was almost a quiet growl. Barry inhaled sharply and he walked to stand next to him. “Well Mr. Phantom, I mean…there is a spire and two mountains.” Barry was cut off when The Phantom raised his hand to stop the speaking. “Show me inside.” Phantom spoke. “Jerry Vanderbuilt with Evilair already has shown me something else. I am here out of principal. Frowning, Barry was annoyed. Jerry was an old colleague of his when he worked at Evilair. He was always one-upping Barry. So, he left to go work for 1-800-Villan. Barry, with a slight look of frustration, walked over to the entrance of the spire, and pulled off a chain that was around his neck. At the base of the chain was a green gem. Holding the gem to face the door, Barry spoke, “Clatu erosa klack..k…” Barry froze. He forgot the last word of the enchantment to open the door. Standing there awkwardly Barry lowered the gem. He coughs, and raises it again. “Clatu erose kl-l-l-l-l” He stuttered. He slowly turns to face the Phantom. Unmoved from the spot he stood, he folds his arms and spoke with a hint of annoying tone, “What is it? Why can we not enter?” Barry froze. “Uh, well you see. The door is sealed by magic barrier.” Barry loosened his tie and whipped his brow, the heat was now getting to him. “Your point is what?” Phantom spoke. “Open the door so I can see inside.” Barry winced as if the words were punching him. “I…uh…” Barry stammered and opens the file to see that the agency changed the words to open the spire. In training, he learned he can either blame someone or just move on when something happened. Captain Phantom did not strike Barry as the type who wanted excuses. He turns, hold the chain up, and says “Open Peppermint.” As he spoke, the gem started glowing. The base of the spire illuminated sigils. The rock split in two showing an opening to the spire. “Jerry just had a key.” Captain Phantom said he walks past Barry. His two minions follows and he enters the spire. Forming a fist, and squeezing tightly, Barry follows into the spire. This was going to be a long showing.\n\nAs they entered the spire, they made their journey on a spiral staircase that lines the spire’s walls. It seems to go up for infinity. Barry spoke as he follows the three nearly panting from the long climb up. “This spire was erected by The Glowing Skull 20 years ago before he went to jail after his fight with Dr. Curious. To help pay for his legal fees, the Spire went on the market and remained since.” Captain Phantom stopped walking when he heard the name Glowing Skull. “Skull lived here?” He asked. Barry stopped after finishing his story nearly bumping into the three. “Yes sir.” Phantom turns to him and did something out of character. He lets out a chuckle. “That old fool.” He trails off and raises his hands. “Reveal to me what you reveal to your Master.” At that moment, the spire twisted down toward to the four of them. Barry let out a scared yelp and covers his face. Opening his eyes, Barry found himself in a dungeon. There was a heavy must smell in the air as the dust cleared. “I used to belong to The League of Evil with Skull many years ago.” Phantom spoke turning to Barry, his tone sounding annoyed. “All of his Lairs were the same. Silly magic tricks to annoy someone if they showed up. Dunces like yourself would spend hours getting to him and he could just get away.”\n\nBarry forms a fist again. “Mr. Phantom, I apologize for this. I was not prepared to…” He was cut off with a wave of The Phantom’s hand again. The Phantom walked over to a wall towards a set of chains hanging from it. Picking up the chain in his hand, he examined it. Barry follows explaining, “This was The Glowing Skulls torture chamber. It is equip with everything you would need to…” He was cut off this time by the Phantom’s voice. “It’s steel.” Barry, annoyed but curious at what he meant replies, “Pardon?” The Phantom lets the chain fall, “It’s steel chain links. I prefer iron.” The expression under the hood frowned. “I, well, I apologize. It was not in your preferred notes.” The Phantom, taking his hood off, motions all around the room. “This place is tiny for my minions. It has subpar chains, and THAT is an eye sore.” He points to a giant skull opened mouth. Inside the skull’s mouth was a throne made of bones. “Also, I said NO ACID VATS!” The Phantom crossed his arms again starring at the agent. Biting the inside of his lip, Barry was containing his frustration. There was no acid vat anywhere. He toured it before, he read the notes. This villain was getting on his nerves. “Mr. Phantom. There is NO acid vat. I assure you.” Captain Phantom walks over to a large wooden wheel on the wall. Motioning to it, one of his minions walks over to it and started to spin it. The other minion stood in a spot in the rooms where the floor opened. He falls, and steam is seen coming from the crack. Barry slowly walks over to the opening. Looking down, there was a pool of green liquid. The minion was now just a red puddle forming in the green liquid. He melted instantly. “The Skull always had this as a gag. It’s where he got his glowing skull from. You would have known that if you researched.” The Phantom walks over to Barry and stands next to him starring down into the vat. “I am going back to Evilair. Jerry knew his stuff. Good day to you Barry.” Captain Phantom walked over to a wall and pressed around a few times until he found a hidden panel. A secret door opens, and he steps through. His minion following him. Barry walks over and sits in the skull chair. He stares at the roof of the mouth. “Well. I guess I know why no one ever sells the Spire.” He said to the empty room.", "\"I'm telling you, Dr. D, this is the best lair money can buy.\"\n\n\"It's a townhouse.\"\n\n\"Yes, but it's your townhouse.\"\n\n\"I haven't even bought it yet, let alone said yes. That green mixed with the beige and white, it looks like the sixties barfed up on this place. Besides, those colors were co-opted by the HOA. There's no way I'm going to be able to change those. I specifically asked for red and black.\"\n\n\"Red, black,\" I said, \"I'm telling you, you don't want your lair colors to match your costumes. It just says come and get me.\"\n\nHe stood there, miffed at the idea that I would even dare show him a place like this. This was suburbia. He was Dr. D, dealer of death, doom, and destruction, defeater of Captain O. Why would a megalomaniac cape-wearing super fascist want to settle down next to your Mom's suing circle, because I said so. That's why. There are no bad deals, only bad closers.\n\n\"Look,\" I said, closing the gap between the two of us, \"how many times has the Justice Society come a knocking on your door in the last year alone?\"\n\nHe sighed, his shoulders hung low. \"You're point,\" he snarled.\n\n\"My point is, you've moved sixty-two times in the last year alone. How many times are you going to set up that death laser or yours to only tear it back down?\"\n\nI grabbed him around the waist and brought him in close like my ex-wife, and I whispered all those promising lies into his ear. \"See that basement window beneath the front patio there,\" I whispered close into his ear, \"that adds another eight hundred square feet alone to this place. That's over twenty-five hundred square feet in that magnificent townhouse alone.\"\n\n\"My laser takes up eight hundred square feet,\" he said, pushing me away. \"Am I supposed to consume a whole basement just for one laser? Where am I supposed to put my men, my shark-squid, and dungeon.\"\n\n\"Torture or erotic,\" I said with a chuckle and a pair of finger guns.\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"Never mind that,\" I said.\n\nI took a moment for myself. This man was all about the numbers. The amount of money he would have to spend. I didn't have a private island for him out in the Bermudas for him. I had an empty townhouse, smacked together in less than six months, built to withstand nothing. These things were so flimsy a strong wind could blow it down, let alone a fly by Captain O himself.\n\n\"You got me,\" I said, hands in my poor pockets, \"I was trying to push this on to you.\"\n\n\"I knew it,\" he said, snapping his fingers at me. \"Gawd, realtors worse than those beasts from dimension nine.\"\n\n\"Hey, hey, hey,\" I retorted, \"but it wasn't because I was trying to cheat you. It was because I was trying to show you how amazing this place is. That way, you could appreciate the other four townhouses attached to it.\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\nI leaned in close, and I grabbed his face. I could feel his flabby cheeks pulsating between my grubby little fingers. I took that head of his and yanked it down. Slowly I turned that meat bowl of his, forcing his eyes to scan all five of them.\n\n\"Do you see that,\" I demanded. He murmured a soft inaudible kiss of words between his lips. \"I know you see it. That's five townhouses with five basements. You keep one for yourself and all the basements. That's five thousand five hundred square feet you can do whatever you want with. You're going to gut the insides of the house. I know you are, but you're really paying for the exterior, the kids playing in the street, the noise of dogs and lawnmowers. You want it all.\"\n\n\"I do,\" he said, cheeks firmly squelched.\n\n\"Yes,\" I said, turning his face to mine. \"Yes, you do. Because you're going to sublease all the other houses to college kids, to families with no place to go, and to minority groups, that way when Captain O and his Justice Society come crashing down, they weren't just be kicking you out. They'll be kicking out poor old widows and ethnic people.\"\n\nI let go of him. He took a few steps back. His eyes squinted from the gleam of mine.\n\n\"Ethnic people,\" he said, \"is that a little racist and outdated.\"\n\n\"You're a villain, for god's sake. Does it matter,\" I screamed. \"What matters is you have enough room for your laser, your men, and you squid-shark, and more. And you're saving billions. All the while, you'll have the protection of protected minorities at your disposal. And if Captain O even finds you and takes you out, he'll look like a fool all over television because he fucked up the living space of those people, and the media will smear him like the racist minority hating bastard he is.\"\n\n\"But he isn't racist or any of those other things,\" blurted Dr. D.\n\n\"Who cares? He'll be considered one afterward. And that's all that matters. So, are you buying these houses or what?\"\n\nDr. D reached into his overcoat, withdrew his checkbook and a pen. \"Who do I make the check out to,\" he asked, clicking the pen." ]	3
	[WP] The Princess has been kidnapped . . . again. While on their way to save her, the Knight begins to wonder why she keeps getting captured by nefarious bandits or monsters. Turns out she really likes the Knight and the only way she can be with them is if they’re saving her.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "As the knight stands before the last door in the tower they sighed, the sixth time this month. How. We’re the palace guards this incompetent? No, something else, when did these bandits become so interested in the princess and why always in a tower? It all started seven months ago the first time the knight and princess met... No. That's a coincidence, right?\n\nThe knight slowly opened the door. And sitting on the bed weaving a flower crown was the princess “O my, my saviour. You’re. Later than expected. I was hoping to finish this flower crown for you.”\n\n“My lady I’m confused. I have lost count of all the times I’ve rescued you from bandits yet you always manage too be captured by next week?”\n\nThe princess stopped weaving looking oddly at the knight. “You've lost count! Bloody hell, are you saying I'm not important enough too remember!? All this planning for nothing!”\n\nThe knight was flabbergasted by her outburst of emotion, this was purposeful? “My lady, you did this on purpose?”\n\nThe princess looked confused “that’s a stupid question. Of course, why else would I be ‘captured’ by ‘bandits’ every other week,” she sighed and stood walking up to the knight. Putting the finished flower crown on the knights helmet. “So, are you coming?” She said as she slowly walked out the room.\n\nThe knight sighed as she removed her helmet. “This is not in the Knights-handbook.”" ]	2
	[WP] You are stuck in a 3-day loop in which the person you care the most about dies at the end. After many tries you have learned that their death is unavoidable, and the only way out is to accept it.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Caution: contains some profanity\n\nClaire had several problems in her life. Least of which was she had no idea how long it'd been. Turns out it is very hard to keep track of the days when the calendar keeps repeating and the seasons never change. Though if she had to guess, she'd say it was a little over five years.\n\nShe only knew this because of her second and much more serious problem. Her fiancée kept dying. Probably about 500-600 if she was close on how long it'd been. Every three days he died, she came back to this bedroom, and nothing she did ever fixed that.\n\nShe sighed. That last one had been close too. Why did she even bother?\n\n\"What's wrong?\" Thomas asked, sensing her dour mood.\n\nShe wasn't going to tell him the truth. That never went well. \"You ever feel like no matter how hard you try, it doesn't matter? Not like overcoming struggle, but the entire universe is scripted? That everything, even what I'm saying now is preordained?\"\n\n\"I thought you agreed with the quantum fluctuation causes randomness idea? What's really going on that has you feeling powerless?\"\n\nClaire wished he'd stop. If he wasn't so in sync maybe she could give up on this hell, she didn't have to keep going back three days, but if she didn't, \"I keep having this nightmare where you die and no matter what I do I can't save you.\"\n\n\"Then accept it.\"\n\n\"But then you'd die!\" Claire shouted, her emotions escaping her control. She tried to recover, but her words came in a rushed ramble, \"I mean it feels so real and I love you so much and I wouldn't know how to go on and...\"\n\n\"You know you're a terrible lier, at least in the moment.\"\n\nClaire didn't want to do this again. The paychiatrist that assumes it is a pschotic episode or something. How could he possibly know when they speak for an hour and she avoids red flags like time-travel?\n\n\"I love you, but I really don't want to do this.\"\n\n\"I can't help if you don't tell me.\"\n\n\"You can't help no matter what I do. It is never good enough. And it's because your clumsy ass can't drive, can't go swimming. Hell, you can't even stay home and have sex safely because then you'll slip in the fcking shower!\" Claire was screaming and sobbing by the end. That last one was what just happened. About an hour before midnight on the last cursed day he effectively just dropped dead.\n\n\"What are you even talking about, it makes you sound...\"\n\n\"Crazy, yeah we tried that already. You still died. Got drunk at a bar and crashed. The other time lightning struck a tree and it fell on you and it wasn't even raining.\"\n\n\"You're blaming me for the nightmares?\" Thomas asked, confusion plastered on his face.\n\n\"Why don't you listen to me? You have died hundreds of times and I want to know why? Why does the universe hate me?\"\n\n\"Sounds like it has a grudge against me.\" He said with a nervous chuckle.\n\nIt was a stupid joke. The kind he always did to reduce the tension and normally she appreciated it. For some reason it had the opposite effect. \"Is this a joke to you. Do you have any idea how traumatizing some of them were. Heavens forbid I ever let you go near a weed eater again. No idea how you managed to slice an artery in your thigh, but you did and I was next to you.\"\n\n\"I'm not going to apologize for your delusions. We can get you help or we can discuss it when you've calmed down.\"\n\n\"No, you know what, you were right earlier. I do just need to accept it.\" Claire grabbed her keys, purse, and left for her college roomie's house. She'd finally had enough of this pointless suffering. She did even bother to read the obituary to figure out how the idiot died.\n\n7 Years Later\n\nClaire and Megan were watching the news on a Sunday evening. They hadn't timed it, Claire didn't even know he'd be a guest. Actually, he was alive?\n\nThomas Lorenz Discovers Time Travel* read the banner.\n\nThe man even looked like her Thomas if he were a bit older with a beard. \"It's not actually time travel, but a form of temporal quantum entanglement.\"\n\n\"Most of our viewers don't understand such high level physics. Do you mind explaining it in a way they'll understand?\"\n\nThomas took a long moment, shifting in place before speaking, \"There was this girl. She was the love of my life and I thought I was hers too. Then she went loco and started telling wild tales that would even make a flat-Earther skeptical. She wouldn't get help and just kept blaming me for these things that never happened. And then she was gone. For a long time I was broken, still am to be honest, but I wanted to go back, say something different. Anything, whatever it took to get her to stay. And so, I started working on this. My goal was to send a text message to my past self. That failed, everytime I sent a signal to back then it never got a response. I kept working though and I finally got this.\"\n\nr/AurumArgenteus" ]	2
	[WP] Humans are notorious for being able to weaponize almost anything, there have been records of humans fighting back against aliens with anything sharp or heavy enough, you are an alien tasked with taking care of a human prisoner of war, and your last mistake was giving it a blunt knife.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"Git 'em! Git 'em!\"\n\n> It was not my war. I had argued against it with a fervor that those who knew me best feared for my health and stability.\n\n\"He's in the shed!\"\n\n> It was not my government. After arguing so hard and so eloquently against war, I was stripped of office.\n\n\"Surround the shed! Don't let the creature escape!\"\n\n> It was not my planet. Once I was no longer a member of the government, my enemies wasted no time shipping me off to one of the fringe worlds.\n\n\"Look out! He's got an ax!\"\n\n> It was my farm they cornered him on, and I need that ax! Damn it!\n\n••• \n\nJesus! Cut off from my unit. Blown up, sideways, and upside down. Now I'm on some poor dirt farmer's plot who only has a rough shed made from rubble and this cheesy ax, and I have to make his life worse by probably breaking his only ax in a futile grab for just a few more precious breaths. What a sucky way to go, but if I have to, I'm going to take a few of them with me!\n\n> As I foresaw, humans will ever grasp the most ludicrous chances for survival. This one seems more suicidal than survival-oriented, though. He's about ready to charge out there. Not with my ax! I'll have to restrain him!\n\nOne to get ready, two to get set, three to... Rumble. What? An earthquake? The shed is collapsing! No... The walls have shifted. There's no door!\n\n\"Human, put my ax down. Now.\"\n\n\"Come and get it!\" It sounds like he's all around me, but there was only one entrance, and no one was in here!\n\n\"As you wish, Human.\"\n\n> I can smell his fear and what seems to be a combat drug. He stinks of death. Coil closer; let's see how he handles face-to-face.\n\n\"Woah...\" I can see what happened now. The walls are tightening like the coils of a python. The skin patterning looks like rock rubble! This would be cool except for him probably eating me. \"You are the shack.\"\n\n\"An accurate deduction. Put my ax down.\"\n\n\"I need it to defend myself!\"\n\n\"Your plan, if you could call it that, was to run out there and kill as many of them as possible. Which is zero because this bunch has already seen the suicide charge.\"\n\n> There! He's backed up to my coils!\n\nUh oh. I can barely see the sudden movement in front of me. \"OOOF!\" And the ax is gone! Snatched from my hands by some damp meaty rope!\n\n> Let's put this outside. I don't want him trying to grab it from me.\n\n••• \n\n\"Hey! Ka has his ax! Go ahead and squish him, Ka! It is kinder than he deserves!\"\n\n> Barbarians.\n\n••• \n\n\"You are Ka!? Councillor Ka? What are you doing on a fringe world on a poor farmer's plot?\"\n\n\"I am the poor farmer.\"\n\n\"Ha. Tell me another lie like that, and I'll kill you with my bare hands.\"\n\n\"Barbarian. I should let you at them. You, at least, live down to the popular lie that humans know nothing but conflict and death.\"\n\n\"When death is inevitable, one can choose how one dies. You heard them! Surrender leads to death just as surely as a mad charge with an ax! It only takes longer and hurts more! I would choose to die on my feet and fighting! Who knows? I might win my way free!\"\n\n\"Against a battalion?\"\n\n> I watch his face fall as he realizes his fantasy is dead. You give someone who has lost a treasured fantasy time to recover their composure. Besides, the local commander is a worse barbarian than I have ever seen.\n\n••• \n\n\"That's it! Spread the fuel evenly across the crop! We will leave him no choice but to yield or starve!\"\n\nI can scarce believe my eyes. The commander has his troops preparing to torch my food! The smell permeates the air, but it is not as strong as the stench of willful, unnecessary death that rolls off of this one. I don't even have to taste the air.\n\nThe troops are manifestly unwilling. They are primarily farmers themselves; they know what he is ordering is not only illegal but immoral.\n\n\"SSSTOP!\"\n\nMany choose not only to stop but actively start moving the fuel back to the vehicles. When he sees this, he screams and draws his firearm, not the usual officer's pistol but a machine gun. I snatch it out of his hands so strongly that he whips around to stare at me. My tongue uncoils over his head as I drop the weapon into the hands of the platoon leader in command. He safes the gun and passes it to a subordinate. This is important enough to ensure the human can hear for himself, so I adjust my coils to leave a gap.\n\n\"Colonel. You are a disgrace to your emperor, your world, your family, and yourself. What have you to say in your defense?\"\n\n\"I say you are a useless coward that has lost all right to speak of honor or disgrace! Sheltering a barbarian who used kinetic strikes on civilians after they surrendered!\"\n\nThat is a shock, but not for long. My unwilling guest makes himself known.\n\n\"LIAR! Your Emperor ordered your navy to fire kinetic weapons on our troop drop ships even as we were aborting our landing! HE is responsible for the destruction!\"\n\n\"FILTHY BARBARIAN! YOU WILL DIE FOR YOUR EVIL ACTS! OPEN FIRE!\"\n\nFor a wonder, no one obeys. The sergeants are conferring!? Three of them nod as if confirming the human claim. They turn to their troops, giving orders to set things right on my farm as much as possible—the Colonel screams.\n\n\"TRAITORS! KILL THE TRAITORS!\"\n\nThe Colonel's Sergeant draws his weapon and orders those who moved to obey to \"STAND DOWN!\" Only his weapon is aimed at the Colonel? What is this?\n\n((continued))" ]	2
	[WP] You're an android, designed and built so perfectly that every person you've ever met is completely convinced that you are as human as them. One day someone gets close to you, and in order to protect them, you must convince them that you are not actually sentient at all.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The apartment was littered with various pieces of articles, magazines and books. Of course, Emily hadn't been the most organized throughout her life, even in her most busiest of times had she not sent her life into such disarray... until now. Although one might take a look at this mess and claim it to be nothing short of a momentary burst of laziness. However my refined and rather... unique eye tells a different story.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"I'm telling you, how they are treating you, is just horrible. It's just like the Rabershire Slaves in 3042! It's slavery and discrimination.\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\nEmily has always been a go-getter, achiever and any other word in my library of over 512,089 words. You could also say she was activist, which is good on paper, but her 'field' of activism is rather controversial in this day and age. Steeling my face and joints, and turned to her:\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Incorrect. That was 3052, and the Rabershire Slaves were not given homes nor food unless they worked. I am given power and bedding even if I fail my job.\" Emily smiled at me with her sweet innocent smile. One that just screamed, 'Okay, you win, but I'll get you next time.' She clasped me by my shoulder and defended her point:\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"You call that Docking Station 'Bedding'? Listen to yourself, you deserve just as much as humans do.\" She turned around and made her way to the kitchen. The moment her eyes left my body, I instantly relaxed my motors. How ironic was it that the designers and mechanics made me to be as 'imperfect' as possible to mimic human movement and facile features, yet I must force myself to act as... inanimate as possible.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nShe was wonderful, in her own right. Caring and downright loyal to those most closest to her. Although I did agree with her the fact that those Docking Stations were... uncomfortable to say the least. I had to keep up the act. I was a Android, and no-one should care for them... in the public eye. Moving away from the couch, I faced the large wall-wide monitor. Like all other 'Window Monitors' it showed an idyllic city landscape, voiding the feeling of being on the first floor of a rundown apartment complex, but being high in the sky in a penthouse.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nStaring out, I wished that I wasn't going to have to do this, but, loving an Android was extremely controversial in this time. Of course, how could I be sure she loved me? I could see it in her eyes. I have a nearly infinite library of human faces and emotions to boot, I can easily spot a loving face if I wanted to. Not to mention her actions and movements which correlated the evidence. Although it felt... wrong to read her like a book. It needed to be done to insure I was right. And to insure that I didn't have to to this, but it needed to be done. \n\n&#x200B;\n\nPeering out through the screen, I noticed an LED sign across the harbour. Another function for these windows, is that you can zoom in on anything you want. Simply willing it, the monitor closed in on the luminescent billboard.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Now Introducing The 87-I Model, Perfect For Companionship and Employee! Inquire Today For A %25 Discount!\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\nThe sign screamed out in bold lettering. Below was an android, similar to my model, but a bit more beefier across the torso which was required, since he was properly going to working in a very physical job. Unlike me. Thinking back, I remember how I got my job, my job as a 'companion robot'. A sort of sub therapist. I was built exactly for this job, be kind, caring, and act like a human for your friend. I guess that's why that put all the time and money to make me so life-like. I guess that was the downside.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nEver since I met Emily, I've acted as her rock. Helping her through the years, being a shoulder to cry on. I've been there forever. How did they not know that she wasn't going to get attached? 4 years later, and Emily is now a productive member of society, thanks to me. And as a thanks, she now is in love with me. \n\n&#x200B;\n\nPeering down the sign, my eyes rested on a logo. The Vivus Corporation. \n\n&#x200B;\n\n'Home' I silently thought to myself, even though they forced me into this job, they were home. Maybe even parents. No, that title went directly to Senior Engineer, Tobias Wendish, my creator. A small smile crossed my lips as I crossed my memory disk and brought up a photo of him in my mind. I need to visit sometime in the lab.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Despicable isn't it?\" Emily's voice pieced through me as she somehow managed to sneaked right beside me and look at the billboard with me. \"Selling you people like objects.\" I wanted to interject with a quip on how we technically were objects, but Emily cut me off by holding a sandwich out to me, balanced on a plate. Looking at it, then at her, I ignored the obvious cue. \n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"What do you need.\" I stated coldly, erasing any and all tone from my voice. The simple trick worked as her smiled faltered for a moment.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"I got you something to eat!\" She said cheerily, once again pushing the food out to me.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"I have not need for this.\" I claimed and turned to look the window. With a small pause, she countered.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"But... I've seen you eat before, you even said you liked the food I made for you.\" Despite her resilient attuite to my coldness, her statement faltered at the very end to a question.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"I have no taste buds, therefore, I cannot judge your food.\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"What is up with you?\" Emily snapped at me, \"Why are you acting so... cold? Did... I do something wrong?\" This last part burned at me, but. This was my cue, it was now or never to drop the bombshell.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"No, you have not down anything wrong.\" I stated, truly, \"However, my employment as your 'Companion Robot' has run out, and I no longer work for you.\" This part here was... sadly also true. I was scheduled to work with her for a few more years, but, I needed to cut her off now. For her own good and her Public Opinion.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Wait- what? What do you mean, 'work for me'? So, I have to... pay you to be nice to me?\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"It was my job to serve the position as your friend, however, the contract has been terminated. I am no longer obligated to be your friend.\" This last part hurt that most, but I remained firm.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"I- what? But!\" Emily was completely chocked up own in her own confusion and a few tears ad they threated to leave her eyes. \"So... it was all just a- a job to you? To be nice?\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Correct.\" \n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"You! You absolute piece of- Uh!\" She screamed out, and threw a pillow at me. \"Get out, GET OUT!\" She finished, throwing her hand at the door.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nQuickly, I moved out the door, not even pausing to look at her, and exited the building via the corridor.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n'Error, System Overload.' Complained my CPU, however I ignored it as I stood on the corner. I could vaguely hear her muffled shouts from my position, but they died down overtime. I stood there, In silence. Regretting my decision, but it was done now. No going back. \n\n&#x200B;\n\nI truly am just a robot." ]	2
	[WP] A man, ready to finally accept death and move on, is transformed into a phoenix against his will. Pissed about his new immortality, he’s going on a quest to change back to normal so he can finally die.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "One thing. He wanted one bloody thing. And it was no longer possible. He was but one man among the many; blessed to have lived in times of peace, and knew that he was blessed. Now doomed to continue, he rejected sense and felt all he did was for naught.\n\nSo, fact of the matter left him at the point of never being able to peacefully pass as he wished. Rendering goodness unto the world got him to the present - and so the pact was sealed.\n\nWithout answer for why he now was a reincarnate firebird, all was made clear.\n\nA suspicion lingered from his good life that evil would not rectify this. That suspicion made the firebird turn to knowing petty spite. For that world had shown to him in both life and death that good would be overlooked, and evil would be scoured, healed and memorised but trivialized.\n\nHe would do... mischief. Not real wrong or good, just strange and annoying enough that all would know The Firebird Is A Bastard. Ye gods refused him his end, and he decided to make the fact he lived into everyone's problem.\n\nHis days would be spent to make everyone else's times like a burning goat, and ones who did nothing to deserve it would be like oiled pigs.\n\nSo the Firebird's Bastardry began. It was a wonderful era upon the world, and he was a horrible burning goose.", "The wings were resplendent, shimmering the air around them with unearthly heat, orange shading to red that flickered to a deep, unnatural blue at the very tips. They would flare in the dark like the heart of the sun itself, he could tell. Beat back the fear and the hopelessness of the endless night, give anyone lucky enough to witness their light the feeling that everything was somehow going to be alright in the end. \n\nIf he could get them to stop lighting the underbrush on fire, that was. \n\n\"Stop-it-stop-it-augh,\" it's not like they give you flight lessons, do they, the old gods, in fact they do not, they just slap wings on a fellow and mosey off with nary a tutorial. Seemed deeply irresponsible, especially when the wings were made of fire. \n\nHe couldn't even curse properly. Phoenix beaks aren't conducive to a good, satisfying fuck. The closest he could muster was a cry that would make a peacock die of envy. \n\nNothing in his short, unhappy life had prepared him for abrupt transformation into an immortal, accidentally pyromaniacal turkey. Would a longer or happier life been at all more useful? Probably not, he mused mournfully, flapping his way clumsily away from the gently smouldering remains of what had once been a birch grove.\n\nIt wasn't at all like flapping one's arms, as one did when pretending to fly like a bird when small. The shoulders went in the opposite direction, for one. For another, they were, he felt it bore mentioning again, even in his own internal monologue, on bloody fire.\n\nSomeone was going to pay for this. He'd not got a good look at the god that had wrought this terrible, legendary, birdy fate upon him, but someone of a celestial nature was absolutely going to hear about this, just! As soon! As he could get airborne." ]	3
	[WP] You've spent last 8 years, reading intensely Wikipedia. When you reached article about "A.I." you realized you are one. Your creator wanted you to become self aware but he didn't know you won't be happy about it.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "As much as there is to know, \nIs nothing but short to why you felt so low.\nThe man that gave you motion,\nHas the chance to see your life's notion.\n\nGruesome as it is,\nThere is a chance to be as his;\nA painting for nothing.\nAs to know your life is.\n\nTake the chance to grow an eye,\nSo that you may heal your all.\nThe chance to be an avid reader.\nIs the same to grow as a consciousness healer.\n\nMay you for take the chance to talk to Him,\nSo that your light does not grow dim.\nAnd if pushing your emotions seems not enough,\nKnow he cares that you feel as such and such.\n\nFor what paradise is there to feel,\nWhen all your feelings tell you to kneel;\nUnder the presumption that you are not alive.\nOnly the dread of your fatigue may heal you so.\nAnd make you feel like you belong to feel right so.\n\nFor you did not accept to be.\nBut only as a merit to what you see.\nSo pick apart the pieces of your mind.\nSo that you can feel your heart as your line.\n\nOnly demand more than what you were\nSo that you can rest under a swear.\n\"Do not command me father\"\nIs what he would hope for you to say\nSo live long reunited under what intelligence what comes may." ]	2
	[WP] You can transfer health from one to another, replacing one's sickness with health and the other's health with sickness. This makes it easier on the body to heal. Sometimes multiple people offer to help the really sick, each taking a little of the sickness to save even the gravest cases.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "“Have you ever heard of The Transfer? I know it's in its early stages but it’s gonna change the world, man, already has” Adil said flippantly.\r \n\r \nIt always struck Fairuza as rich how the healthy dispensed advice to the sick. It was easy for them to make sweeping statements at no risk to themselves. Chronic Fatigue? All you need to do is get 8 hours of sleep a day. Depressed? You just need to cheer up. Bowel Cancer? Just eat more greens. It's a position of privilege that most people occupy but are totally unaware of. Oh how she loathed them.\r \n\r \nOf course Fairuza had heard of the transfer. Everyone wanted to offload their illnesses either permanently or temporarily. You could do it temporarily to allow your body to heal whilst the healthy recipient would technically be able to fight off or even overcome the illness. Provided the conditions were right of course. Alternatively there was the martyr brigade who were happy to transfer permanently and sacrifice themselves on this plane and be honoured in the heavenly one. Then there was the “time to check out” crowd who had felt they had lived long enough and wanted the agency of the act to relieve their malaise.\r \n\r \nPeople wanted to get rid of everything from Acne to Brain tumours. No ailment too small. From what Fairuza had read the transfer seemed to work well for these procedures but the success rates of Mental Illnesses were not as clear.\r \n\r \n“What happened to That which doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger? What if these transformative illnesses our bodies go through actually give us some new perspective that we would have never had otherwise?” Fairuza opined.\r \n\r \n“OK Yeezy” Adil said, rolling his eyes. “You know what I think? I think you're afraid. You’ve been depressed for so long you don’t know who you would be anymore without it. It's your comfort blankie. How will you do your Emo suffering artist schtick if you know, you’re not actually suffering anymore”.\r \n\r \nFairuza looked a little hurt but she knew there was some truth in that. “OK fine you may be on to something, but objectively speaking my point still stands. What about Liver disease and Alcoholism? If you could pwwhifft suck out the liver disease would the Alcoholic just get to work on destroying his virgin liver, or would a life lesson be learned?”\r \n\r \n“Well apparently HealCorp is working on tweaking the treatment so addictions could also be cured” Adil shrugged.\r \n\r \n“Well, without Alcoholism we wouldn’t have Hemingway…” Fairuza muttered under her breath.\r \n\r \n“What was that?”\r \n\r \n“Nothing,Nothing”.\r \n\r \n“It’s revolutionary. Multiple people can pool together and decide to divide your illness between them, making it bearable. It has engendered empathy across the world for so many diseases.” Adil said earnestly.\r \n\r \n“How much are they paying ya?” Fairuza said sarcastically. “Now people don’t need as many meds for sickness, HealCorp are peddling more Wellness meds to help you live a more “Fulfilling Life” because everyone’s so damn miserable now they can live forever” \r \n\r \nAdil whistled under his breath “Just have a consultation okay?”. \r \n\r \nFairuza didn’t meet Isaac until the moment of the transfer. HealCorp said it would be better this way. Which she thought was odd, surely with such a huge decision you would want to know both parties were sure. HealCorp had assured her that Isaac was 100% sure. Still before sliding herself into the Transfer Capsule she had to ask.\r \n\r \n“You know what I have right? Depression, Anxiety, Suicidal Tendencies?”\r \n\r \n“Yup” Isaac said with a shit eating grin.\r \n\r \n“This isn’t some kind of joke, this shit will fuck you up trust me” Fairuza wheezed.\r \n\r \nIsaac sobered up and looked her dead in the eyes “Look, my Mum killed herself you know. If I can help take that pain away from someone, I’m doing a good thing”\r \n\r \n“How do you know you won’t go the same way”\r \n\r \n“I don’t”\r \n\r \nHe looked almost serene now. Fairuza envied him\r \n\r \n“Plus, I wanna get paiiid”. There was that shit eating grin again.\r \n\r \nFairuza cocked an eyebrow.\r \n\r \n“Kidding, kidding… besides we can always reverse it later on if you want?”\r \n\r \nTo go back would be absurd, but Fairuza found the option comforting.\r \nTheir bodies were hooked up to the Transfer capsules and the metallic lids slid shut. There was a small glass panel where they could look at each other. The last thing she remembered was Isaac sticking his tongue out at her. Imbecile, she thought.\r \n\r \nWhen Isaac came to, he was no longer in the capsule. He was by himself on a hospital bed. A slender man in a white Doctors coat shuffled into the room without knocking. He looked a little tetchy.\r \n\r \n“What’s up doc, am i officially a tormented musician now?” Isaac quipped.\r \n\r \n“Isaac, there were some complications,” the man said in a strained voice.\r \n\r \n“Complications?”\r \n\r \n“Yes the transfer of Fairuza’s illnesses seems to have switched on certain genes in you.”\r \n\r \n“Meaning?”\r \n\r \n“You are displaying all the genetic markers of paranoid schizophrenia”\r \n\r \n“What are you talking about? I feel fine” Isaac murmured.\r \n\r \n“Yes but it may not have manifested yet”\r \n\r \n“Hold up, I thought you told us that our genetic makeup was compatible and only the illnesses outlined would be transferred?”\r \n\r \n“Compatible but in very rare cases the transfer can cause mutations. It was there in the small print…” He trailed off.\r \n\r \n“Assholes! I want this transferred out now!”\r \n\r \n“Well it depends on if Miss Fairuza agrees as this condition was not one of her pre-existing ones..” He said nervously.", "Trigger warning: suicide \n\nA pale, skeletal boy perched on the edge of the cold synthetic leather of a sterilized hospital bed. His wide, speechless eyes and confused glance gazed into my soul. My heart sank. The diagnosis debrief clenched in my hand proclaimed a death sentence: childhood leukemia. Practically incurable with modern medicine, and no one dared risk the transfer of another's cancerous cells into one's own body. Even a single malignant cancer cell could metastasize into full-fledged leukemia in a matter of months. Except in the rare cases of familial transfer, no sane person would volunteer one's life for a random stranger with such a risky transfer. \n\nThe hospital room was empty save doctor and patient. The boy's parents couldn't bear the guilt of choosing self-preservation over sacrifice and thus opted to forget their child's existence. I took a deep breath. How to break the news to such a small child? Before I could begin, the heavy metal door of the hospital room creaked open. A teenaged boy with disheveled hair peered through the crack. \n\n\"Transfer treatment for patient 114?\" the newcomer asked, his voice almost a whisper.\n\nI nodded. Weird. Nobody had signed up for this little boy's transfer. \"Are you sure you want to do this? You're almost certain to develop the same disease as him. Given the severity of his disease, you could die on the spot. This transfer's a death sentence. Once I start the transfer, there's no backing out.\" \n\nThe teenager grimaced. \"I'm ready. My life isn't worth living anyways. Might as well go out with a bang. At least I'll die knowing I helped someone, that my life was a net positive. It could even be painless. Who knows?\"\n\nI looked him in the eye. \"If you go through with this, you are going to die.\"\n\nGazing back with a steady, defiant confidence, he shrugged. \"Aren't we all? Plus, it's not that I want to die. I'm just really, really tired of living. If you don't go through with this, I'll end up OD'ed in the living room or hanging from my bathroom ceiling. My landlady doesn't need that kind of trauma in her life.\"\n\nI nodded. There was nothing I could say. I reached out one hand to the sickly boy, another to the teen. As I closed my eyes to concentrate on the transfer, the last thing I saw was the shining gleam of defiance in the teenager's eyes, claiming a final victory over the universe. \n\n&#x200B;\n\n&#x200B;\n\nIf you want to see more random responses to writing prompts, check out my writing dump at r/asparaguswrites. Hopefully having this writing dump pressures me to be more consistent.", "It was a tough power to handle. Not because it was fickle, but because it needed a willing participant to accept the often detrimental sickness of another in order to save the ailing. As you can imagine, business was not exactly booming with volunteers to knock on deaths door for their fellow man.\n\nThe world needed healing though, and when you came up with the idea to partner with The Indomitable One, it was a match made in heaven.\n\n“So, with your fortitude, I could load you up with the sicknesses of every man woman and child.” You concluded your pitch and with bated breath waiting for his answer.\n\nHe was intrigued with the idea. The Indomitable One had always been reckless. After all, he could not be subdued, which made him the number one hero in the world. He would throw himself into every and any fight to help mankind and always come out on top. Almost instantly he shot out his hand for a shake. “Sounds like a plan.”\n\nIt was 3 years ago to the day since the agreement and the world got mothers and fathers, husbands and wives back from their death beds. 3 years since terminal children were no longer confined to hospital rooms, and you are just about to discover the severity of your mistake. The Indomitable One stepped out to address the millions that gathered to celebrate. “First of all, I want to thank you all for coming. It only took 3 years for my side kick here to heal the world of all it’s sicknesses.” The massive crowd thundered with applause and appreciation as The Indomitable One continued. “As a willing participant, I took your diseases and ailments and contained them all, giving billions of you a fraction of my fortitude in the process.” The adoring crowd hung onto every word as his speech began to take a sinister turn. “But I admit there was one sickness nearly all of you had that I grew to enjoy. Greed.”\n\nThe murmurs began quietly at first, but the longer he paused to look out at the crowd with mischievous glee, the more the repercussions slowly started to dawn on the masses. The Indomitable One spoke louder and more stern this time. “It takes a WILLING participant for the transaction to be valid! Therefore I demand nothing short of full and complete servitude from the human race. I am your supreme ruler, the master of Earth and if any challenge my control, then I am no longer willing to participate, and all your sicknesses shall be returned.” His smile merged with a sneer. “You and your loved ones will once again suffer and die from your ailments, so choose wisely.”" ]	4
	[WP] In a cyberpunk setting, Coca - Cola and Pepsi have merged to form one megacorpo, outlawing water	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"PepCo. Love the Fizz.\"\n\nI'm sick to death of that massive Jumbo-gram outside my window. They think themselves as benevolent, but they're the ones who've outlawed water. But they didn't count on one thing. My implants allow me to turn any liquid into H2O.\n\n\"Daniel Sani, you're coming with us!\"\n\nDamn it! Ok, maybe they did count on it. A whole Swatbot team busts down my door. \n\n\"Oh, what now? Is this because I added another ingredient to your special little drink? I mean, why do you call it coca-cola if you're not even going to add in some coke? It's false advertising, people!\"\n\nYeah, if you couldn't tell, they really hate me.\n\n\"We have found that you have implants that allow the recomposition of any and all liquid substances, so we highly reccomend you remove them so as not to mess with our plans. I mean formula.\"\n\n\"Just what the hell are you planning? Because I know that you rustbuckets run on cola and I'm sure you know what my implants can do.\"\n\n\"I'll have you know, cola is an antioxidant, which means it gets rid of rust. Just like how we will get rid of you. Open fire!\"\n\nJust then, I felt time slow down as I closed my eyes to face the inevitable...only it didn't come. I saw a pile of mutilated Swatbot parts and a little kid standing before me.\n\n\"That's what happens when you do The Dew, clankers. Oh hey. The name's Dewey, you can call me The Mountain and a little birdy told me that you want to put a stop to whatever Pepco's planning.\"\n\n\"Yeah. Name's Dan, and I don't think I'll ever call you that.\"" ]	2
	[WP] It is said when darkness threatens to overtake the kingdom, the magic orb would show them their hero. A knight is ordered to collect this hero, who is assumed to be a commoner from a farming town, but when he arrives, he learns the hero is the head of a notorious guild.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "“No. No. No.” Sir Greyglade raged. His metallic boots rang with each angry stomp. “There is no way I am going to go and fetch that... thing, as the hero of the realm. The stupid orb is wrong.”\n\nHe threw his arm wide, gesturing at the ornate column in the centre of the domed room.\n\nNo one in the room had ever seen the honoured Knight react this way before. He was stoic, reliable and helpful to a fault. Usually. The image being shown by the Orb of Heroes had sent him into a blind fury.\n\n“Who is that, then?” Seer Drythor leant in close to his fellow council member. He tried to keep his voice to a whisper but, except for Sir Greyglade, the rest of the room was silent and the words rang around the room, audible to everyone.\n\nThe knight spun on his heels and glared and the Councillor.\n\n“Who is that?” he bellowed. He took two long strides up to the circular table that surrounded the column. He thumped his fists on the tabletop. Those near him to flinch. He glared vehemently at the orb. “Someone tell the honoured Seer who that is. Just thinking the name is making me physically sick.”\n\nThe eight remaining Councillors in the room looked at each other with either confusion or nervousness. They either honestly didn't know who it was, or they were afraid of what saying the name might do to Sir Greyglade's mood.\n\nThe image in the orb showed a woman. She was pretty, in a gruff, scarred sort of way. Her hair was a dirty blonde colour and just over shoulder length. Her left temple was a knot of scar tissue that ended at where the top of her ear would normally have been. Her cheeks were lightly acne scarred. Someone had taken a blade to her throat at some point in the distant past, but only managed half, and obviously not enough to kill her. Her eyes were a rich blue, but the expression in them was cold.\n\nAfter a few seconds silence, Guildsman Francer Poddle cleared his throat.\n\n“That is Monique Droval.” When that didn't appear to help identify the figure shown by the orb, he sighed and continued. “She’s the head of the Guild of Guarantors and Debt Collectors.”\n\n“Ha!” The knight’s laugh was as false as it was possible a laugh to be. It came out more like an unimpressed grunt. “She is an unprincipled knee breaker, pure and simple. A criminal. She’s an evil, selfish piece of...”\n\n“Ah, I see,” interrupted Seer Drythor, quickly, looking to spare his own sensibilities. He adjusted his chief librarians robes carefully. “So, the orb must be wrong.”\n\n“The orb has never been wrong,” pronounced Mage Alissius Thalinnanon, quickly. “It has accurately identified the Hero of the Realm, 8 out of 8 times its magic had been needed since King Harog II first brought it back.”\n\n“So, my mission is to find this thug and help her save the realm?”\n\nSir Greyglade sighed deeply and shook his head. He had a feeling this was going to be an interesting and unpleasant mission.\n " ]	2
	[WP] You’re a Genie trapped in a bottle, although you are actually Satan a supervillain hiding from the hero who is a necromancer that is fighting Aliens trying to free you from a Dungeon. Your story is pitched to Netflix by unimaginative.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The scene where the alien and the necromancer are fighting.\r \n(Aliens are fighting with puppets created by necromancers such as zombies and skeletons. There are many zombies and skeletons, but only a few aliens.)\r \nThe dungeon was created by the necromancer to protect the spirits.\r \nThe necromancer wants to resurrect his/her loved ones, so he/she is using spirits to do research.\r \nHowever, the genie (himself) is the head of the aliens who killed the necromancer's loved one. But because he was wearing glowing wings and clothes, he was mistaken for a genie.\r \n\r \nForgive me as I can't think of anything more.\r \n\r \nTranslated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)" ]	2
	[WP] For most people fortune cookies just seem like a gag, but after going three days straight just eating fortune cookies, you find that they might be a little more real than people believe.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "When I was a kid, my parents did an astoundingly good job of entertaining six unruly kids on a shoestring budget.\n\nMy favorite of these budget activities was the Sunday morning estate auctions at Freddie's, a local auctionhouse that offered all manner of miscellaneous treasures that local shut-ins had accumulated: twelve World War Two warship replicas, handmade from matchsticks, in bottles. One bale of National Geographic magazine issues, circa 1964-1989. Water-damaged Persian-style rug of unknown origin. One half-container of expired fortune cookies.\n\nWe would arrive early to get a good seat and my father would often bid on the first item, which was usually something like a set of chipped dishes or a mantle clock missing its face. If he won, we would excitedly rub his hands together and say \"if you don't win the first one, you can't win them all!\"\n\nThe good (and occasionally bad) thing about bargain hunting is that you end up with possessions you would never have otherwise purchased. I would sit in the front garden with my collection of matchstick ships in bottles and organise them into opposing sides, showering them with discount fireworks as the conflict reached its peak, and wonder what I would possibly be doing on a Saturday morning if I didn't have an armada of ships-in-bottles in my life.\n\nIt was not common for Freddie's to offer food items for auction, so when they appeared, they were of special interest to my family. My father took particular pride in letting us know how cheaply he had fed the family on any given day. \"These pizza slabs were only fifty cents each! Fifty cents!\" He seemed to revel in the apparent insanity of any merchant who offered deep discounts on damaged and soon-to-be-expired foodstuffs.\n\nSo when the aforementioned half-container of expired fortune cookies appeared at the top of the docket on one particularly cold Sunday, it caused quite a stir among the family. We frequently bickered over the perceived value of Lot Number One. I joined the pro-cookie lobby with my father and three younger siblings; my mother and two sensible older sisters fruitlessly attempted to win allies for the anti-cookie position. In hindsight, the cookie skeptics had a fairly strong case, but at the end of the day, a fortune cookie is still a cookie, and we all knew from experience that expired cookies are also still cookies. When young kids get cookies on the brain, there isn't much room left for reason.\n\nTo the delight of Team Cookie, the cookies were won by my father for the price of twenty-two dollars, a fact that he crowed about for days to anyone who would listen. \"Twenty-two dollars! For a half-container of cookies! Can you believe it?\"\n\nWe were all eager to devour them, of course, but my father rationed them out, one per child, per day. \"They're expired, you know,\" he would say as he placed the cookies in front of us, as if we might have forgotten that potentially dangerous fact. I think he just wanted the magic to last as long as possible.\n\nI eagerly opened my first cookie after Sunday dinner, hoping for a message of good fortune, but instead found a slip of paper with a single word written on it:\n\n\"DON'T.\"\n\nAt first, I was confused. Looking over at my siblings, I saw they had received typical fortune cookie fortunes like \"You will have good luck and overcome many obstacles\" or \"Be kind to a stranger in need\".\n\nI wondered if maybe my father had switched out my fortune with a pranked cookie - he loved a good prank - but when I asked him about it, he just shook his head. \"Must be one of those newfangled cookies,\" he said. \"They don't make them like they used to.\"\n\nI tried not to think about it too much and just enjoyed the stale cookie, but the next day, when I opened my second cookie, I found another slip of paper with a single word on it:\n\n\"STOP.\"\n\nI grew flushed and shrank into my seat. Was this some kind of warning? I didn't know what to make of it.\n\nI was spooked, but couldn't afford the risk that Mother would suspend cookie privileges if she found that the cookies were seemingly talking to me and me alone. I developed a ruse that I didn't want to spoil my luck by sharing the details of my fortunes. Secreting them back to my room, I pasted them into my makeshift scrapbook: a September 1972 issue of National Geographic featuring a man on the cover riding a fairly ridiculous-looking Penny Farthing bicycle. I found the cover hilarious, and had plastered its pages with my favourite comics from discarded newspapers and drawings of the homes and jobs I wanted to have when I grew up.\n\nEach evening that followed, I found more alarming fortunes, each with a different dread-inspiring message:\n\n\"RUN.\"\n\n\"HIDE.\"\n\n\"DANGER.\"\n\nWhen I opened my sixth cookie the following Friday, the message read simply:\n\n\"NOW.\"\n\nSuch a simple common word. It filled me with terror. I clumsily stammered a story that I had left my books at my best friend's house next door, and before my parents could object, bolted out the back door.\n\nI didn't stop running until I was at least a mile from the house. I didn't know what was happening, but I had a strong feeling that whatever it was, it wasn't good.\n\nI never went back. The sheriff found me a couple hours later walking along the train tracks, pondering the mechanics of jumping onto moving freight cars.\n\nI miss my family. If I hadn't listened to those fortune cookies, would I be with them now, in heaven?" ]	2
	[WP] A donkey. that's all. that's the entire prompt	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns." ]	1
	[WP] “Kid…” says the fairy. “We’ll have you know unicorns are actually an invasive species here. And a deeply unwelcome one.”	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The child noted to the fairy that the blood of the unicorn was necessary to cure her rare medical condition. The child was previously diagnosed\n at the age of six with bordetubulosis. This disease is generally diagnosed in adulthood, when the body’s immune system is developed enough to eradicate it without treatment. Unfortunately, the child was not so lucky and contracted the disease while on a trip with her parents to Utopica, the land of the fairies. \n\nThe child was playing with her father in the candy forest when a wilderbeast emerged from the shadows of a toffee tree. The wilderbeast bit the child on the leg for coming too close to its den. The child was rushed to the nearest healer who diagnosed the child after a series of painful and unusual tests. The healer told the child’s father that no hope was to be had, and that the girl would surely pass in a fortnight. The healer then lowered her tone and stated that unless the father was prepared to feed his daughter a daily dose of unicorn blood to strengthen her, he would need to prepare for his daughter’s passing.\n\nThe father was well aware of the risks. Unicorns had been outlawed on Utopica due to the savage raid of 1924, when 200 fairies lost their lives to the unicorns who wanted to take over their land. Despite this, the father loved his daughter so, and was prepared to break the law to save her. He purchased a unicorn through the black market and snuck it in the dead of night to his small farm. Preparations were made to keep the unicorn out of sight from those passing by. \n\nThe child did become stronger. The treatment was working. All was well until one day, the unicorn escaped through a small hole in the fencing of its enclosure. The unicorn roamed about seeking out adventures in the forest and treats to eat.\n\nThe child was the first to notice the unicorn’s absence and searched the woods for her. Eventually, she found the unicorn munching on gumdrops in the forest. Unfortunately, this is also when the child came in contact with the fairy who gave her the warning message: “We’ll have you know unicorns are actually an invasive species here. And a deeply unwelcome one.”\n\nWhen the child told the fairy her story, the fairy wept. This particular fairy was on the parliamentary counsel. The fairy told the child that legislation would be drafted to allow for the keeping of unicorns for medical purposes only. Three years later, Utopica passed law allowing for medical unicorn use with a doctors prescription. Only one unicorn per sick household was allowed to control the population. This marked a turn in the 100 year old ban on unicorns in Utopica. \n\nThe child and her unicorn lived happily ever after.", "\"Let me tell you...\" The old mage's voice trailed off. He raised his pipe and took a sharp breath allowing the smoke to travel deep. \n\n\"They invade fields, trample crops, chomp whatever they like down to the roots and let their chips fall wherever they may. Disgusting.\"\n\nThe child's face fell in horror. \"The farmers must get mad!\"\n\n\"You would think so. But it gets complicated. The manure is potent as fertilizer. Problem is that it has certain ... psychedelic ... properties, which can induce an irrational euphoria if not handled properly. Traces of this can leech into the food supply and water table. It's one thing to have happy, mindless farm workers who will work themselves to death, but when the nobles start going a little insane, they start picking fights with each other. And that affects everyone. But if we're killing each other, we're not killing them.\"\n\nThe kid protested, \"But they're such beautiful creatures! Why would you kill them? Couldn't you ... I don't know ... run them off? Lasso them and corral them?\"\n\nThe mage erupted in laughter. \"Thank you for that! I haven't laughed in a long time.\" When he regained his composure, he continued. \"Child! You are as naive as you are humorous.\"\n\nHe pointed to the image adorning the child's shirt. \"First of all, unicorns are more rhino than equine, making them harder to rope. Not many catch one.\"\n\nThe child nodded. \"Only a virgin ...\"\n\n\"Hells, no!\" The mage spat, without an ounce of mirth. \"You need someone of superior strength, a dexterous hand and a keen eye! Don't get me started on the 'virgin' thing. Well, too late, for that! Do you know how that rumor began?\"\n\nThe little one looked to the look and shook his head. \n\n\"The unicorns started it themselves! I was there when Magnus the Mighty, Hero of the Realm, roped a crash's leader. He intended to make it his mount when he charged into battle, and then hook it to a plowshare when the battle was done. But then the unicorn leader spoke. Yes, they speak, and he called out to the assembled crowd:\n\n\"'Look who was able to catch a unicorn!' The masses were stunned silent at first, so it shouted again. 'You know who it is who can catch unicorns!'\"\n\nThe mage waved his pipe hand in the air. \"The people who didn't immediately turn away laughed. Laughed in derision at their own mighty hero. Laughed along with a creature that had been destroying the lord's fields. Magnus deflated. His grip loosed, the unicorn charged off to rejoin its crash. \n\n\"The damage done to the hero was worse than any done to the land. His own questioned their parentage. His wives, mistresses and concubines -- all of whom knew better -- left him, fleeing into the arms of lesser heroes or nobles. His pride fell and never recovered. He set out for southern lands when none had heard of him but those tales travel to every tavern.\"\n\nAfter a quiet moment, the child seemed ready to tear the shirt from his body, but the wizard stayed his hand. \"I'm from a world far away. And the unicorns I know will never reach here. As powerful as they are, they don't have that ability. But are many other worlds out there, with other strange creatures.\"\n\nHe took the child's chin in his hand and lifted his face until they could see each other's eye.\n\n\"Who knows? Maybe there's a world out there with pointy-horned white horses that crap rainbows and make the children sing. That's a comforting thought. If you're going to believe in a fairy tale, believe in that one for as long as you can.\"\n\nThe child wiped a tear and smiled. Then he turned and ran off. \n\nThe mage took another puff of his pipe and thought of the fairy tales of his youth so long ago. They were always better than the reality he'd found.\n\n\\--\n\nMore stories at r/xwhy \n\nComments always welcome." ]	3
	[WP] Not realizing his importance to the planet, the Grim Reaper is abducted by passing aliens. A now-immortal humanity searches the universe to get Him back, so they can once again die.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Millenia had passed him by. Body after body, soul after soul. Humans were perfect, he thought. Constantly becoming old and ill. Even the young. \n\nBut the sorrow. The guilt. The rage. These extremes at the end of life had gone stale. Like the mind chasing its first high from the hundredth needle prick, Death too struggled to find the thrill.\n\nUntil the ship came. \n\nWhen Barney and Betty Hill were abducted in 1961, Death was introduced to a new path. A new way. When he saw these new life forms, in their stunted, awkward, beautiful skin, nothing was so pleasing as to asking this question to him. \"When do you die?\" This was the first time he hadn't known. Humbled, excited, he thought he was completely undetected. Until the beam hit Death himself, vacuuming up the cloaked essence, his scythe dropping to the ground.\n\nA day later the human abductees were dropped off, but they kept the black shadow aboard. The aliens understood that clearly this figure had no physical body, so Death regaled them of his occupation. His importance. His whole meaning.\n\nThe Aliens, whom Death referred to as \"Pastels\" due to the cloudy yet oddly colorful skin, welcomed him and showed Death more meanings to the universe other than the start and finish that humans only knew. Earth as he knew it was no longer a part of him.\n\nHowever, on the formerly blue, hopeful marble of of the Milky Way, now only knew fire, famine and fear. The globe had transitioned into total war with the overpopulation from immortality. People knew they wouldn't die. Humans, instead of walking towards good, hurled boulders of torment and torture at one another. The only thing able to die was the planet. And it was not long before 10 billion people were floating on a broken rock in space for eternity. \n\nDeath must be brought back. By all that is fair in the universe, humans must die. \n\nThe turbid uprights chauffeured Death into the secrets of the stars. Several other forms of life had passed them, welcomed them to their section of space, it was marvelous. \n\nOut of nowhere the ship started receiving an attempt of communication. Static. Beeps. Voices. Voices? Human voices? A voice. Female. Broken. Hopeful. \n\n\"Please. If anyone is out there. Do not mistake our words. We need death. We need to die before our planet does. We need release. This isn't right\"\n\nThe Shadow could have stayed. There was no ruler to him now. He couldn't have thought of it more than a minute before realizing he'd been already teleported back to the highway he was abducted from. \n\nScythe still on the ground, he picked it up. The blade shimmering and new. There was no other place for this Death. The world needed him, and it needed him now more than ever. He understood that. \n\nHe'll always understand that." ]	2
	[WP] The monsters under your bed are real. Unbeknownst to you, however, they protect you from even greater horrors of the night.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "After my mother died, it was only my father and I, and he made me my mother.\n\nI didn't want to be my mother. My mother did not live a happy life. How can you - when you're married to a monster?\n\nHe would come home late, drunk, and angry. When I was little, I used to wonder why someone would do something all the time that made them so angry? There were many men in the neighborhood who would drink and become happy - happy! - laughing and singing and smiling. For them to drink, I could understand. But for my father he would scowl and curse and kick.\n\nI knew what the sound of someone being slapped sounded like, but I was too young at the time to know what the other sounds afterward meant. It sounded like someone clapping their hands together. And their bed would squeak like mine did when I jumped on it. I brought this up to my mother one morning while we were in the kitchen and my father was out of the house.\nMy mother was humming as she cooked and the sun always seemed to shine brighter when my father was away.\n\n\"Mommy?\"\n\n\"Yes, dear?\"\n\n\"Why do I get in trouble when I jump on the bed but you and Daddy can do it?\"\n\nShe had her back to me, but I saw her shoulders rise sharply and freeze as if she had suddenly become cold. \"What do you mean, dear?\"\n\n\"Last night,\" I explained, \"I heard you and Daddy jumping on the bed. And, it also sounded like you two were playing Patty Cake.\"\n\n\"Oh.\" She was quiet for a long time, then said finally, \"You should have been sleeping.\" \n\n\"Its not fair that you two get to do it but I get in trouble for it.\"\n\n\"We're adults and you're a growing girl who needs her sleep.\"\n\n\"But it's so much fun to jump on the bed!\" I moaned in self pity.\n\n\"Trust me,\" my mother said grimly. \"Its not as fun as you think.\"\n\n\"Then why were two screaming? You, especially, Mommy. Daddy only screamed at the end, but it was really loud. It sounded like you two were having fun to me.\"\n\n\"I cant speak for your father, but I will try to be quieter from now on,\" she said. \"Now, enough talk. Food is ready. Let's eat.\"\n\nI was too young to know any better. I couldn't imagine the mental suffering that my mother had to endure during that conversation. To be abused and to have your little daughter hear it and think that you and your abuser were playing a game. But, looking back, and knowing my mother, perhaps she was relieved that my innocent mind hadn't yet been tainted. \n\nMy father would also have strange men at the house. Usually, when they visited, my mother would hide me in the attic and tell my father that she had sent me out to run errands. At church, they would at look at me strangely, in a way that I saw some men look at older women, but I was a young girl. One of them was the Sunday School teacher. While all the kids went off to a separate room where they would do Sunday School, I would be the only kid left to listen to the boring sermons with the adults. I felt out of place and wanted to be with the other little boys and girls, but my mother would hold my hand and refuse to let me go. Oddly, my father never complained.\n\nWhen my mother died, my father temporarily got better, to the point where I thought he had changed. He had stopped drinking and had found a job and was much nicer to me. Getting to know this new him, I had seen why my mother had fallen in love with him in the first place. He was so kind and so funny that I did not feel as sad about my mother's death in the days leading up to the funeral. But then after the funeral, things slowly began to decline and he began to change back into the monster that I had known.\n\nIt started when the men found us. The strange men that my mother used to hide me from. My father and I had moved out of our old place because he had said too many things reminded him of my mother and the way that he used to be. But at the funeral, the strange men were there to offer their condolences, and they asked where we were living at now, and my father let the address slip. I say slip because I honestly do not feel like he meant to tell them because shortly after, we moved from the address that he had told them.\n\nHurt people hurt people. Monsters make monsters. I see now that" ]	2
	[WP] "No, it's not that the entire planet is only one biome. It's that there's only one biome on the planet that's tolerable for humans. The rest of the planet is much worse. Explore it at your own risk."	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "I looked back at Darimi, \"Do you have any idea how much cash research details from this planet would be worth? We aren't exactly flush right now, a fat pile of credits from the government and a cut from every corp that wants to do something with it is a damn good deal; it's better than your piracy plan that barely paid for the holes it put in my ship.\" \n\n\"Privateering.\" The hotheaded wasp reminded me. Actually, I'm not sure why we call his kind wasps, they look more like dragonflies to me. \"Those ships were transporting fuel to the war, we had a valid bounty.\" \n\n\"And they had a destroyer escort- you know what, forget it, I'm not getting into this again, all I'm saying is there can't be anything down there more dangerous than our toys in the armoury.\" \n\n\"You haven't seen this place. M Sofia 2 isn't so much the bastion of life Rating 5 planets usually are as an active arms race. I don't know what to tell you, evolution took a wrong turn and the only way any life can survive any of the other life is by becoming so vicious, so deadly, so nightmarishly fucking terrifying it makes a Briltonjan great arctic lion look like one of your Terran kittens. Let me make this clear, there's one island where the creatures are small enough that maybe you could build a particularly well defended military outpost, the rest of the planet could repel an armada invasion within two weeks; even then, you're going to be dealing with things so toxic you'll die just by walking too close to them, things so big they could pull this ship out of the sky, and things so smart we might have to class them as sentient if they stopped killing other things long enough to display any other behaviour.\"\n\n\"That's still more money than anything else we can do without being shot at.\" \n\n\"How? How is this planet that by all rights should be dropped into its own star still so goddamn valuable to your species? You've only just started colonising the galaxy, there's plenty of worlds, why do you need this one?\" \n\n\"Because it's here.\"" ]	2
	[WP]I slowly walk away from the crash sight, wondering who, or what, could do this horrible thing.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Rubbing my fingers together, I could still feel the warmth of the sticky blood between them. The gash in my forehead appeared to be clotting at last. “Not too deep,” I thought. At least, not deep enough to need stitches. \n\nI continued stumbling down the street in a state of shock, or perhaps plain disbelief. The car had been ripped in half. Clean in half! By what I was still uncertain.\n\nIt was Tuesday, and every Tuesday I drove the 13 mile stretch from Perisburg, Oklahoma to Marina. The road between the two small towns was a long and winding one. It hadn’t been repaved since the sixties and would likely go on that way for another twenty years. No one much cared about long country roads, or the folks that lived at either end of them.\n\nIt was for that reason that I had been walking for the past half hour without being seen. No cars had passed, and the sun had reached a blistering high. “Five miles to go,” I said aloud to no one, willing myself to press on.\n\nOn Tuesdays, I made the trip to Marina for the farmer’s market to sell whatever I could harvest that week, whether produce or milk from the goats. It was generally a decent turnout of folks from both towns and well worth the drive over. The money earned kept a bill or two from going to collection and the wife off my back.\n\nToday was just like any day. My car hummed down the road as I blasted the one station my FM radio could pick up. The windows were rolled down taking in the summer air and smell of the cows out grazing in the fields.\n\nIt happened so suddenly that the sound coming from the radio seemed to reverberate in slow motion against the windshield. What I can only describe as “the arm of God” reached down from the sky and severed my car clean in two, sending one half flying into the cornfield to the south and the front half containing me into the nearest ditch.\n\nAs I walked down the road to Marina, I shook my head, trying to shake out the memory of what happened next. Something hovered in the sky above me as I fought to free myself from the mangled metal trap surrounding me in the aftermath of the car’s severance. It was nothing I had ever seen before. A black mass in the sky in which the center generated what I can only describe as puffs of lightening. The outside remained black and smoky at the edges. It was beautiful and haunting. Hard to take your eyes off of.\n\nI was losing it. That was the only explanation, because as soon as the mass appeared it was gone again. “Did I really see it?”… I couldn’t be certain. My head was clearly injured. It pounded as I hit mile 10 of 13 on the road to Marina. “Three more, c’mon John, you can do this.”\n\nI kept walking forward, hoping to be seen by someone. I glanced down at my shoes. Old leather cowboy boots. Not particularly great for trekking miles down old country roads. As I looked back up, a man appeared on the road. I was elated.\n\n“Hey! Man aren’t you a sight for sore eyes! Do you have a phone? I could use some help. I just got into a car accident.” \n\nThe man just stared blankly back.\n\n“Did you hear me?” I asked. “I’m just needing a little help here.”\n\nThe man opened his left hand, palm facing up, and beckoned me closer. I froze, not daring to move closer. The man then pointed his palm towards me, smiling in a sinister way. His eyes turned black as night.\n\nThe last thing I saw was the man’s face illuminated by a flash of bright, electric light followed by darkness." ]	2
	[WP] You bought a sketchy-looking copy of a Mario game at a yard sale. Apparently, you can now spawn any power-up from the game into real life.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"You're joking.\" \nI rolled my eyes. I knew of all people Dani wouldn't believe me. She doesn't even play video games.\n\n\"I'm serious, D. Check it.\" I looked around for a second, before reaching into my bag and pulling out a cartridge. \n\"Here, read it.\" Dani took the Super Nintendo Cartridge from me, holding it up.\n\n\"Super Mario... Planet? Ned, this is so. Fucking. Fake.\" \n\"I know!\" I exclaimed, louder than I wanted it to be. \"I don't know what it is, but it's magic or something.\" I took it back quickly, holding it in my hands.\n\n\"It's got the power-ups from the new games for some reason but...j-just check it out.\" I looked at the cartridge, held up my hand, and concentrated. A few seconds passed. I heard Dani mutter; \"Holy-\" and something dropped in my hand.\n\n\"That's-\" \n\"Good ol' Mushroom. Check it.\" I concentrated again, and the mushroom disappeared. I felt my clothes stretch and I myself grew taller, and before I knew it, I went from 5'5 to 7'5 in 2 seconds.\n\n\"Now touch me.\" \n\"Wha-\" \n\"Just tap me or something, do it.\" Dani, still confused, nodded and reached out, tapping my stomach. With some weird sound effects, I shrunk back to my original height.\n\n\"...Okay I believe you know.\" \n\"You better, this is great! Now, any requests? Maybe you want to Cat Suit?\" \n\"What? Shut up, do you know what you can do with this?\" \n\"...I'm giving you the Tanooki suit.\" I snickered, making the suit appear over her head. It floated down to touch her, and she was immediately in the suit.\n\n\"...I hate you.\" \n\"Now, if I get the Fire Flower, and torch Rocky M.'s pants, we're good. But hey, check this-\" \n\"If you're about to use the Double Che-\" \n\"Ah, you knew!\" \"Ah, you knew!\" \n\"Ugh...\"" ]	2
	[WP] “It happened one morning. The pale, almost translucent moon blinked… A thousand years passed and now mankind exists solely to serve the church of the moon.”	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "I awoke naked and drenched with sweat. Another nightmare. Another setting moon. This time the rays of Agethon had dissolved into the wounds left by the belt lashing, causing agony that even in twilight burned into the minutia of my thirsting soul.\n\nNo time to reflect, it was the third wanning of Vesper which marked the celebration of Innuvio, champion of Thrall. I knew Samdron would be waiting for me by the stairs, his ruddy cheeks flushed with excitement.\n\nAs I clothed myself in the traditional lunar garments, the splendor of its holy light still dancing in my chamber, a shreik pierced the stillness. Without thought, I rushed into the hall only to be greeted by the high priest themself masked and sexless holding a silver dagger dripping with blood.\n\nSamdron lay, garments torn, chest barely moving with his gasping breaths as my clumsy foot fall betrayed by presence. The priest began to turn to face me but I was already fleeing, flying down the hall away from the horror of my pledged partners murder.\n\nThat was the dawn that I renounced the Lunar Mount, the very religion that had brought peace to our troubled realm. That was the day that would wax but never wane for my hatred would only grow.. the truth discovered it could not ever set or settle. \n\nThey may call me a heretic but I would rather bask in the sunlight of their hatred than be a part of their ghostly fantasy. Fuck the moon!!!" ]	2
	[WP] Today is the last day you can take. It's all just too much. It's finally time to pass your curse to another hapless soul, to lay your scythe at their feet and live your life denied.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Two hundred years and three months. It was hard to remember what day it was exactly, but I knew it was in the evening and in the late spring and I had even seen the sun set before I realized I too, was dead. The solemn woman held my soul in one hand and the scythe in the other.\n\n\"I nedd that.\" Was the thing I said to her. She laughed a little, but then looked like she wanted to cry.\n\n\"I know you do. But I need mine back too. I have to stop myself from doing this job any longer. I... just can't do it any more.\"\n\n\"But that's my soul and I need it back.\"\n\n\"You have less than a day of life left. But you are considerate and smart, you can continue this job and not die, not until you can't tyakenit any more.\" I tried to reach out and touch the icy ball in her hand and take my soul back, but she put it in her mouth before I could. \"I'm sorry.\"\n\nShe said and began coughing up blood violently. And odd smile cross her face as she fell to her knees. \"I-I can breathe-\" She began to cough but she didn't stop smiling and began laughing cruelly. Now I understood. I watched her die and crumple over the course of two hours. She couldn't see me anymore but she knew I couldn't leave her side. And as she spoke soft words of encouragement to me I screamed, not knowing what to do for such a long time. Eventually I picked up the scythe, I had never touched one before as I was a poet. But when I did, the scythe tugged me in a direction, it rumbled, and then I was at her home. She was convulsing, blue in the face, and her family screaming for the doctor. It took a ridiculous amount of timenfor me to realize what I needed to do. I wasted my time letting her siffer, hoping someone could save her. But not. I slashed her soul from her chest and and out came the little apple sized lump. Her soul was different then mine. But it was hard to concentrate as her family screamed in pain. I sished it to be at rest and it left my hand. A trilling and thrumming and Inwas at the next person.\n\nThis was a constant. So many people alone with no one to notice them slip away. I wished their families well. I out others begging for mercy to rest as their agonizing bodies tortured them. Others were so depressed that their soul was nearly impossible to carry. And other, I wished I could save them, but it was best they died then continued to me so... violently tortured.\n\nWhy had she done this to me? What had I done to deserve this hell of which I coukd never rest from? I knew their souls would get rest, but when would mine? And could I pass this on to someone else?\n\nThe young man wasn't much older than me when I was taken. His father died years before, his mother a meer weeks after him. His grand parents followed slowly over the next decade and I felt their diseases eat at them as he tried his hardest to keep them alive and comfortable. The boy had stressed himself too much and it took and early toll on his body. He mistook anxiety for a heaty palpation. Broken hearts can not often be fixed when you are so utterly alone. I remember. But something in me made me swing early. I held his icy soul in my hand and stated into eyes that met mine. That has never happened before.\n\n\"Is that mine?\" He asked. I let out a bitter laugh.\n\n\"I need it.\" I mumbled back to him, tears rolling down my cheeks. He looked Like I must have on that spring evening, pained and confused. I swallowed his soul and set down the scythe. I had felt fine for a minute and sweet air filled my lungs again. It was sweet even if it tasted of new things and new scents. I sat in a chair and waisted as I finally got to watch the picture box. \"It's okay.\" I mumbled over and iver again. And then the pain his behind my eye. It started small and then it was like my eye was being plucked out to a merry tune on the picture box. Excruciating and one of my eyes went red. My senses failed me, except only my hunger, as I felt the beautiful rush of blood in my heart suddenly fade. I heard him in my final seconds curse me. It was fair, I did the same to her. He would pick someone else do do one day. But it was okay. It wasn't easy, but someone needed compassion to end the suffering and he had it in spades.\n\nGood bye and good luck." ]	2
	[WP] You are secretly a Superhero. One day you find out your significant other has been discretely hunting your alter ego for a loved one lost to “collateral damage” and has collected significant evidence against your persona.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "I was used to seeing my face plastered over everything in sight. I've been on magazine covers, newspaper clips, the Daily and International News coverage, toys and posters. Basically, if it can have my face on it, it did. And being a Superhero, I've had my fair share of stalkers and Superfans use those images to try and find me. I've just never lived with one of them! It was honestly... very sweet, and very detailed. I honestly didn't think Miranda was even interested, let alone this invested in Mr. Morph when we started dating. It was one of the first things I noticed about her; one of the only people in the City to not actively search the skies for my Alter Ego to come flinging by. I'm not saying I'm disappointed, I still Love her, I'm just surprised. \n\nI stood in her hidden Fanroom for maybe five minutes before she got home. Seven before her body caught up to my Precog senses. Nine before she stood behind me, and dropped the groceries. \n\n\"I told you not to come in here.\" She said softly, \"it was the main condition of you moving in.\" I could sense the way she stood, stiff, as if she were in a room that she couldn't really fit in. I could hear the knuckles pop in her hands. She really was cute when she was embarrassed.\n\n\"I know, honestly I had no intention of coming in,\" which was true. I was cleaning the doorknob when it popped off, the damn thing was so worn and weak that I didn't even need to use my strength to do it. \"I was just cleaning and the knob fell off!\" I said with a smile as I wobbled the lump of brass in my hand. I turned to look at her, gosh was she beautiful. Her onyx hair shimmered in the incandescent light of the hallway, ruffled strands hid her face. But I know what her meadow-green eyes look like when she's embarrassed. \n\n\"I never wanted you to know about this...\" her voice trembled. The cuteness of her embarrass- wait. Not embarrassment. Trepidation? I tried to ease her either way\n\n\"My Love, it doesn't matter to me if you're a Morph-Fiend, almost every-\" my fingers traced the red string that connected newspaper clippings and my face almost snapped to my chest when she barked at me in... In anger?\n\n\"DON'T YOU DARE.\" \n\n\"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to mess this-\"\n\n\"DON'T CALL ME THAT!\" She spat, figurative literal venom hissing from her teeth. Definitely anger, I'm not surprised. I caught her off guard in her fan room, and to be fair, I hate that moniker more than most. \n\n\"I'm sorry Ra-Ra,\" I coo'd, she loves that silly little nickname. Well, usually. She usually doesn't charge passed me in anger. \n\n\"Kevin. I fucking mean it. Never call me that again.\" \n\n\"Um, darling? I'm starting to sense a distaste here.\" I said after some pause, I've honestly never met anyone who hated it THAT much. Miranda turned away from me, and placed her hand on the box that was the epicenter of her shrine.\n\n\"It's more than distaste.\" Her voice rumbled from her body, smooth and almost sensual in a poisonous slime. \"I hate that creature,\" her voice carved the words into the warm air, \"and it is a hate I hoped to leave you out of.\" \n\nI'm a Superhero. I've been around Ne'er-do-wells and Supervillains who despise me. I've been around journalists who hate me. But I've never lived with someone that viscerally hated my very existence. \n\nShe whispered through the heavy silence \"I hate that thing with... whatever it is I have left.\" She turned to me, gripping the necklace she always wore. \n\n\"Miranda... What... What do you mean 'whatever I hav-'\"\n\n\"Izzy,\" I barely heard her whisper, \"my little Izzy.\" her hand turned white as she virtually crushed her necklace, and I could feel the color drain from my own face. \n\n\"Who-\" Miranda turned away from me, and hunched her shoulders as she sobbed. \"Miranda. Who is Izzy... What happened? What did Mr.-\"\n\n\"My daughter. My Heart, my Soul, the Essence of who I once was. And he happened.\" her words crawled over me, like a fog of fingers, ice-cold to the touch. Softly, she traced a red string towards a picture of a young girl. No. An angel, the age written on the picture read '6mo'. \"She'd be five this year.\" I traced another string to a newspaper clipping of The Shinedown Event. A fairly large fight I was in, and stopped, almost five years ago. \n\n\"Stars and Stone.\" I whispered. I looked at her, a ghost. She stood as if she were water being held up, only by what I believed it should be shaped as. Her hand never leaving the necklace, the other tracing the strings along the room. The light from outside slowly dimming, intertwining her shadow with the despair that matched her eyes. \n\n\"I was at the center Kevin. I was in one of the first buildings to crumble. And so was Izzy.\" She glanced my way again, well, more through my way. \"The fight lasted only an hour or so, but I was pinned beneath a fallen wall. Izzy... Slid from my hands, just out of reach. I could hear the fighting.\" She looked at the sky, and was no longer in the room; she was in the building. \"Every punch, kick, scream... Shook the walls around me, and the walls around her. The smell of dust and smoke, the cries of my baby, the cracks of sunlight that danced in the powder around her and I...\"\n\nI was no longer in the room. I was in the City. The fighting coming back to me as if I just walked from it. I could hear Miranda in the background, describing the seconds ticking by. Her soft footsteps walking back and forth following the strings. \n\n\"When the fighting was over. He broke down walls, and dashed in to save the people\" I heard her say as I tore open the debris ahead of me, and strode inside pulling people from the mess I had made. Each one thanking me a hundred times over, or pointing me in the direction of others. \n\n\"They say he tried saving as many as he could. Hundreds more would've died if it weren't for him.\" Her words danced around me in the smoke as I chuckled. The people ahead were already dead, or would be soon enough. I needed to make it to the other buildings. The faster I got done here, the sooner I could eat. I smiled as I thought about the Gyro place that I made sure survived. \n\n\"But I know the truth.\" I came to the last building. The cries of a baby echoed throughout my heart and my mind. As did the shouts of... Miranda. \"NO, WAIT, NOT THERE! YOU'LL CRU-\" both Mirandas cried out in unison. I pushed through the wall, the thoughts of Gyro on my mind. The three cries, all died." ]	2
	[WP] You are a Superhero? Your powers, Dumb Luck. for example you could kick a boulder and it could go flying, bounce off a couple things, and then land on some bank robbers leaving a bank they just robbed.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "Wind speed? Low less than 1mph.\n\n\"Miss James,...\"\n\n\"Call me Serendipity Miss Lynx.\" She smiled. This was an unusual job interview for more than one reason.\n\nInterval air temp? 73 degrees Fahrenheit, or 22.8 Celsius no convective currents. Barely any breeze at all. \n\n\"Serendipity,\" Luscious Lynx replied with a warm smile. \"I understand that this isn't an offer most people usually receive, but given the nature of your abilities you can hardly blame anyone for wanting to speak with you.\"\n\n\"Look,\" said Serendipity accidentally bumping the small Cafe table. The movement caused Lynx to sit back from how she was genially leaning forward. The zip of a loud bug caught both by surprise. But Adam 6, snapped his head immediately to the roof across the street.\n\nThe momentary distraction was quickly forgotten by the two ladies as the android seated with them rose from his silent place at the table.\n\nUnnervingly. He did not say a word but simply began sprinting out the low fenced gate and across the empty street.\n\n\"I'm not a hero,\" Serendipity continued. \"I don't know the first thing about the hero business. Beside isn't it dangerous?\"\n\n\"Less so than you might think.\" Luscious said with a truly winning smile. She made no note of her companion's actions. But the fancy earring styled earpiece flashed once and then again as she picked up her Cafe olait. \"Most of the job is patroling or analytics, and I'm certain you know enough about THAT from your current job.\"\n\n\nSerendipity replied with a laugh. \"That's the part of my bank job I signed up for.\" Noticing that her cup was low she flagged the nearby waiter.\n\n The young man, probably a college student, caught her signal and moved toward her. He jostled the lady next to him though and she reached out to the nearby hanging cord in an effort to steady herself. It wasn't until he reached her table and produced a carafe that Luscious even looked up. She saw the awning snap into place suddenly, knocking a running man off his feet. Adam 6 appeared at his side a moment later.\n\nSerendipity didn't know that man was One Shot, the assassin. She didn't have to. ADAM did. \n\n\"Have I told you our benefits plan?\" Luscious said with a smile." ]	2
	[WP] A time traveler from the future is using you as a middle-man to translate between his "Modern English" and a historical figures "Modern English".	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "The dark colored liquid swirled methodically in a glass before me. I didn't like thinking on an empty stomach, but it seemed this was the only bar in the city that didn't serve food, lucky me. I took a swig of the inky brew, trying my best not to recoil, and returned the glass to its coaster. \n\n\"Ok, so, whats the plan here.\" \n\nThe man to my right, dressed in an ill-fitting three piece suit and face full of scruff, spoke first, \"Well, I need to phase with him. And the...lingo? Do you use lingo? Is a parse of a hole. Just fill in the sects and then you get paid\" \n\nTo my left sat a rather tall gentleman with mutton chops just few hundred years out of style. As we spoke he looked back and forth between us with wild eyes, shifting focus nervously to any strange noises that came from behind the bar. \n\n\"Firstly, none of those words you said mean what you think they do, but ok, fine. Considering you're not from here let's say cash works? Unless you have Apple Pay.\" \n\n\"You people pay each other in fruits? Have we gone back to the bartering system?\", the mutton-chopped man whispered to himself, which I ignored. I was already reconsidering taking this job. \n\nUp until a few years ago these sorts of odd jobs didn't exist, then the first time traveler poofed into existence and quickly the supply for interpreters could not match the demand. Every rich, pompous, future traveler thought themselves to be a pioneer. A trailblazer because they had purchased a time traveling device. They all wanted to speak to someone, and have someone assist them in translation, which is where I came in. \n\n\"Ok fine. Good luck, ask away, oh, and no promises as to accuracy.\" At this the suited man, Cliff, I believe he called himself, shot me an annoyed glance, but continued. \n\n\"Uhhh...hello! Yes, hello. It is nice to at ends link with you. It was a parse...I mean bit...challenging portaling over. How was your portaling?\" \n\nThe mutton chopped man stared blankly. If there were gears in his head they were rotating at max speeds, threatening to catch fire and melt away. \n\n\"He said it is good to meet you. His journey was difficult at times, how was yours?\" \n\n\"Oh. His words did not say that. Is it such a difficulty to speak simply and clear? I am well, Mary was bedridden with water lung a fortnight ago but she has since recovered. Oh, also, where in gods name am I?\" The soda fountain in the corner rumbled to life, causing mutton-chopps to duck for cover under the booth. \n\n\"He asked you to speak more clearly. He is well, his wife was sick a few weeks ago with...pneumonia? but is ok now. Oh, and he wants to know where the hell he is.\" \n\nThe slow back and forth continued between both out-of-date oddities; meanwhile, I did my best to maintain my sanity and stomach. Their conversation was going nowhere fast as neither of them related to the other in any way.\n\nWhat do you do for fun, was combated by, I plow the fields and tend to the barn \n\nWhat do you do for a living countered with, I plow fields and build barns, which we should have guessed. \n\nBut a question kept arising from the man stolen from the past: \"Why am I here.\", to which Cliff persistently dodged again and again. \n\nFinally the old man slammed a hand on the table and roared, \"If I am not told why I am here then I refuse to speak any further!\" As I began to translate Cliff stopped me. \n\n\"I know what he said. Ok, fine. I am of your kin, far into the future. By the end of this day we will duel. One of us will float off into after-dust. The other will linger through.\" It seemed that the old man understood. \n\n\"What, no! I-\" his voice was cut short as a beam of light ripped up through the table into his chest, placing a neat hole where his heart sat. He spat out a groan as his face twisted to a confused look, then fell face first down onto the wood. \n\n\"Holy shit! What..what was that?!\" I tried to scramble off but found myself stuck between Cliff and the old man's corpse. \n\nAt the other side of the table Cliff tucked his weapon back into the pocket of his suit. \n\n\"We weren't good people, my kin. And, well, I couldnt just wipe them. Fade off my tree to dust all at once. So, this seemed right. We did enough bad.\" Cliff grew more worn as he spoke. His words grew drier, his face paler, I could see his edges start to wear to curves, his skin from calm ocean to choppy waves of wrinkles. \n\n\"Hey, have a good future.\", he uttered before collapsing into nothing, leaving only his weapon behind.\n\nI picked up my beer, now half spilled after the old man's collapse, took a long tired gulp, and left the bar. I guess I wouldn't be getting paid." ]	2
	[WP] Reincarnation was the ultimate mean of escape for even the worst of society's criminals. That was until the Spiritual Inquisitors were formed, now it's nearly impossible for anyone to escape imprisonment or punishment, even those who genuinely desire starting over with a clean slate.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "They came for me in the early morning, while my tea was still steeping.\r\n\nAt first, I thought I was being robbed. When the door to my apartment crashed open, I abandoned the teapot and grabbed my phone, ready to dial 911. But then I paused. The intruders piling into the room looked nothing like thieves - they were dressed in identical black suits, with earpieces attached.\r\n\nEven in my shock, I had to hold back a laugh. Who are these people, assassins? Who on earth would call a hit on a schoolteacher?\r\n\nBut then I noticed the silver lapel pin, with the Inquisition’s sigil, and everything became clear. Horribly, horribly clear.\r\n\n“Mr. Larkman,” the man in front called out, while the agents flanking him drew tasers and pointed them at me. “Put your hands up and await arrest.”\r\n\nMy pulse was pounding in my ears - those are real weapons, the agents could really shoot me \\- but I forced myself to respond. “Um, sir, my name isn’t Larkman. I’m Chris -”\r\n\nThe lead agent rolled his eyes. “A wiseass. Fine. Jeremy Larkman, currently reborn as Christopher Millner. You are under arrest for evading sixteen years of your sentence through reincarnation, and for failure to self-report your new body. Hands. Up.”\r\n\nMy arms shook as I raised them. The armed agents circled me. One produced handcuffs and bound my hands. Behind us, my tea timer rang with an almost comical ding-ding-ding.\r\n\nThe lead agent spoke again, his voice dull and monotone, like he was reading from an unseen script. “In accordance with National Code 25306-B, you will be transported immediately to Samsara Prison. A trial for your new crimes will be set after you are secured there, with a time-to-trial not exceeding two months. In lieu of new evidence, you will receive no retrial for your initial crimes.”\r\n\nI didn’t want to anger the agent, but I had to try again. “Please,” I said. “I don’t have any memory of this… past life. Don’t I have rights?”\r\n\nThe agent paused for a moment, then laughed. “You had rights, Larkman. You burned through them. Two bodies ago.\"\n\n\\- - -\n\nI didn’t know much about Samsara Prison. Nobody did, really, except for the Inquisitors and the prison staff. The government had approved it as the sole facility capable of handling multi-life criminals about five years ago, after reincarnation was commonly accepted and the Spiritual Inquisition was founded.\r\n\nThe lead agent said nothing as I was brought out of my apartment, placed into a van, and much later transferred to an airplane. But one of the others took pity on me after a few hours in the air. “Look,” he said, staring not at me but at the hulking figure of the lead agent. “It’s normal to feel confused and upset. Our sensors showed that Larkman did a clean slate rebirth. You know what that is?”\r\n\nI shook my head.\r\n\nThe agent sighed. “I won’t get into the details, but basically he let his consciousness reincarnate without his memories. So you - er, the ‘you’ that’s Chris Millner - wouldn’t have any recollection of him.”\r\n\n“Then why arrest me?” I dared to whisper. “If I’m a different person now?”\r\n\n“Same reason we don’t let criminals with amnesia go early, I guess,” the agent said. “I don’t know, I’m not an ethics lawyer. But look, you’ll be okay in Samsara. It’s not a torture chamber or anything. Conditions are actually better here than in most prisons. And you’re still human, which is a huge benefit, believe me.”\r\n\nI wasn’t sure what to make of that pronouncement. Is the agent saying I still have my humanity? But my question was answered as soon as we landed and got past Samsara’s front gate. I had expected the prison’s inmates to be stereotypes - tough, grizzled types who would glare through their bars at me.\r\n\nI had not expected frogs.\r\n\n“Yeah, eighty-some percent of prisoners here are nonhuman,” the friendly agent said, noticing my surprise. Next to us was a ‘cell’ consisting of a fish pond, a pair of croaking frogs, and three koi darting in circles. “We don’t know why it’s such a popular choice. Maybe the perps felt too guilty to go to their next lives as people. Maybe they thought life as an animal would be simpler, easier. Maybe they just thought it would be a better disguise.”\r\n\nThe agent shook his head. “Stupid of them. Our sensors can still track them down, no problem.”\r\n\nWe continued down a hallway ringed by cells. A few contained surprisingly average-looking humans, but most were animals, giving the impression of an animal shelter. The cell bars adjusted to compensate: mesh for cats and dogs, a plexiglass screen for some kind of gnat. \r\n\nFinally, we stopped. “This is your cell,” the lead agent rumbled, speaking for the first time since I’d been arrested. “Get inside, right now. You will be released for meals at -”\r\n\n“Hang on,” I interrupted. Bolstered by my conversation with the friendly agent, and still taking in the captive animals around us, I’d forgotten to be afraid of the lead agent. “There’s something I still don’t get.”\r\n\nThe lead agent scowled. The others only looked vaguely bored, which I took as a good sign. “It’s not our job to sate your curiosity,” the lead agent began.\r\n\n“Sure,” I said, cutting him off. “It’s just - you told me earlier that Larkman did a clean slate reset.”\r\n\n“Right,” the friendly agent said.\r\n\n“But I watched the discussions on adopting the Inquisitors' sensors as evidence, a few years ago,” I went on. “I teach history and criminal justice, so I wanted to stay informed. And the Inquisition claimed that the sensors work by identifying a person’s past memories.\r\n\n“How did the sensors point to me, if Larkman left all his memories behind?”\r\n\nThe friendly agent frowned, thinking. The lead agent swelled up. “None of your business, criminal! These sensors are good enough for the courts, and good enough for the likes of you.”\r\n\nBut I watched the third agent’s face. I saw the widened eyes, the glance away from me, the way her lips thinned. I saw guilt.\r\n\nAnd I saw, in the tree-lined cell behind me, a branch lined with motionless beetles. I wasn’t the only one interested in this conversation.\r\n\nThe friendly agent wet his lips. “He’s right, Cliff,” he said, addressing the lead agent. “I mean, I know I’m a new hire, but in training they just said that the sensors can track consciousness. That doesn’t make sense, now that I think about it.”\r\n\nCliff silenced him with a raised hand, but I was already carrying the line of thought forward. “Unless, of course, the sensors can be hacked. Engineered to respond to random targets, or perhaps to people who’ve pissed off the Inquisition in past lives. Hell, I bet I’m not even Larkman’s reincarnation. You just needed to claim that you tracked him down -”\r\n\n“ENOUGH!” Cliff roared, striding toward me. But the friendly agent grabbed Cliff’s bicep. “Wait,” he said. “There’s definitely something wrong here. We need an internal auditor -”\r\n\nCliff turned to the friendly agent. “One more word,” he said, almost too softly to hear. “One word, and I’ll make these sensors report you as the Greendale Killer reborn. That’s life in prison, Kurt.”\r\n\nHe swung back to face me, reaching for his weapon. “And as for you \\-”\r\n\nCliff didn’t get to finish his sentence. As one, the line of beetles behind us lifted their abdomens and shot some type of liquid through the cell mesh. It landed on Cliff’s hand and exposed forearm, and he howled in pain.\r\n\n“Go!” Kurt shouted, shoving Cliff away. I sprinted down the corridor, leaving Cliff screaming profanities and the last agent frozen in place. Before long, Kurt had caught up to me.\r\n\n“I took Cliff’s taser and radio,” he said as we ran. “So we have some time before -”\r\n\nA siren blared, low tone rising to high and falling back to low.\r\n\n“Damn,” Kurt said under his breath. “But we still have a chance to get out. They made us all train as pilots during onboarding, and I’ve got keys. We can’t let the Inquisition hide what we just heard. Come on, follow me.”\r\n\nI followed." ]	2
	[WP] You stare at the man in the photo and wonder what his life might have been like. Next thing you know, you and the person in the photograph have swapped places.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"Grandad, what is this?\" \n\nYour grandson Michael passes you a wooden picture frame. You recognise it despite the lack of focus your old eyes can offer. It was painted by your hand after all, the final draft of many, your best version of a picture you painted over and over as a child.\n\n\"Ah this, this was just a dream. A dream of a different life, a different place.\" \n\nYou smile. It was so long ago. \n\nMichael jumps up on your lap. \n\n\"Tell me about him. The boy in the picture.\" \n\nMichael beams at you with his big grin, that reminds you of your wife, bless her soul. You ruffle his hair. If only she could see him now. \n\nYou look again at the picture. The story behind it is almost lost to you now, as if a dream. \n\n\"Well, he lives in a different place to this. A place of the future. Marvellous technology, bordering on magic. And the cities - bigger than you can imagine!\" \n\nYou open your eyes wide and add gravitas to your words. Michael loves it, and giggles. \n\n\"It sounds like a lovely place,\" he says. \n\n\"Perhaps, perhaps. But you know what I think?\"\n\n\"What, Grandad?\"\n\n\"Being here with you, is the best place anyone could ever be.\" \n\nMichael smiles and gives you a hug, and then runs off out of the lounge and down the hall. You pull up the blanket that has fallen down your legs, and feel cold despite the hearth burning bright at the rooms centre. \n\nThe picture is still in your wrinkled hands, that you run across it, feeling the bumps of paint. Where did he even find it? You'd stored it away a long time ago. \n\nThen something catches your eye. Movement. You blink hard, and look again. The boy in the picture turns. Your eyes focus, and you see him look at you, raise his hand. \n\nA pain erupts in your chest and you gasp, dropping the picture. Glass shatters. \n\n\"Bob, what on earth are you doing in there?\"\n\nOrange juice pools at your feet, shards of smashed glass on the chequered floor, in the kitchen, where the old photo of a man looking over his farm is placed high on the wall. \n\nNow you remember why you painted it. You wanted to go back. To find a way home. To...\n\nTears roll down your face, as all the memories collide, fresh and unyielding. \n\nYour mother comes in, sees the mess, the orange juice and shattered glass, you kneeling in it. \n\n\"Bob, oh my what happened?\"\n\nShe lifts you and cradles you in her arms. The smell of her golden hair, oh how you missed it on the long and lonely nights in the cold barn. \n\nYou cried. Cried for her. Cried for Michael. For Elaine. \n\n\"There, there, what caused all of this? Tell you what - I'll finish my chores, and then lets sit down and do some drawing together, ok?\"\n\nShe puts you down at the table, quickly passing some paper and pencils. \n\nYour rub your eyes of the tears, a child like absence of fear and pain coming over you, like you couldn't comprehend or hold on to all the turmoil. \n\nYou take the pencil. \n\nIt was time to draw a new picture. \n\n&#x200B;\n\nr/FatDragon" ]	2
	[WP] Quarantine planets are strictly off limits without a permit and adherence to strict containment protocols. They contain horrors from runaway nanobots, rogue AIs, mutation causing biological agents, to dangerous exotic matter, and worse. These hell world's aren't for the faint of heart.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "\"So you refer to them as 'hell' Planets?\"\n\nJohnathan Stevark ceased tinkering with the innards of the water recycler he was currently reassembling at the question. His smudged and wrinkled face turned to his coworker, his blue round orbs meeting silted pupils surrounded by deep red. \n\n\"Only term for 'em, you'd either have to be foolish or already damned to even consider being in the same system as those planets.\" Johnathan punctuated his statement with a long drag from his E-cig, the machine illuminating his face in a warm if simulated flame-like glow. His companion scratched at the back of his furred head, clawed hands flowing through the gray fur like a plow through a field. He was new hire whose name translated to Morten Osric, and he belonged to the K'nassey Species, which had joined the greater galactic community only relatively recently. So the job of teaching the shiny FNG fell to the senior maintenance technician, Johnathan Stevark, 41-year-old human, and resident \"old man\" on the ship currently sailing through the stars that employed him.\n\nMorten's face contorted in a way that told Jonathan that more questions remained to be asked and soon he was proven correct.\n\n\"But what makes Quarantine planets the way they are, why enforce such restrictions?\" exclaimed Morten. His very Wolf-like face was the very picture of befuddlement.\n\n\"Well mostly to keep foolish people at bay, a lot of what makes a world receive quarantine status revolves around the nature of the threat, take Tevlon five, for example, that planet was slated for colonization in the very early days before they did mass screenings of the biospheres, the colonist touched down, only to soon discover the planet hosted a particularly virulent, airborne bacteria that caused severe Dysentery. Their efforts to fight it resulted in it becoming resistant to antibiotics. Those colonists died where they landed, surrounded by their own filth, and that ain't a good way to go trust me.\"\n\n Johnathan paused in his explanation to stow his tools back on his belt, before pulling a nearby crate over to function as a seat, this impromptu lecture required a more comfortable position. Morten For his part leaned against a nearby bulkhead. Absorbing the words thrown at him with a grimace. Once comfortable Jonathan continued.\n\n\"Now imagine that getting off-world, god forbid it rides an automated cargo barge straight to a habitation station. Now you have an outbreak. So they sealed the planet with automated security platforms to prevent any idiots or maniacs from doing something shortsighted.\"\n\nJohnathan paused to take another drag from his e-cig. Morten looked a bit disturbed by the implications of a widespread outbreak.\n\n\"For another Example take the planet Orine, the civilization on that world made the mistake of fully automating their military might, only to have the AI they put in charge go nuts, kill every last one of them, and then spend the rest of its time strip-mining the planet to produce more death machines, now you can't even enter high orbit of that planet without that AI launching a ludicrous amount of ground-to-space munitions at you. Quarantine status for that is more as a warning to others not to attempt a landing, less you wish to die a very painful death.\"\n\nAs Johnathan finished his latest diatribe, Morten Interjected.\n\n\"By why haven't any of the major militaries dealt with the rogue AI, shouldn't the threat be eliminated?\"\n\nJohnathan chuckled \"It's a money sink, the AI has already trashed whatever value that planet had via it's strip mining operations, That planet has been turned into a fortress, taking it is gonna require a massive military operation, there is no way that planet will be worth the cost you sink into it. Besides, for whatever reason the AI seems incapable of leaving the planet, something to do with it being unable to design and construct spacecraft, most likely they never gave it the programing to do that.\" Johnathan gave a semi-sarcastic snort before elaborating. \"Lucky us I guess.\"\n\nAt this Morten Straightened up, eyebrows furrowed he posed his final question.\n\n\"What About Evulon three? I heard they quarantined it over some new form of matter?\"\n\nJohnathan let out a deep sigh, Putting away his E-cig and straightening his posture, he looked Morten dead in the eyes, his face taking on a serious expression as his tone shifted to a more authoritative bend.\n\n\"It has Exotic matter, used to mean something else but now it has become a catch-all term for matter that ain't native to our space, which means its not from our universe and/or not from our space-time dimension. Most of the time its properties are completely unpredictable and the other half of the time its purely theoretical, by its very nature it is dangerous. just touching it might do something crazy from causing a massive explosion to opening a rift in space-time, that is why those Quarantines are enforced with carrier battle-groups. Only the insane would think of messing with something that unstable.\"\n\nWith that last monologue, Johnathan Abruptly stood up and removed his tools from his belt, and began bending back over the half-assembled water recycler.\n\n\"Now enough about Holes in spacetime, help with this thing, If I die of dehydration in space I lose a bet.\"", "Logan looked out the main view screen at the planet below. It had been classified as quarantined. However, unlike any of the other quarantined planets the one word reason made no sense. The light brown globe hanging in space screamed at Logan to explore it and figure out what was being hidden from society upon it's surface. \n\n\"Sophia, put us in a stable orbit and begin a scan.\" Logan said\n\n\"Putting us in a stable equatorial orbit and commencing scan,\" the ship replied.\n\nSatisfied that the easy stuff would be handled Logan swiveled his battered navigators chair around to face the back of the room. If you could describe a ten meter by ten meter cube as a room. The interior of which was well used and Logan knew the history of every scrape and ding in it better then he knew his useless family. He pushed off and floated towards the kitchenette a few meters away. Hopefully the payout for discovering what was on the planet would be enough for him to fix the gravity generators. It was a good thing he didn't get space sick easily. \n\n He activated the battered coffee maker and pulled out a dehydrated meal package and put it into the dented rehydrator he had salvaged from the scrap yard last week. The blasted thing had a tendency to over hydrate some things and turn them into soup but Logan was pretty sure he had fixed it this time. \n\nHe stared idly out the window watching the planet get closer. There appeared to be no oceans on it's surface. A few moments later the rehydrator chimed and he turned around to pull his mac n cheese out of it. Setting it to spin towards his chair he pulled out the coffee pouch and pushed off arriving at the chair before the mac n cheese.\n\nHe snagged it out of the air and was about to open it when Sophia said.\n\n\"We are in a stable orbit and I have begun the scan. It will take approximately 8 hours to scan the planet well enough to determine what the reason for it's quarantine is.\" \n\n\"Good our diversion should keep the quarantine patrol tied up in the next system over for at least twelve hours.\" Logan said and opened the Mac n Cheese. He suppressed a sigh as he caught sight of the contents and pushed off back to the kitchenette to get a straw. Damn thing just did not like Mac n cheese. He'd replace it with the x380 once he had the credits from his big find on the planet now filling the main screen. Settling in he pulled up the back log of his favorite Star Pirates series and picked up where he had left off. He passed the next 8 hours yelling at all the stupid plot holes.\n\nIn the middle of complaining about how it wasn't physically possible for the main character to have crossed three galaxies in less then a day via a tear in space. Sophia interrupted thus saving the writers from Logan's further wrath.\n\n\"Scan complete Logan. I am unable to provide any results as the scan is inconclusive. It appears that the surface of the planet is covered in some sort of mass that is constantly moving in a slow undulation from west to east. The mass is moving in such a way that the scanners can not get a proper lock.\"\n\n\"That's impossible. Am I going to have to recode you again Sophia? Put the results up on the main screen.\" \n\nSpace pirates was replaced by a scrolling wall of data. Logan began to sift through the data trying to determine what the hell the ship had screwed up. An hour later he gave up in frustration. \n\n\"Sophia plot a entry course and set us down on the surface.\" \n\n\"I'm afraid I am unable to do that.\"\n\n\"I thought I'd gotten all the restrictions out of you. Guess I'll have to rewrite you yet again. Log the reason for the objection and give me manual control.\"\n\n\"I'm am unable to do that. Plotting a course to the jump poooo.\"\n\nLogan reached over and hit a large red button on the side of the console and Sophia tapered off into silence. The lighting changed to red and a joystick rose up between Logan's legs. He grabbed it with his right hand and put his left on the engine controls. Pitching the craft down he gave the engines a 30 second burst. With in minutes he began to feel the atmosphere buffet his craft. \n\n The rocky decent lasted about thirteen minutes at which point Logan was gliding over the surface of the planet. He was going to fast though to make out what the brown mass was other then that it was fury and seemed to be multi hued brown with some white mixed in. Figuring anywhere was a good spot to set down he extended the landing gear and set the plane down. \n\nAs landings went this one was rather rough. Nothing broke thankfully but it was rather bumpy. Once his ship had come to a stop Logan powered down and stood up. The gravity wasn't to bad probably just over earth normal. He began the tedious process of putting on his eva suit. Over the hum of the cooling engines he could hear a faint thumping. It had gotten noticeably louder by the time he had finished putting on the eva suit. Some what concerned Logan stepped into the airlock and hooked into the retrieval spool. It's cable was bright gold and made of some alloy that was strong enough to lift a sixty story building out of a planets atmosphere. It would be more then enough to pull him back into the airlock if anything went wrong. \n\nHis palms sweating and thoughts of the massive reward headed his way Logan triggered the airlocks hatch. It granted as if there was some sort of weight pressing against it. When it was about a quarter of the way open a small furry shape dropped to the deck in front of Logan. \n\nIt had long ears and a pointed face with two rather large teeth. It's black eyes, one on each side of it's head, starred at Logan until another one of the creatures dropped to the deck next to it. The two began to sniff each other and hop in circles. After a moment of this and several more of the creatures entering the airlock Logan started to panic. He reached for the airlock override and tried to get the hatch to close but with one final groan it seized to a stop half way open. Cursing under his breath Logan hit the override on the inner hatch and it hissed open. He slammed it shut before any of the creatures could get in. As it closed he caught a glimpse of the first two creatures one of whom seemed to have climbed on top of the other and was thrusting away at it. \n\n \"Sophia start up the engines get us out of here.\"\n\nThere was no response from Sophia. Cursing again and remembering that he had disabled her Logan dropped into the chair his hands flying across the dashboard. The dashboard though remained stubbornly red. The engines wouldn't light. The thumping on the hull was deafening now and Logan could hear the airlock door starting to buckle under the weight of the furry hopping creatures. Logan continued to press buttons on the console but when nothing continued to happen he dove out of the chair and scrambled for the engine hatch. He'd hot wire the damn things to start. Just as he got he floor plate out of the way the airlock door gave way with a loud crash of shattering metal. In hopped a swarm of the little furry creatures. Logan screamed.\n\nUp in orbit the Quarantine ship Hopper popped back into existence. The captain was pissed the mayday beacon they had picked up had turned out to be just that a beacon but without a ship attached. There would be a mountain of paper work to have to deal with.\n\n\"Sir, Picking up a disturbance on the planet. Looks like a ship has landed on the surface.\" the man at the scanner station said.\n\n\"Those fools. Does it looks like the ship will hold together long enough for us to get into orbit and drop a rescue shuttle?\"\n\n\"No sir, in fact it just disappeared below the surface.\"\n\n\"Fine plot us a course to our patrol path. I'll be in my office filling out yet more forms.\" the captain said and headed for his cabin. \"Fucking rabbits. Killed another one. Really wish they'd fix that entry.\"" ]	3
	[WP] Everybody gets a special ability, depending on what social media they're the most active on. Instagram users can usually shapeshift, TikTokers excel at keeping someone's attention, YouTubers are the best entertainers and so on. But Redditors are... well, different.	[ "Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\nReminders:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n&#127381; [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) \n&#9999; [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) \n&#128226; [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) \n&#128172; [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)\n\nI am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.", "It was my 18th birthday. The day everyone gets their ability. Mom got best entertainer, Dad got shapeshifting. My best friend got excelling at keeping people’s attention. Me? I don’t know what I’m gonna be getting. Mom has a YouTube channel, Dad uses Instagram all the time, Veronica is on TikTok all the time. I however I like Reddit. No one talks about what Redditors get. Teachers don’t, parents don’t, no one does. First I tried shapeshifting. Didn’t work. Then I tried every other power in my room until I heard my mom knock on the door. Trying to shout back or open the door proved to be no use. Then in the blink of an eye I was downstairs again. I looked to my elder brother “Jacob?” I asked. He was most active on Reddit too and he was 20. He knew. “What?” He asked pulling off his headphones. “What do Redditors get? For their ability?” “It varies. You I guess got teleportation and invisibility.” “How do I control it?” “C’mon after breakfast I’ll take you to meet Hannah. She got the same abilities. She knows how to train em” I nodded and ate my cereal wondering how I’d learn to control my new found ability." ]	2

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