post_text stringlengths 0 17.5k | post_title stringlengths 4 315 | post_scores int64 0 42.1k | comment_texts list | comment_scores list | comment_times list |
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[WP] Children shows are actually different worlds that exist in the same universe. For the first time, they are gearing for war. | 4 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"It happened on March 5th, 1999.\n\nA bomb exploded in Lakewood Elementary, killing hundreds. \n\nA terrorist group named \"Clubhouse\" claimed responsibility for the attack, and their country Disney were behind the funding.\n\nPBS allied with CW, who already hated Disney for years.\n\nDisney called in Cartoon Network and the Great War began.\n\n\nJuly 4th 1999 marked the first meeting between the leaders of the Publics, and the Privates began.\n\nFrom the publics, the representatives were... Yugi Muto, Arthur Reed, Goku, Super Why and Sonic the pissed off hedgehog.\n\nThe Privates included Mickey Mouse, Bubbles, Phineas, Finn, Stitch, and Johnny Test.\n\nThe stage was set.\n\nThe war was to begin.\n\n[comment if you want a history of the war and great battles]\n\n"
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[WP] All life on earth came from bacteria that was deposited by an alien filling up his water bottle. One day he realises he left his wallet there. | 79 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Zarthan cursed, and cursed again, searching his ship for the wallet he was certain he had had in his possession just a few days ago before stopping at a small, rocky planet that was starting to stabilise geologically around a yellow star.\nNo use. It was gone. He started to think this sightseeing trip was going to me more hassle than it was worth. He had spent a planet-day or two wandering the rocky planet, but although there was water (native water, a delicacy amongst travellers, was highly sought after) there was not even the slightest microbe gracing the surface.\n\n\nOf course, travelling at his ship's cruising velocity far in excess of light speed, the amount of time passing for his wallet would far exceed the few days that had passed for him - millions of that planet's orbits around the star. Luckily, the wallet and the items it held were contructed of duraplas, guaranteed to weather almost any amount of time - particularly useful in situations like this. \n\n\n\"Oh Well\", he thought, \"Getting my credits replaced through the award-winning beauracracy of the galactic banks is going to be hell. Time to head back and pick it up!\"\n\n\nEasing the ship around, he strapped in for the ride back to the planet. \n\n\nAn hour or so away from his destination, he realised his mistake. His ship showed a magnificent blue/green image, not like the wet rock he had seen just a few days before. \"Green?\" he wondered. \"Photosynthesis? But there wasn't anything *here*? where has this plant life come from?\". Just then, the ship signalled that it was picking up Electromagnetic waves from the planet.\n\n\nAgain Zarthan cursed, swiftly coming to the realisation that he had not, as protocol dictated, filled a sterile water container, but one he had previously finished and contaminated with his own saliva. *He* had caused the green on the image, and all the other life the ship now reported was inhabiting the planet - including some that was clearly intelligent and had delveloped primitive radio communications.\n\n\nHe instructed the ship to translate his message to the top 3 most broadcasted languages, and sent a message.\n\n\nAll over the Earth, humanity was simultaneously befuddled by a message broadcasted over every radio and television which simply said:\n\n\n\"Excuse me, but has anyone seen a silver wallet around?\"",
"\"Mum?\" a tiny voice came from behind the seats of the ship. They were zooming past the vastness of space, a family of three on a road trip to explore the universe.\n\n\"What, sweetie?\" the figure in the front seat responded. It turned behind to check on its offspring, slightly annoyed that the young one couldn't sit still, like all mothers do on long road trips. \n\nThe smaller creature at the backseat stared guiltily at its mother with its dozen eyes. \"I think daddy left his wallet back at the bluey-greeny planet we visited.\"\n\n\"What?!\" the creature seated beside the mummy exclaimed. The ship swerved to a stop beside Planet Zarpadoxlrtiz, which was well known for its ridiculously naming convention. After all, who come comes up with the name of Zarpadoxlrtiz?\n\n\"Where?!\" the father creature asked, in rather loud voice, his head throbbing with different colours, though most of them of the red variety. In their species, that was to be taken as a sign of anger, which explained why an uncomfortable silence fell over the occupants of the ship.\n\nAfter what seemed like a while, the mother finally spoke out, being the other only adult in the ship. \"I think your son, meant the one where they had lots of volcanoes and some boiling oceans.\"\n\nThe father slapped his flippers on his head, more red bubbling beneath it. \"It would take forever for us to fly back at our current speed,\" he groaned and indeed, he was right. They were taking their own sweet time during the road trip, dropping by every uninhabited planet and taking tons of pictures that could fill up 10 photo albums on Google+, the galactic version of Facebook. \n\nUntil today, the engineers at the faraway Galactic Google HQ were still scratching their head on how they lost to a nerdy human inventor called Zuckerberg, which strangely rhymed like Suckerberg. \n\nBefore the family could do anything, however, the familiar siren of the UTP, or the Universal Traffic Police approached their idling vehicle. \n\n\"Hands in the air!\" one of the officers shouted as he floated out from the cruiser, a weapon in his hand. After the recent horrorist attacks, idling ships near any planets have been classified as threats, to be treated with extreme caution.\n\n\"Step out from your vehicle and show us your ID,\" the officer screamed again through his mouths, because he has three of them, as he slowly approached the ship.\n\nThe father cursed as he stumbled with putting on his spacesuit, asking the officers to wait through the ships speakers. When he finally stepped out, however, with his flippers up in the vacuum of space, he was still shot with the stun gun, as the officer deemed his still pulsating red head as too much of a threat.\n\nThe case would later spark a movement called the Redhead Matters that demands for better treatment towards their species across the galaxy, while Planet Zarpadoxlrtiz became the unlikely ground for protests over the next few orbit cycles. \n\nThe father's wallet was subsequently found by a human called Ridley Scott as he was hiking through the hills behind the house. Mr Scott found the wallet intriguing, though he did not think much of it other than a prank left by some alien enthusiasts group. He did, however, came up with an idea for his upcoming film, having been plagued with a mental block since 1979.\n\n--------------\n\n/r/dori_tales"
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[WP] The water poacher has come to Bitterwater Ranch. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hannah's eyes struggled against the intense light. The equipment and walls were painted white, amplifying the already harsh adjustment. She had been hiding out in a disused storage area, but enough time had passed since she heard any footfalls that she assumed it must be safe.\n\nAn old Camelbak was strapped to her back, its hoses threatening to crack from age. In her hands, she had two jerry cans, once used for gasoline, but now used for water. In her youth, she might have been able to carry much heavier containers, but age had weakened her.\n\nBefore moving forward, she backed herself against the wall and surveyed the area. Some pipes and vats of unknown purpose, all with the same bright white paint hiding the rust. She'd chosen a white outfit as well, in order to better blend in, but with the red jerry cans in her hand, it probably wouldn't help much if it were to come down to it.\n\nBitterwater Ranch was one of the last places she knew of that took the risk of storing so much water so close to a city. This wasn't the first time she'd been here, but it was the first time she would be taking anything.\n\nOutside of the Ranch, it looked like an abandoned industrial town. It sort of was, except that in most of the abandoned factories, if there were any areas that were deemed structurally sound, living space had been created for the factory employees. Hannah had been staying in one of these buildings. The walls shielded her from the elements, and the threat of the roof caving in tended to keep the scientists out.\n\nNow, at the bottom of one of the vats, she paused again. There was a great tap that threatened to unleash a torrent if she were to open it. Not the sort of thing she was looking for, with only a couple of pathetic waterbottles. She wished again that someone had been able to join her, but nobody else from her group had been up for any sort of journey. Certainly, not one that might require a quick getaway.\n\nSo, here she was. Her weather-beaten hands clutched even tighter to her containers. Up at the top of the vat, she saw a hatch. She would have to climb the platform. Across the room, windows revealed an empty hallway. It would have to be now."
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[WP] After quite some time in the game Sims, you make a scary discovery. What happens to your sims, happens in real life. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"My favorite game as a kid was the Sims. I always made my favorite characters and made ships sail. When I grew up and got in a relationship and made friends, I always made us and built us a cute house. But usually I'd end up giving up and not play through to watch us actually interact. \n\nThen one day, I made my crush and I. We were in a small house that I quickly built, similar to a house that I wanted to live in. I started up the gameplay, watching my sim and hers interact. They started off simply talking to each other. Then I made mine flirt with hers until they both began flirting and falling in love. \n\nAt that moment, I got a call from my crush ironically. \n\n\"Logan, guess what? There's a house near the college for sale. Do you want me to swing by and take you to see it? They're having an open house right now.\" \n\n\"Sure,\" I replied. \n\n\"Alright, I'll see you soon.\" \n\n\"Alright, bye.\" \n\nI saved the game and quit, getting up to get dressed. She showed up ten minutes later and we headed out to the house. \n\n\"It's looks beautiful dude, it's like a two minute drive from the college. It's perfect,\" she said. \n\n\"Wow, that's great. Hopefully the house inside is great.\" \n\nWe arrived and I was in awe. It looked exactly like the house I had just built in sims. \n\n\"This is ironic, I built a house just like this in sims,\" I said, looking at her.\n\n\"That is. Let's look inside.\" \n\nWe headed inside and looked around the house. There was two bedrooms, a large living room, and a kitchen and dining room together. \n\n\"This is crazy dude, it looks just like my house I built.\" \n\nShe chuckled, \"Maybe you can see the future.\" \n\n\"Maybe I can. Hm, lemme see what I can see... Hm, I see a beautiful girl going a date with me to the park. She has medium length brown hair and is wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. She also seems really sweet and is truly amazing. I think her name might be Lindsey.\"\n\nShe laughed, \"Is that your way of asking me out?\" \n\n\"Only if it works,\" I said, smiling. \n\n\"You're a dork. Sure, I'll go with you to the park.\" \n\nI smiled, \"Good!\" \n\n\"But first, maybe you should talk to the realtor about the house, hm? Seems like it was made for you.\" \n\n\"What am I going to do with a two bedroom house? The rent must be high.\" \n\n\"I can live with you and help pay rent. My parents will be fine with me living with you because of how close we are to the college.\" \n\n\"Really?\" \n\n\"Yeah man. Why not? It'll be great.\" \n\nI grinned, \"Okay!\" \n\n----\n\nA few days later I was playing sims again, on the same file as before. I had inserted random sims families I made into the game so my sims would have people to interact with and I guess I had accidentally added one with my ex in it. He ended up running into my sim in a park and our sims already hated each other. Our sims began fighting with the other, pushing each other and arguing. I tried getting my sim to leave, but his sim kept coming up to my sim, bothering him. I groaned and finally my sim and Lindsey's left to a restaurant across the street, away from my ex's sim. I made a note to delete the sim family he was from so I didn't have to deal with that again. \n\n\"Abi-I mean Logan, your friends here!\" I heard from the front room. \n\n\"Alright, gimme a second!\" I shouted back, saving and quitting the game. I headed out to the living room and saw Lindsey. \n\n\"C'mon dork, let's go,\" she said. \n\nI followed her out to the car and got in. We headed to the park. When we arrived, I noticed that my ex was there with a few of his friends. \n\n\"Oh c'mon! Why is he everywhere!\" I groaned out. \n\n\"Just ignore him. C'mon let's go have fun.\" \n\nI sighed and followed her away from him. We ended up on the swings, talking about random topics. As we were swinging, I noticed my ex walking towards us. \n\n\"So what, are you a lesbian now?\" He asked, crossing his arms. \n\nI stopped my swing and stared at him, \"What the hell do you want, Derek?\" \n\n\"I was just wondering if you were a lesbian now, since you're hanging out with some girl.\" \n\n\"I mean, I'm a guy so I cannot really be a lesbian. Also you know damn well I'm bisexual, as are you. Since honey, you're hella gay because you always talked about how hot guys are.\" \n\nHe rolled his eyes and shoved me, \"Whatever dyke.\" \n\nI shoved him back, \"Fuck you asshole.\" \n\nI tried walking away, but he continued to say slurs and yell at me, following me. I spat back everytime which was stupid. Finally after five minutes, he gave up and Lindsey and I left. \n\n\"God, he's such an asshole.\" \n\n\"I know.\"\n\nWe settled down at the ice cream shop and talked.\n\n\"Wait. His sim showed up in my game and got in a fight with my sim. At the park. And our sims went to a restaurant together after... That's weird.\" \n\n\"That is weird. Maybe next time you should make your sim really rich.\" \n\nI felt a smile cross my face, \"C'mon Lindsey we're going back to my place and doing that.\" \n\n----\n\nWhen we got back to my place, I loaded up sims and kept writing motherlode in until I had a ton of money. \n\n\"Oh god, if this works it'll be crazy,\" she said. \n\n\"It will be, but how will I end up getting the money?\" \n\n\"Hm. The lottery?\" \n\n\"Oh. Maybe! I did buy a lottery ticket because someone mentioned I could. Maybe I will win!\" \n\n\"Maybe. But, maybe if it does you should make sure your sims don't die. Or just not make yourself again, or anyone you know.\" \n\n\"True.\" "
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"1487867880",
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[WP] You're the grim reaper... but for cats. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"BIRD!\" the kitten shouted as he launched himself from where he'd been hiding in the bushes. He didn't really want to catch the bird, but scaring them was fun.\n\nThe bird took to the air, unable to gain altitude quickly enough and Mittens thought he might actually be able to grab a tail feather or two. That'd show him!\n\nThe 'thump' was so tiny that the car's driver wondered if he'd imagined it. With a shrug he kept driving, barely pausing in his inane phone conversation.\n\n\"Mittens, this is the 7th time I've visited you. You had a good run, now it's time to go.\" I said gently to the young cat.\n\n\"But I'm fine! I was just chasing that bird and...\"\n\n\"You ran in front of a car... again.\" I finished for him.\n\n\"It was only the one other time,\" he mewled plaintively.\n\n\"Six other times, Mittens. SIX. After the third time I told you to look before running into the street. I'm DEATH. You'd think being lectured by me would get you to listen, but here we are.\"\n\n\"So no more chances?\" Mittens asked, \"I'd really like to see Joey one last time before I go. He's the best kid ever! He feeds me from his plate, lets me sleep in his bed, always scratches that hard to reach spot behind me ear! I just want to say goodbye.\"\n\nThe rules were specific about this. No extra chances. It made the paperwork too messy.\n\n\"I'm sorry Mittens, but we have to go.\"\n\nAs soon as the words left my mouth he gave me the look. 'Kitten face' was the term I had heard used. The eyes were made extremely large, pupils dilated, the little mouth turned into a sort of pout. It was unbearably cute and I had a soft spot for cute. I'd be doing paperwork all weekend, but that was a small price to pay for a boy's happiness.\n\n\"One more chance, Mittens. No more than that. I'll give you one more chance. I could get in trouble for this, but you're right. Joey is a really good kid and he loves you very much. Make sure you spend the time I'm giving you wisely! Spend it with Joey, not chasing birds into traffic!\"\n\n\"Thank you!\" Mittens exclaimed excitedly, \"I can't wait until he gets home from school. We'll play with yarn, I'll pounce his shoes, I'll chase my tail until I fall over - he loves when I do that - and tonight I'll curl up with him and purr all night while we sleep.\"\n\n\"That sounds lovely, Mittens. Alright, hold still while I fix you up.\" I quickly began to bond the spirit and the body back together, knitting the body back into a healthy shape. I was fast, perhaps one of the best, but it still took long enough that I was worried Joey would get home before I was finished.\n\n\"There. All done. Now I expect you to behave this time! Stay out of the street. If you need excitement, chase a laser pointer.\"\n\n\"I'll be on my best behavior. Thank you so much! I'll make you proud and I'll take care of Joey, don't you worry about a thing!\"\n\nI waved at the cat and turned away. I was nearly gone when I heard, \"SQUIRREL!\" followed by a soft 'thump'.\n\nI turned around to see Mitten's spirit making that insufferable kitten-face while sitting next to a Mitten-pancake. 8 lives he'd been given and all eight of them lost to the exact same thing.\n\n\"I'm fine! I was just chasing that squirrel...\"\n\nI sighed. Why do cats have to be so cute?"
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[WP] Humanity makes pills that make it so no one has to sleep. After forgetting to take your pills, you are the first person to doze off in several hundred years. | 11 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"It's a weird feeling; seeing your own body laying there lifelessly on the floor. I should have known this would happen, that one day I would forget and it would be too late. I knew something was wrong when I was sitting there on my couch and at first i didnt realize it, i mean how does one realize they are feeling drowsy if they've never felt it before. But yet here i am in an irreversable and permanent (as far as I know anyways) state of astral projection. My body was breathing last i saw it, but its been a few weeks and i don't have any family or anyone who would check on me so I doubt that i am still alive. Good riddance. Everyone is always so irradiatable and selfish anyways. You know, i read that back in the early 2000s people used to care about one another and that people were even happy. Now the best most of us can hope for is content. Anyways the fact that im still alive isnt even the tip of the iceberg with my story; oh yes it gets much deeper.\nUpon discovering myself and seeing there was nothing i could do to help (in my astral state no one can see or hear me and i can't interact with objects, not even so much as lifting a pill) I had decidedthat i would istead go investigate parts of our world that i could not access, for you see my access card was only a level 3, the level of a regular ault citizen, but due to my lack of visability i could just walk through wirh some bigshot, or some sort of high government official and see everything they had going on. First I'll admit i did go and check out one of those ritzier social clubs that required a 3.5 pass, the aristocrat pass. And it seemed like alot of fun, if you could actually physically indulge. Watching other people doing narcotics off of intoxicated prostitutes however was much less fun. So I immediately scrapped that idea and headed higher. Thats right i had the itch to check out the prize behind door number 2. The Blackout pass. Some people say it doesnt realy exist, and that the top level of the cards stops at 7, but i can tell you they are wrong. What i saw inside of that fortress is beyond what any conspirator of todays caliber could imagine. At the top is a normal check in like youd see at a hotel or at someones office, and the only way down is the elevator so i started following different people as i could only go where they went. (Which is alot easier than it sounds when you never have to go to the bathroom or eat anything) first we went to b1 and the man i accompanied was wearing a black suit, a red tie, and was completely bald. He went into where they called the tidepool. Its the first level of their experimental pool of human/subhuman experiments. There were a few with scales and feathers, some with incurable diseases, all of them behind plexiglass with filtered air with specific contaminants to see how they react, and how their bodies fight it off. The second floor was full of people in agonizing pain being used for a vital organ farm. It took me a little while to realize thats how our global government made it possible to make free healthcare worldwide. They dont even numb the patients either, they just pump them full of chemicals that make them regenerate much like a lizard or axalotl. I saw a man regenerate his entire liver over the course of four hours. Four hours of screaming in pain because they didnt even sew him shut, why would they they've made each of the surgery pods into a self sastaining sterile environment. But none of that compares to what i saw on the bottom floor that i had gotten to (there are 5 floors below the surface that i know of). They had regular citizens (one guy kept yelling about his wife) in tanks where they were pumping them with liquid chemicals, and introducing them to different strains of viruses, but heres where it gets worse that was how they killed of the weak before they transformed them into some genetic monstrosity that could only be for some sort of malicious intent. There were men and women with shark teeth and limbs growing out of their backs, razor sharp claws, you name it, it was probably there. And in the very back there was a large theater screen and on it was a fight taking place between one of these monstrosities and another even more alien looking creature. Upon further investigation i could see that there seemed to be some less threatening looking alien creatures as well. My best guess for what i saw was some sort of galactic fight club of genetic experiments, and that these alien creatures and our own government was betting on them. Now that i know what really happens in our society Im glad i forgot to take the pills, because in order to wake up, I had to fall asleep first."
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[removed] | [WP] You and a lot of other people recently landed on TRAPPIST-1, a planet that is 235 trillion miles away from Earth. This is your new permanent home, except it is up to you and the others to build and progress a new society, from scratch. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\n[Copy-cat](http://i.imgur.com/38FjDgW.gifv) prompts (taking a recent prompt and changing only a small detail) and recent reposts (even unintentional) are not allowed. Please search the sub before submitting and wait a minimum of two weeks between reposts. If your idea is based on something you read elsewhere on reddit, chances are it's been submitted here already. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5vvf61/wp_you_and_a_lot_of_other_people_recently_landed/%0A%0A)"
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1,
1
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"1487909464",
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] |
[WP] "Names are made to be spoken." | 10 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"My mother is still at work, but my father is at the table. He leans in his chair like a kid my age and his hazel eyes rest on the pages of a small paperback book that reclines in the slope of his left hand. The San Francisco sun tints the tablecloth a golden hue as the afternoon draws into the evening. \n\nI promptly and unceremoniously dump my bag on the seat opposite him. His eyes flick up to mine, and back down to his reading. I don’t say a word and briskly make my way past him towards my room.\n\n“How was school today, bud?” \n\nI scoff and glance back at him. \n\n“What do I gotta do make you spill what’s bothering you? Or who, for that matter? Girl problems?”\n\nHe pauses.\n\n“Guy problems?” \n\nHe laughs. \n\n“It’s that group of guys again,” I say cautiously. “Always picking on me for how I look and the way my name sounds. I mean, I would think they must be out of ideas by now.”\n\n“It’s not the end of the world, but it’s extremely frustrating,” I add quickly.\n\nMy father sighs a little bit and motions me over to the table, gesturing me to sit down. There’s a riffle of pages as he marks and closes his book. He smiles a roguish smile, one that my friends say I share with him, and begins to speak.\n \n“When I got my papers stamped by that officer and took my first steps into America, I could have changed my name right then and there and made it all Anglicized. Then you wouldn’t have to deal with it, you know?” \n\nI open my mouth, intending to suggest that he should have, and close it again.\n\n“I decided to keep my name the way it was,” he continued. “I learned English, read all the American greats, got rid of the accent, hell, I became good enough at English to meet your mom here.” \n\nI notice his eyes flash, not with anger, but with spirit. He’s a small guy, but ever since I was a boy, I’ve always seen him hold his own. I respected him for doing so.\n\n“I’m proud of being an American. I’m just as patriotic as our neighbors, if not more. But I never forgot-- never will forget-- my own culture. It’s something to be proud of, and something that you should be proud of too. You listening? Every civilization has its ups and downs. Look at the Ancient Romans. Like them, we are descended from an empire that was, at its height, one of the greatest ever. Self-sustaining, consistent, you name it. Artistically, we created some majestic pieces. I think I took you to see one, and you didn’t like it, but come on! We even invented the gunpowder that Europeans needed to do what they did best!”\n\nHe chuckles. \n\n“Of course, we’ve had to go through famine, poverty, and conflict. Every nation had to at some time period in their history. But the point I’m making is that you shouldn’t be ashamed of who you are or who your parents are. It's harder for people to bother you that way. I had to think about issues like these when I came here, and I realized that being an American wasn’t exclusive. You and I have every right to be proud of our parents’ culture just as much as we are proud of those who sacrificed themselves for our freedoms right now.”\n\nMy dad ruffles my dark brown hair and, in the light, his black hair looks strikingly similar. His eyes carry a fiery pride, a determination to not give up what he holds dear. My dad is a fighter. \n\n“So next time someone says that your name sounds like someone banging pots and pans together…”\n\nI can’t resist a laugh, and he laughs along. \n\n“Say, ‘Damn right, and we make some pretty damn good food with ‘em, too’.”\n\nThe two of us let out a stream of guffaws, and we both stand up and hug each other. \n\n“Love you, kid,” Dad says. “Mom’ll be home in a bit, I gotta go pick her up from the station.” \n\n“Love you too, Dad. Thanks.”\n\nI walk to my room smiling, thinking about the far-fetched possibility of one of my dad’s ancestors being an emperor. A famous painter, maybe? A general? \n\nThe long hallway of our house is still bright in the setting sun. \n\nMy father’s voice, still with a hint of amusement as I hear him searching for his car keys, echoes down the hallway, following my footsteps. \n\n“Remember-- names are made to be spoken!” ",
"I've always mentally fumbled with the concept of my name. It has a lucky number of letters and a pleasantly equal distribution of vowels and consonants to satisfy the listener. It's neither popular nor obscure. It's the sort of name we all know of someone who has it as their own. \n\nYet at every utterance I only feel it's tone as sharp edges, limber, extended pinpricks. A unique discomfort ever present since childhood. Perhaps it's a unique feature of my introversion. How in a crowded room, I bloom into a blush when all eyes are on me. Or the secret twinge and fright before an expected performance only an empty stage can invite. The special mortification of tripping on your own two feet. \n\nSo when it's said, I spurn it. It feels foreign enough on my tongue I never say it. And even with others, there's a pause and lapse before I think, \"that's me\". \n\nI'm certain I'd never heard you say it before tonight. The first time we became us. Even in though it's in its infancy, there's a familiarity between our bodies now. Where breath and our rhythm have become instinctual. I trace your skin first with my fingers, and then my tongue. My lip unfurls and lingers against your collarbone. \n\nAnd you call my name, say it soft and slow in exhales between our movements. You say the Oh, as if you didn't know. At first the Oh was your surprise, then your pleasure. Oh, and then my name. Oh, real slow, and then my name. The letters don't burn, but unfold. Oh, oh, my name. A revelation. You say it twice, in an exhale, then ecstasy. \n\nSlowly we collapse into each other's exhaustion and satisfaction. We lay curled together in the dark and silence.\n\n\"I like how you say my name\" I say as I move deeper into the encompassing crook of your arm. \n\n\"Names are made to be spoken\" you kiss my forehead and say. \n\nPlease say it again. \n\n--\n\nI've always been fascinated with names, especially people who hate their names. It's such an intrinsic part of our identities, I can only imagine how dissatisfaction with your name would affect a person. Like any other feature we hate about ourselves, can you learn to love it? As an introvert, it'd be a special sort of torture if I hated my own name or was embarrassed by it. I'm grateful I don't. I will probably add this to a small collection of little stories about people who hate something about themselves. \n"
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1,
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6
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"1487909575",
"1487917073",
"1487916777"
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[WP] Two different alien races have picked Earth as the place where they will make first contact with each other. Humans are told to stay out of Kansas. | 4 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"And now Graham gets ready to shoot, and..... it goes in! IT GOES IN! THE JAYHAWKS WIN!\"\n\nThe crowd at Hilton Coliseum in Ames Iowa was a stunned, but Joe Hammel was happy. Joe and his son Cody had driven up to meet some friends in Des Moines for the weekend and headed up to Ames to watch their beloved Kansas Jayhawks that Saturday.\n\n\"Well boys it was a good game. I thought Iowa State was due\" said Matt Burns, who's house they had stayed at over the weekend.\n\n\"Yeah, ISU always plays pretty tough. We'll have to have you come down to Lawrence. The Fieldhouse is amazing.\"\n\n\"Yeah, yeah I know. I hate that place. My dad raised me to hate Kansas.\"\n\n\"Well you know, being a Missouri fan is pretty bad. I guess your okay since you went to ISU.\"\n\n\"Yeah well hey boys do you have everything?\"\n\n\"Dad, can we get going?\"\n\n\"Cody, why don't you call mom and tell her were going to try to head home tonight okay?\"\n\n\"Why can't we just go now?\"\n\nCody then walked off sulking a little. He knew his dad and Matt could talk a while. They used to know each other in high school back in KC. \n\nIn the meantime Joe and Matt kept talking until another 10 minutes had passed.\n\n\"I gotta head out Matt. Thanks for the digs. Like I said come down to KC and we'll all go to Lawrence.\"\n\n\"Sure.\"\n\nJoe then walked out to the parking lot, looking for his black Chevy Impala. His phone then rang.\n\n\"Dad?\"\n\n\"Cody, what's up?\"\n\n\n\"go to the next row. I can see you.\"\n\nJoe then walked over and saw his Impala.\n\n\"Lets get ready to go then Cody. We should get home about midnight.\"\n\n\"Uggh, I hope its not that long.\"\n\n\"Didn't you bring your Ipad?\"\n\n\"Yeah but remember I forgot my car charger.\"\n\n\"I think I brought mine. Look in the back seat in my bag for it.\"\n\n\"I found it. Thanks!\"\n\n\"Yeah. You better keep awake Cody. I might need someone to help me navigate\" Joe said with a wry smile.\n\nCody then shot his dad a semi disapproving look. Soon they were off on I-35 heading for Kansas City. It seemed to go fast. As their Impala spread through the night across darkened empty fields, Joe listened to late night talk radio. It was something he did on long trips, mostly because it would make him laugh. Typically the shows were mostly truckers and other strange folks talking about Aliens and the Occult and the New World Order, and until he hit the Missouri border, the same programs were playing.\n\n\"CNN Radio News, tonight something strange happening on the Kansas Prairies. Two large spacecraft of unidentified origin have landed near the center of the state about halfway between Manhattan and Wichita. The two craft have just arrived within the past few minutes. Authorities have given Kansas residents one hour to leave the state. This ban also affects western Missouri, Southern nebraska, and northern Oklahoma. The National Guard and regular troops have been deployed. President Trump has been flown to a secret location and will address the nation as the situation unfolds....\"\n\nJoe then pulled his car over at the next exit near Bethany MO. \n\n\"Dad what's up.\"\n\n\"Cody, call your mother. I need to tell her something.\"\n\n\"What dad?\"\n\n\"Just call her now would you? I need to find out about her and your brothers.\"\n\nAfter a few tense seconds, a voice picked up.\n\n\"Oh my God Cody are you safe?\"\n\n\"Yeah, why?\"\n\n\"Well haven't you heard? Those...... those... things that landed out there. I think its near Marion.\"\n\n\"What things?\"\n\n\"You know, the spaceships. God i just hope you and your father are safe...\"\n\nJoe then took the phone.\n\n\"Molly? Molly? Where are you guys? I heard their evacuating people. Where are you going?\"\n\n\"Well they think Columbia might be safe. \"\n\n\"Missouri? \"\n\n\"Yes, we got out as soon as we could. They also have buses and planes taking people out. I've heard there were even some people jumping off of bridges in KC and Wichita, and there's rumor some farmer might have been killed...\" \n\nMolly's voice trailed off into a state of panic.\n\n\"Honey we'll get down to Columbia okay. Where are you at now?\"\n\n\"We're near Concordia, Missouri not Kansas okay? \"\n\n\"Do you have Jered and Kyler?\"\n\n\"Yes I do. Just get down here quick. Where are you?\"\n\n\"Bethany.\"\n\n\"Dad, what's up? Are we going to die?\"\n\n\"No Cody. We aren't. We have to get to Columbia though.\"\n\nJust then a large flash from the southwest appeared in the distance. It looked like a large but distant flame heading towards the sky. It almost looked like an Atom Bomb. "
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1,
2
] | [
"1487950702",
"1487953769"
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[WP] You're a cyborg in a high school trying to blend in. Only problem is some of your implants start acting up at bad times. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"TS81A was an S class cyborg designed to be the perfect high school student so that he could use his influence to spread government propaganda into the malleable minds of the younger generation. Equipped with lightning fast reflexes, extraordinary intelligence, and unparalleled physical aptitude it would be easy for him to win over his peers. He was engineered perfectly so that the only part of him that was noticeably not human was the data uplink that would extrude from his body just five inches below his belly button when in use, but even this uplink would be obscured by his pants at all times. The plan had no chance of failure.\n\nUntil his data uplink activated during math class while he was solving a problem at the board."
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1,
2
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"1487961787",
"1487963640"
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[WP] "You know the difference between subjective and objective, right? 'Some rabbits' is the former, 'three rabbits' is the latter, and much more accurate. So I'm going to need you to be very clear when you say there are 'a few' dragons outside." | 4,575 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"But you didn't answer my question.\"\n\nSennto gave a loud sigh, almost an obnoxious one telling me how stupid I am. \"Does it really matter how many dragons are there? Just kill the damn things already!\" There was frustration steaming out of him like a kettle. I had paced back and forth, thinking of what to say. \"So... what's my reward again?\" Sennto began to choke up before saying \"2400 keros. Ask me another question and I'll halve it, you hear me?\" I shut my mouth, accepting his offer, grabbed my gun and headed outside.\n\nUnfortunately, the weather was feeling like crap today so my trip would be difficult. \"Where would I go if I were a dragon...?\" I had forgotten to ask Sennto, maybe he would know. I peeped my head inside the office. \"Hey, Sen--\"\n\"Don't even ask it. Just figure it out and get the hell out.\" Damn, he was pissed. I quickly shut the door and headed out for the nearest mountain. Maybe dragons love mountains? I dunno, but I had to actually get a dusketo to be able to climb the mountains, assuming the dragons were there. I followed the path to the nearest market, treading carefully because of the muddy soil. \"Umm, hello, but can I buy a dusketo or something? I need to hunt 'a few' dragons.\" The animal trainer didn't even bat an eye and replied, \"5400 keros.\" Yeesh, I was broke already with only 7000 keros in the bank. \"Y'know, maybe a couple of hours climbing the mountains would be better than going hungry for 3 weeks.\" Meaningless silence was the trainer's answer before I left to get back on the path.\nAfter a couple of hours of climbing and missteps, I finally made it to the top of the peak.\n\nThere were 4 dragons.\n\nI just stood there like an idiot while the dragons were approaching me. It only came to me a few seconds after to use my gun on one of them. That plan failed, however, so I almost got my ass kicked. I told Sennto to atleast give me some reward for finding the dragons, but I got a measily 40 keros. That can barely sustain anybody, not even a hermit can afford something with it",
"Mordecai rushed on in through the open door and shoulder-tackled the wall. He slapped his hands over his face and took two deep breaths, trying in vain to control his anxiety before he panicked. It slammed shut as his two friends threw themselves against it before coming to him. He looked absolutely drained.\n\n\"Talk to me, buddy. What's outside?\" Gabriel asked as he hovered over his shaking brother.\n\n\"Dragons. Dragonspawn. Hell.\" Mordecai spat as if the words could kill him if they lingered on his tongue. Gabriel cursed and spat with him, their fear transmitting through their empathic rapport.\n\n\"How many?\" Diana dropped the arrow in her hand and reached for a bigger one.\n\nMordecai swallowed hard and took a slow breath. \"A few.\"\n\n\"You know the difference between subjective and objective, right?\"\n\n\"Now isn't the time to be giving my little brother any *peyha*, Diana. He's on the verge of collapsing a lung already, and you *vrekun* made him run out there just so you wouldn't have to put your own neck out.\"\n\n\"It's important, Gabriel. 'Some rabbits' is subjective, 'three rabbits' is objective. I need you to be very clear when you say there's 'a few' dragons out there.\"\n\n\"Seven. Six and a half, if a wyrmling doesn't fully count.\" Mordecai braced himself against the cold stone wall as he lifted himself up on his wobbly legs. Gabriel grabbed his bruised shoulder and tried to steady him, thought not to much avail.\n\n\"**Seven** dragons, and you said *a few*?\" She honestly couldn't tell if she wanted to shoot the dragon or him first, she hated the Vrandil boys.\n\n\"You're the one that wanted to steal the spotlight. Your epic is waiting right out there.\"\n\n\"You guys can't seriously be leaving me to fight them on my own.\"\n\n\"Mord has two arrowheads in his chest and at least one other broken rib. I'm just a medic. *You're* the one with the magic dragonslayer arrows you got from that crazy old man in the forest cottage. You have the best chance of survival here.\"\n\n\"Yes, if I have help, damn it.\"\n\n\"You should've thought of that before you through Mord under the bus with the witch.\"\n\n\"You guys can't seriously still be mad about that, that was months ago.\"\n\n\"I haven't *vrekun* forgotten about anything you've put us through since you hired us. You don't pay enough to fight one dragon, let allow seven and your bad temper.\"\n\n\nPost Script: I really like this and want to use an almost identical version of this sentence in my writing elsewhere. May I?\n",
"One more job and I'm done. I don't care anymore. Stupid lizards or wyrms or whatever they call themselves. Garbage carrion eaters, all of them. So no, I don't care. \n\n\"There are a few. Objectively, three. A couple means two, clearly. Three is more than a couple, thus a few. A group would be four. A gathering is five. You know this, you're a dragon hunter.\"\n\n\"Just to be absolutely clear here, you're saying there's three dragons outside then? That's what a few means to you?\"\n\n\"Yes, three. A few dragons. And you're a dragon hunter. Are you gonna help me or not?\"\n\n\"Fine,\" he says. He readies the sword and steps outside and is torn to bits in fire and carrion and the screechings of the stupid lizards. Or wyrms. Or whatever. Gods, I don't care anymore.\n\n\"Are we done!\" I scream at them. \"I need to be done! Enough, dammit!\"\n\nOne of them rips open the door. \"No,\" it says. \"We have a few more jobs for you.\"\n\n",
"\"A fuckton!\" said the boy heaving from exhaustion.\n\n\"That doesn't help me, how can we prepare for something if we don't know the enemy's numbers?\" The general said.\n\n\"but-\" the boy attempted\n\n\"No buts, being unspecific could mean our downfall, how do you expect me to-\"\n\n\"Sir!\" a soldier entered trying to interject into the conversation.\n\n\"not now I'm trying to teach this kid how to convey information. So if you could put them on a football field, would they fill it?\" \n\n\"but sir.\" The soldier repeated.\n\n\"What!\" the general snapped\n\n\"There's a fuckton of dragons outside.\"\n\n\"What is a fuckton, private?\"\n\n\"sir?\"\n\n\"can you measure it? Is it a specific amount?\"\n\n\"No, But-\"\n\n\"Well don't waste my time with such vague statements.\"\n\n\"Sir with all due respect, I need you to look outside.\"\n\nHe stuck his head out from the side of the tent. He was met with the sound of air being pushed and pulled by thousands of powerful wings, and a permeating darkness that masked the sun. He pulled his head inside the tent \"that... is a fuckton.\"",
"John stepped out of the storm cellar with a grin on his face, \"a few dragons?! You're saying there are a few dragons?\". John hurried around the corner of the house and went into the kitchen grabbing two pans before walking into the hallway. \n\nJane hurried behind him, \"What are you doing? We have to go now, we don't know how much time we have!\" She bumped into John as he suddenly stopped walking. \"John, we don't have time for this, we have to go now.\"\n\nJohn turned around, flashing a quick wink, his grin even bigger than before. He quickly started to bang the two pans together yelling \"dragons! There are dragons! Wake up, wake up, wake up!\"\n\nSusan came to the top of the stairs rubbing her eyes and yawning. Behind her Charles peered around her head to look at John. \"John, dragons you say? Are you certain? Are there enough of 'em? Where are they?\"\n\nJane replied, \"there are a few of them, we have to go quickly.\" She reached into the closet and started pulling on her leather jacket, shook her head and switched to her jean jacket. \"Better not risk offending them in anyway now.\"\n\nA door slammed open down the hall, \"A few dragons!? You woke me up for a few dragons!? You know the difference between subjective and objective, right? 'Some rabbits' is the former, 'three rabbits' is the latter, and much more accurate. So I'm going to need you to be a little more clear on this, exactly how many dragons are outside?\"\n\nJohn turned to the voice saying, \"stuff it Harry, we have dragons to find!\"\n\nSusan started to smile for the first time since being awoken, \"boys, don't fight now. We have dragons to find. It will be a family adventure, hmm, I wonder if I should bring a picnic?\"\n\nCharles and John both turned to her with matching looks of surprise. It was Jane who found her words first, \"mum, we are about to go track down dragons we have never seen before, to ask them to come live with us here on the farm far away from town, and you are worried about a picnic?\"\n\nHarry started to chuckle, \"since John is the one who woke me up I assume the coffee hasnt been started. If we want to negotiate with dragons I really need my coffee.\"\n\nJohn started to bounce impatiently, \"dragons. Dragons are here and you are worried about picnics and coffee? This may be our only chance to make this farm work, we can't wait!\"\n\nCharles walked down the stairs clapping a hand on John's shoulder as he walked past him. He went into the kitchen and started to ready a pot of coffee. Jane followed him and started pulling out bread and jam for some breakfast for everyone. Charles turned as he heard the footsteps behind him. \"This farm will turn out just fine, we have our dragons now, we will be able to grow our fruits and vegetables as well as we please now. But we should all eat before heading out, we won't look like we can be a good host of them if we don't care for ourselves first.\"\n\nHarry walked towards the coffee pot muttering, \"poop. Why must our family be so excited for poop? I could have been born into a normal family, but no, I get the family who wakes up early to go find magical poop!\"",
"\" Fuck man, I didn't count them!\" Jim roared. \" I stepped outside, saw more than 3 and said fuck that!\"\n\nVictor removed a strange viscous liquid from his pouch. \"This is repellent. Made from a mixture of yak urine, pomegranate juice, poison ivy, aluminum, and flour. It's base compound is derived\"\n\n\"Get to the point!\" Jim cut off.\n\nVictor scowled. \"The point is, while aluminum is the smallest compound in this mixture it is extremely hard to find. And I'd rather not waste it.\"\n\n\"Y'know, I used to wonder why I found corpses with the exact tools needed to slay the creature I was hunting, right next to their den. Now I know where they came from.\"\n\n\"Hmpf, Well perhaps they haven't spotted us and will simply move on.\"\n\nAs if on cue a dragon's head burst through the wall. It quickly craned its neck spewing fire into the room. The only thing that saved the pair was that the dragon had come in too high. And the flames just missed them. The heat off the flames, however, did not. \n Between the surprise of the dragon's entrance and the sudden pain it was little wonder what happened next.\n\n\"Fuck this!\" Jim grabbed the potion, and before Victor could protest, slammed it into the ground.\n\nAn opaque purple cloud filled the room. Jim wheezed as he inhaled it and while he couldn't see anything he heard the dragon roar in pain and quickly pull its head out of the wall and fly, as fast as it was able, away.",
"Harold the Fighter paused, and thought hard about his reply. His fingers flexed, seemingly by reflex, as though he was working something out. A moment of roaring fury from outside the vast and trembling gates transpired before finally, he smiled widely, and answered:\n\n\"There is four objective dragons outside.\"",
"*How many do you mean by when you say a few! Answer me!*\n\"I can't see! Do you have batteries on you?\" I shouted back, at the top of my voice. \"That eye implant sure is *useful*,\" I thought. This was a *bad* situation. Something's covering the Sun so the mini solar array wasn't working and I think the backup ran out too. Getting the young or eggs was hard. Normally I work as a bounty hunter, that eye implant makes it much easier to find the things clients want. But this time was different. A dragon mill (think puppy mill) was running far behind this order they had received, so they hired me and another hunter to go get them some eggs and young.\n\n\"Found one,\" the other hunter, who's name is Emily, told me. \"Put it in the socket on my back, would ya,\" I replied.\n\nAs the implants flickered on, they started counting for me. \"Emily, you might want to be careful. My implants are reading no less than 468 dragons,\" I said, in a rather shocked voice. \"Is it saying THAT many?!\" She replied. \"They only gave us enough ammo to kill about fifty!\" She shouted at me. Now I knew why the backup and solar panels were failing. They had made a sandstorm with their wings. It was relentless.\n\nThough slowly, my force field, which had been condensed to about the size of a watch head, managed to hold off enough that the dragons stopped beating their wings. \"Get the piercing ammo while we can see!\" I shouted at her. \"Hey, I've already got it loaded! Now get here and take a rifle!\" She shouted at me, in a rather commanding voice.\n\nWe took the rifles, and my implants started showing where to fire (think aimbots). After a couple shots, something was not good. The implants started ticking again, like when they're counting. More had come from somewhere. These were an underground-dwelling species. \"Emily you might want to hear this. My implants are saying that there are 608 dragons,\" I said, utterly gobsmacked. \"I'm starting to think this was a bad idea,\" my inner thought process told me, in the most condescending tone possible.\n\nThere was only one species I knew that fit the bill. Underground dwellers, winged and form huge colonies. Desert Spinebacks. These were an incredibly lucrative species, because they were unbelievably secretive. This would be a nice payout, if I came out alive. Camouflage: Nearly perfect. If I didn't know how to spot them camouflaged, I might think they were around me. Luckily they would flee nests at a sudden noise, as an adaptation to stop other camouflaging desert dragons eating them, because they were quite small. They would simply just leave the eggs as the colony surviving was better then getting the eggs, which would take ages because of how many they lay. They also left young still without wings.\n\nI got out my flashbang grenades. I kept them if I ever needed a getaway. This was quite convenient. \"Emily, take one,\" I told her. \"Sure thing,\" she replied. We threw a couple, and I saw a huge flock simply leave. They were flying away. Now was the time to catch all the young. I got a sack out, which I just quickly made before we left to put the young and eggs in. \"We need to be fast, before the young escape,\" I told Emily. Dragonology was definitely a useful class.\n\nWe hauled the sack into the boot of the hovercar and left for the big city, where they wanted us to deliver the dragons. They gave us 1 million dollars each. We both also may or may not have taken one for ourselves. Emily and I know each other quite well now.",
"They came after my necklace! Ive had it for years as ive wandered the earth, given to me by my father who was a nomad as well. \n\nOnce i saw the little one's face i ran for it! Knowing he wouldnt give chase unless i insulted or threatened him! And it was he who spoke \"that's mine\"! And started moving his little dragon legs towards me. As he crawled across the far away valley to chase me down i asked him what madness is this! I value my life and show you no disrespect! \n\nHe responded without ambiguity, the chain and medallion around my neck was a stolen artifact he had created himself! This, a memento of my father and a symbol of this young dragon's craftmanship has started an uproar. When the young one came i started to run with little to no conciousness. I arrived at my horse while the anxiety had overwhelmed me and i ran with death on my sleeve. My steed was reliable as ever. I am home in time to warn the country.\n\nI have no intention of returning this to him.\n\"So prepare your warriors, and weapons. We are going to war.\"\n\nThe commander stares at me baffeled, he succumbed to my unreasonable for no other reason than that i am the king of this land.\nHe bows and we proceed.\n\n300 dragons now know of the legendary medallion around my neck. And this will be the second war within 60 years for it. ",
"\"Mom, this is not the time nor the place for exaggeration. This is America, we're living in the middle of the middle of nowhere in the midwest, and you are telling me there are not only dragons, but multiple?\"\n\n\"Yes Rusty, Dragons. I can't believe you're questioning me on this. If your father would have told you, you would have believed the city council was run by yetis. Now go out there and scare them off somehow, can't you hear them?\"\n\nI paused for a moment, took a sip of my morning coffee, and went on eating breakfast. It had been years since Dad had died, hunting the Great Colossus Snail that he failed to capture. He died when his guide, himself, and his vehicle became trapped in a 20 yard wide and 5 foot deep snail trail that slowly flowed over them in a river-like current. The two men had written wills on the truck's dashboard bequething their meager fortunes to agencies that were dedicated to hunting such snails, I assume for revenge. Regardless, mother was quite scorned, and never thought well of the self proclaimed Snail Slayer. \n\n\n\"If you expect me to run the dragons off, mom, especially this early in the morning on a sunday before I've finished my coffee, you're gonna need to give me an accurate number.\"\n\n\"Oh Rusty, just a few. And one big one. I think it's nesting in our orchard.\"\n\nUnintelligible and incredulous mouth sounds bubbled forth through the coffee I drank. I don't remember what I said, but it's surely not appropriate to say in front of mother. \n\n\"And how do you expect me to fight a brood mother?!\" \n\n\"I have your father's old goblin fighting scimitar, two flares with flare gun, and heavy bolt cutters.\"\n\n\"Crap mom, I need at least a military grade anti tank gun for the brood mother and a shotgun for the babies.\"\n\n\"Well, you can't leave for work until you deal with them, I think a couple of the small ones were defacating in your car and sleeping on the seats.\"\n\n\"My god mom this is like the Dark Elf Whiskey disaster of 99'.\"\n\n\"Here, take your weapons, sir knight Russell, and slay your queen a dragon.\"\n\n\"Well go find a shovel to bury me in about ten minutes, assuming I'm not totally eaten.\"\n\n\"I believe you can do anything you believe in dear.\"\n\n\n\nI strode forth out the front door and into the yard. I held the scimitar in my right hand, the long handled bolt cutters in the other. I was no creature hunter, but I was my father's son. The flaregun was jammed in my sweatpants waistband, pointed where no man should ever point a gun. \n\nFirst I cleared the small dragons, three of them, from my sedan. Dragon shit was sprayed haphazard on every inch of fabric in the interior. A small fire smoldered in the back seat, creating a dual smell of burning and non-burning shit. The dragons were tiny, 2 or 3 foot tall. It would take hundreds of years to get to their mothers size. \n\nWhen I went to the orchard, I saw she was larger than I had ever heard or seen. She was 50 foot tall while crouching, and a rumbling like a B1 bomber flying overhead began as she opened her mouth to greet me. Her teeth were jagged and covered in black scorch marks and gingivitis. The spikes and crests that ran down her back and tail were a history lesson of battlescars. She was crouched in the center of the peach trees, in the large clearing where we had kept our equipment. I saw my tractor a burnt wreck, it was halfway down the hill upon which the house and orchard sat, and looked like it had been briefly chewed and then thrown. \n\n\"I am the dragon slayer!\" I proclaimed with lack of bravado, and fired a flare directly at the dragon's head. It didn't seem to like the threat, and grabbed me with it's claws. I dropped the scimitar and it clattered on the ground as the dragon lifted me up to it's maw. \n\nShe was old and beautiful, close up, and as she held me up to eat me I fired the other flare at her eye and missed. Smoke filled my senses as I was tossed into her mouth. All I had was the bolt cutters now, and I gripped teeth with my left arm while batting at the rather maneuverable tongue that sought to entangle me. I looked up and saw a final hope, a javelin from god knows when had been broken off and was lodged, infected and seeping in the roof of her mouth. I jumped onto the tongue and in a moment gripped the shaft of the javelin with the cutters and pulled with every ounce of weight I had. \n\nNoise shattered my senses, darkness became blinding light and fire, and gravity made it's presence known as I tumbled to the ground. Pain was everything, and I surrendered to death. \n\n\n\n\"Wake up, why are you covered in pus? Oh my god you stink, get inside, you need to take shower while I get rid of those clothes. Have you seen your car, it looks awful.\"\n\nI groaned deeply, and opened my eyes to see dusk descending, my mother standing over me, and not a single dragon in sight.",
"The teenage neophyte towered over the wizened old wizard, but seemed to shrink within himself until he was but a four-year old boy caught stealing sugar cane sticks.\n\n\"Um...I think there were...like...two or three...\"\n\n\"Two? Or Three? Gods above, you blithering idiot, can you not tell me whether it was two dragons you saw, or three? It's not hard!\" The wizard held up two gnarled fingers in his left hand and shook them upwards at the cowering boy. Electric sparks sizzled and crackled between the fingers. \"Here's two!\" He held up three bony, bent fingers in his right hand, tiny luminous dust clouds popping off in micro-fireballs around them. \"Here's three! Damn you, how many was it?\"\n\n\"...score...\"\n\n\"Shit.\"\n",
"\"Fine. Between 3 and 7.\n\n\"That's no more accurate then a few.\n\n\"Well some are big, some are small, and some have got no tail at all.\n\n\" a dragon without a tail? Is it a girl or a male?\n\n\"How the fuck am I to know? You could've just poked your head out the front fucking door instead of asking me.",
"\"Oh nothing like the usual, Todd\" I say gazing at the field dragons snapping up our cattle \"24 give or take\"\n\n\"Well shit, how are we gonna make profit if these damn dragons keep on eating all our cattle\" said Todd, aggravated as usual.\n\n\"Todd. Big idea. GREAT idea, what if, and hear me out this tim-\"\n\n\"We are not raising, fucking dragons.\" Interrupted Todd clearly not amused by the fact it's the 80th time I'd asked this week.\n\n\"Well, while you're away, I decided, and hear me out. That I'd take a dragon. And oh is she a beauty she is only a couple weeks old and the scrawny outcast but what a beautiful shade of green!\" \n\n\"You're an idiot\" click~\n\n\"He just doesn't understand. Wait until he sees you. What a pretty little one you are!\" I say wistfully gazing at her \"WAIT DON'T EAT THAT!\"\n\n\n",
"\"All right. About a dozen. They're in the maple tree.\"\n\nJenny rolled her eye then stopped short.\n\n\"That's where we have the bird feeder?\"\n\nMike nodded.\n\n\"Goddamnit to Hell,\" she snarled. She stomped off to the back door. She grabbed the broom that was kept there for such emergencies.\n\nMike grinned and went to the fridge. He pulled out an apple and a black cherry soda, while listening to the dragon squawks as Jenny sought to drive them away from the bird feeder.\n\n\"Get out of here! Shoo, you scaly pests! Vamooose! SCREW!\" \n\nMike laughed as he went to the family room. The game would be on shortly.",
"Everyone tends to turn towards loud sounds, which makes sense in non-explosive cases. At this point it just meant that Dave, Greg and Sue got to see John lean his back against the door he had just slammed shut and slowly sink to the floor. \n\n“Dude,” Dave said. “Duuuude,” Greg agreed. “You look sweaty,” Sue said, she always had been the perceptive one. “Did you run back?”\n\nAt this point she got up and walked over to John. Dave and Greg looked at her having some difficulty understanding how she could be standing up when gravity was so high. Sue however was not noticing the increased gravity, because she wasn’t, excuse the colloquialism, tripping balls. She was however high enough to have mostly gone over to John to grab the bags of snacks he was supposed to get. When she realized that supposed to meant that he indeed hadn’t, she understandably freaked out a little. \n\n“Dude!” she exclaimed, tears starting to well up in her eyes. “Ice cream!”\n\nThis made no sense to Dave and Greg. Why would John have forgotten to buy the ice cream when he clearly would have remembered to buy all the other things on the lengthy list they had imagined giving him? In no reality did it make sense to them for John to have not brought the things they so heartily craved. \n\n“D… dragons…” John stammered out. “There’s a… uh… a few dragons outside.” \n\nThe silent pause in the apartment after his statement befit the gravity of the situation. “Dude,” said Greg. “Dude you know how like… rabbits?” Eyes turned towards him. Was this going to be another one of the raunchy side-stories Greg, the man who had allegedly once banged a movie star or possibly just a crack whore that looked a lot like Steve Buscemi, constantly came up with? \n\n“Dude, like… some rabbits is subjective,” he said, clarifying exactly nothing. “Three rabbits is like, objective.” The group were enthralled by this lesson in elementary grammar that probably constituted the bulk of what Greg remembered from school. “So like… when you say a few dragons, that’s like, subjective dude.” \n\nGazes turned again towards John, seeking clarification given this new and vital information. “Oh,” John said and slowly got up, stumbling towards the couch. Sue stomped her foot angrily at him, and he shuffled around her awkwardly, getting a punch in the arm for his troubles. Sue was rather mean when she had the munchies. “Like I dunno, three? I didn’t fucking count them,” he said, feeling somewhat defensive. \n\n“Three is a lot,” Dave said, nodding sagely, giving his own subjective take on the situation. Theoretically true his statement was met with silence. Three might not be a lot when it comes to candy bars or scoops of delicious ice cream, but it was certainly a lot when it came to dragons. \n\n“Yeah,” Greg agreed. “Guess we better stay inside.” This prompted an angry and ice-cream deprived snort from Sue, but she didn’t entirely disagree. Three dragons was a lot. \n\n“So like, Dude,” Dave said to John as John slid down into the couch in that semi-liquid fashion of extreme relaxation, “Dude, like, were did they spot you?”\n\nEyes turned to John again, and he threw up his hands. “Just as I was coming back, dude,” he said. “Outside the old hags house.” This did not need further explanation, the four had ran into the old hag more than once and she had earned the name quite well. \n\nAgain the silence reigned as the four processed the loss of previously expected deliciousness. Then suddenly Sue perked up. “Dude… you were on your way back?” \n\n“Yeah,” John said with a sigh. “Good thing I was close to home.” This just made Sue perk up more, which wasn’t unusual – she was the lightweight of the gang and usually partook in far less of the entertainment, meaning she was typically the perkiest of them. \n\n“Dude,” she said excitedly. “Ice cream!”\n\nAs one three set of tired eyes flew up as they realized the treasure waiting for them, dropped somewhere between here and the old hags house. Three dragons was a lot… subjectively. Objectively, there was bags of tasty things on the ground, waiting to be eaten. \n\nThere was a sudden commotion as hands reached behind couches eagerly grabbing pieces of steel armor, swords were brought out from the cleaning cupboard, and constant exclamations of “Dude!” and “Dude?” and “Duuuude” as they started helping each other suit up. \n\nThe knights would ride again, and three dragons, or thereabouts, would be bravely slain. Perhaps. \n\nDefinitely, if they stood between Sue and her ice cream.\n\n*****\nI archive my writing on r/ringaroundtheroses in case you're looking for more to read! ",
"\"Well, there's quite a lot,\" he said. \"A few too many, really.\" He glared at him.\n\n\"You fucking bafoon. I know there are quite a lot outside. It would be very helpful if you gave me a fucking estimate how of many fucking dragons are outside our fucking door,\" his friend said.\n\n\"Well, come on, Rob. This isn't that big of a deal. I mean we could totally just wa--,\" he said before getting interrupted by a loud roar. The smell of something burning reached their noses.\n\n\"I'm gonna fucking die in here with this idiot,\" Rob whispered to himself.\n\n\"I heard that, dude. I feel like, you know, we could totally hug this out. Talk about why we feel the way we do. Then we could totally fight a dragon or two,\" he said, looking at Rob with a tear in his eye.\n\nRob looked up at him. \"You really mean that, buddy?\" he asked.\n\n\"Well, yeah, of course, anything for you. You've been there for me through thick and thin, right? You remember that time you told my mom I'd be downstairs in a minute? I wasn't down for like ten! What would I do without you, dude?\" he said unabashedly.\n\n\"Haha, well, yeah...\" Rob trailed off blushing. Another roar shook the hut. \n\n\"What the fuck is wrong with you, dipshit? I've got a dragon, or two, or a fucking few whatever the fuck that means right outside of my damn hut. If you can't stop distracting me with this stupid fucking feel good talk, I'm going out there and stopping them myself!\" Rob yelled. He picked up the 'Dragon Ass-Blaster Mk. 2' from his bedside table. Eric just looked at him. \n\n\"You? Trying to fire the Mk. 2 Ass-Blaster? In your dreams, bro. Here, let me do it,\" Eric said as he tried to take the gun. Rob pulled away, not ready to relinquish his forthwith Ass-Blasting™ session.\n\nAnother roar and stream of smoke interrupted the argument. \n\n\"What are we doing?\" they both asked. \"Fighting over an ass-blaster? What's the point, even. Go blast those asses, bud,\" Eric said, beaming.\n\nRob looked him in the eyes, gave him a slight smile and walked over to the door. He took a deep breath, and kicked it open.\n\n\"I'm here to grow some grass and blast some ass, and I'm all out of fertiziler!\" he yelled, looking up at the dragons, but it was too late. Their asses had been pre-blasted. Rob looked over at Eric with his jaw hanging wide open. \n\n\"You did... did this?... with your own ass-blaster?\" Rob asked in astonishment. Eric put his hands up trying to play innocent, but the charred circle around his zipper told the entire story.\n\n*fin*\n\n---\n\nLiked it? Don't know how you felt about it? Me neither. Check out more of my writing at /r/tcct",
"\"Listen closely Sarah, you know that if it was two or three dragons I'd have said a couple of dragons...\" He paused as she started to scold him for assuming that the dragons were dating each other, he cut her off \"It's a figure of speech, listen we are getting off topic here! There's a few *DRAGONS*, fire breathing ones, and yes I *SAW* them breath fire before you scold me for assuming they're *ALL* fire breather-\" He sighed as she hung up on him saying he's so insensitive and never listens to her.\nJeff stood there looking out the window as the sky filled with smoke from the fires the dragons where causing filled the sky, as one flew towards the house, fire streaming across the ground he stared out the window at the approaching flame, \"Is it a gaggle, a flock, pack or what when its a bunch of dragons together...\" The flames burst through the window and ended the train of thought.",
"\"Ehh. Thats kind of difficult to awnser. I mean, how do you personally count multiple headed dragons? Do you consider it a single dragon because its one body, or since each head is conscious does each head count as its own dragon? What about younger ones? Do they get a full point or because they arent as big do they get a fraction? Honestly, I'm kind of confused on what awnser you are trying to get to. The literal amount? Because if you're interested in the amount of danger ourside, I have to say, I against asigning each dragon a single point. That said, it does get into very 'personal opinion' territory. Do you asign the same points to a fire breathing dragon to an acid spewing dragon of equal size? Is acid worse or better that fire? Teeth verse claws? Speed or power? Honestly, i don't think i can come up with a suitabe awnser.\"\n\n\"... You know what, I'll just check for myself.\"",
"\"*Really*?\" Kevrel asked, incredulously waving his arm, \"That's the word you're focusing on? *Few*?\"\n\nDurai opened her mouth to speak again but Kevrel cut her off before another word could escape her lips.\n\n\"You heard what I said, right? *Dragons*? Plural? As in, more than one? There are *a few dragons* outside this building right now!\" Kevrel was nearly shouting in her face at this point, leaning over the expensive marble desktop.\n\n\"I'm sorry, Minister, but I cannot let you past the desk without proper auth...\"\n\n\"You know what?\" Kevrel cut her off again. He took a deep breath, leaned away from her and conjured up what was almost a smile. \"Never mind. I need to talk to Minister Havache. I'm invoking Council authority. If you stop me you are committing treason and you will be subject to an immediate penalty of dismemberment.\" He gestured to his three aides to follow him through the lobby of the building, past the insanely aggravating receptionist whose mouth was agape but who did not attempt to halt their progress. \n\n\"Fucking vampires,\" he muttered to himself as he hurriedly stalked toward the elevator, his team sticking close to the heels of his heavy boots. \"Endless storerooms of logic, not a bucket of common sense.\"\n\nThe elevator was dimly but fashionably lit and rose quicker than Kevrel was accustomed to. His aides, two satyrs and a fawn, were clearly rattled just by being in the building. But he had little sympathy for them. Not today. Not when *they* were outside. Sooner or later, these three interns would need to learn to deal with difficult situations, like he had when he was a young upstart politician. Better to learn this way, under fire, than to sit at a desk for hours on end taking memos from some prattling old geezer who had been in office a hundred years or more.\n\n*Funny*, he thought to himself, *Under fire. That expression just might be a little too on the nose today*.\n\nThe elevator's bell rang and the doors abruptly opened. There was only one office on this floor, the top floor, and it was the one he needed. The moment the doors were wide enough apart to admit his hulking frame he levered himself free of the elevator and strode angrily toward the man standing at the bar behind the huge, ornate mahogany desk at the far end of the room. Havache nearly dropped the decanter of wine he was holding when Kevrel snorted an accusation at him.\n\n\"What the fuck did you do, you goddamned imbecile?!\" Kevrel hollared at him, his head lowered as if we was about to rush the human and gore him with his horns. Havache's eyes widened further; he had obviously never seen a fellow Council member in such a rage. Kevrel was fine with that. He knew that anything he did to Havache would be far better than what awaited the two of them outside.\n\n\"Ah, Minister Kevrel. So nice to see you this early in the morning,\" the human said, regaining some of his composure, \"To what do I owe the honor of your visit?\" \n\nHavache's eyes darted to the three aides Kevrel had brought with him, a clear signal to Kevrel that he did not wish to discuss less-than-legitimate business in front of lackeys.\n\nKevrel ignored the glance completely. \"Don't. Not now, Havache. Maybe never again.\" He was almost upon the man now, just a few more steps. Kevrel dropped his expensive briefcase on the floor and unbuttoned the top of his expensive suit as he approached.\n\n\"Why are they here, Havache?\" he asked, his tone low and menacing. His head was still lowered, eyes blazing and fixed on the human.\n\n\"I don't know what...\" Havache stammered. \n\nKevrel cut him off like the obstinate receptionist in the lobby: \"You ignorant, facile dunce!\" he screamed, delivering a blow straight to the human's gut. The three interns in the room were forgotten. The office was forgotten. Everything but his anger was forgotten. Havache doubled over in pain. Kevrel snorted at his kneeling body, \"If you exposed my people to the Judges because of a fucking *timber contract*, I will personally have your anus on the end of my horns!\"\n\nHavache looked up at the enraged minotaur towering over him, a confused expression on his face. \"I don't know what you're talking...\"\n\n\"*The motherfucking DRAGONS are here, Havache! Six of them! Six!!*\"\n\nKevrel watched as the realization of the present situation dawned on the face of the human, and kept watching as the dawning realization turned to abject terror. Kevrel was not expecting that. He grasped and lifted Havache off the floor by his shoulders, like a child, staring directly into his eyes.\n\n\"What,\" he asked again, seething, \"did you *do?*\"\n\nHavache's eyes were staring into the distance behind Kevrel, as if he were trying to remember a book he'd read years earlier. He didn't answer.\n\n\"*What did you do?!*\" Kevrel yelled again, this time giving the smaller Councilman a quick, hard shake.\n\n\"They're not here about the timber,\" Havache answered in an ominous whisper, finally meeting Kevrel's eyes. His voice was hollow.\n\nAt that moment, the wall opposite Kevrel began to melt. The paintings, and the tapestry, and the woodwork, and the wall color itself all began to run together and drip toward the floor. Kevrel could feel the heat before he turned and looked at his doom bearing down upon him. There was no escape from them. The wall continued to melt until there was a gaping hole a hundred feet wide. He could see two dragons hovering just on the other side, their bronze-tinted black skin glinting in the morning sun.\n\nAnother, larger dragon glided through the hole that had been melted in the wall. It was one Kevrel knew; white skin that shone with an iridescence that made her look angelic in the sunlight, and a single red fleck of color splashed across her temple over her left eye. Jinthreka. Kevrel dropped Havache. \n\nNo sooner had Jinthreka landed in the ostentatiously huge office than a second dragon followed her through the building's new aerial entrance. This one, a deep, dark green with flecks of gold pinpricking down his back and tail, was known to all, though very few had ever met him in person. Lord Kalenth. The Keystone of the Judiciary.\n\nKevrel sank to one knee, bowing low before the two Judges, fearing the worst. They must know. How could they not? In the presence of the Lord of Judges, Kevrel became suddenly convinced that the misdeeds he had sown with the human next to him were somehow laid bare, and he would be punished without hesitation. He had contracted logging operations with a disreputable partner, on lands he did not own, to bolster the economy of his failing peoples' settlements.\n\n((continued))",
"\"What's going on out there?!\" screamed Commander Hilliard over the thunderous rumbles and otherworldly screeches, \"Has anyone seen the threat?\"\n\nFresh ground pebbles and fine dust fell from the stone ceiling as another impact shook the Central Tower. It was hard to tell if the voices were friend or foe, their echoes carried through the stone, vague and haunting in Hilliard's ears. He needed to get this situation under control.\n\n\"Who has seen these unwelcome guests knocking on our walls?! ANYONE!\"\n\nThe door to the southern ramparts flung open, revealing a Captain and a lowly Tower Guard. The Captain nudged the poor boy forward into the Situation Room, \"Sir! This solider was stationed on the Southern Tower right before it fell, he has seen the threat!\"\n\nHilliard responded calmly with a hint of relief, \"Well done Captain, thank you for bringing him. Continue to hold the lines.\"\n\n\"Sir!\" The Captain exited to fulfill his commands.\n\n\"Now,\" Hilliard turning his attention to the surviving guard, \"Are you okay, boy? What is your name?\"\n\n\"R-R-Ryan, sir!\" The Tower Guard's name is Ryan.\n\n\"Okay, son, now tell me very clearly and accurately, what did you see?\"\n\nRyan straitened up and took a deep breath before locking eyes with Commander Hilliard. \"Well sir, it was a dense foggy day here on the Mount of Kings during the 500th Eve of the Great Rest...\"\n\n\"I know where we are, the date and the weather outside, child! What. Are. We. Fighting. Understand?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir! Sorry, sir. Just a few dragons.\"\n\nCommander Hilliards let out a sigh of relie-\"Wait, DRAGONS?!\"\n\n\"Yessir, those large, scaly, winged creatures the size of a nice stable with the appetite to match. Dragons, sir.\" Ryan spake, proud to think he actually knew something.\n\n\"How many?\" Hilliard managed to both scream and whisper through gritted teeth. \n\n\"Like I said, sir, just a few. Though it is a really foggy day, there could have been more.\"\n\nExhaling his rage, he regrouped his wits against this Ryan boy. \"You know the difference between subjective and objective, right? For example: 'Some rabbits' is the former, 'three rabbits' is the latter, and much more accurate. So I'm going to need you to be very clear when you say there are 'a few' dragons outside. How many dragons are out there?\"\n\n\"Possibly a posse, sir.\"\n\n\"Do you know how to count?\"\n\n\"No, sir; I don't know the words for numbers.\"\n\n'God's Damn It', Hilliard screamed in his mind, \"Okay, son.\" Hilliard needed a way to translate. \"How many fingers am I holding up\" he holds up his thumb and his middle finger.\n\n\"The thumb ain't a finger, sir, it is a digit, so only your middle finger. An excellent trick question, sir, but is this really the time for that?\"\n\nHilliard began to fume, \"You don't know how to count but you know the word 'digit'?..\", but his training is keeping him centered, \"No, you're right,\" sarcastically, \"how many now?\" he said, holding up all on one hand but his thumb.\n\n\"Well, that's an entourage, sir.\"\n\nThree fingers, \"A few.\"\n\nFive, \"A group.\"\n\nSix, \"A posse.\"\n\nEight, \"A couple of entourages.\"\n\nHilliard raised his index fingers to his temples and massaged as best his could to combat this ignorant fool. \"How about by color? Give me the group name of each color you saw.\"\n\n\"Oh, right sir, okay then, there was: a white posse, a couple of greens, a few blacks, an entourage of blues, a multi-colored and....hmm, hold on,\" Ryan paused to do the equivalent of calculating, \"and I reckon about a council of posses of those red dragons, but they were smaller than the others....or just really far away. It was foggy up there you know.\"\n\n\"A council?\" Hilliard managed to expel from his mouth. If he survives he will push for complete education for all in the empire, if only to never deal with this again.\n\n\"That'd be if you and that guy over there, is he sleeping?, oh no he just stabbed himself. Well, if he were still alive, you and him would hold an entourage in each hand. So, wait yeah, an entourage of entourages, that's a council.\"\n\nOne of the auxiliary commanders was laying in the corner. He had committed suicide by self-inflicted stabbing, Hilliard noticed now and gave his regards to the body, \"Courage picks its moments to embody us, but not always for what we thought we'd need courage for. May the Great Sleep take you, solider.\" His mind lingered on the thought of the Great Sleep...would it take him away from this imbecile?\n\nHilliard snapped to, \"You said a council of entourages of the red variety, right?\"\n\n\"Yessir, give or take a couple, due to-\"\n\n\"The Fog,\" Hilliard finished the sentence for Ryan. He was sick of the excuse...but had to excuse it.\n\nAfter a moment of converting, Hilliard landed on 96 Reds and 16 of the other varieties attacking the Keep. \"You're saying there are 112 dragons attacking us right now?\"\n\n\"No sir, I said there were a few...though perhaps I should have said 'many', that might have given you a better indication of what's happening out there. It's pretty bad, sir. I wish you knew how to use collective nouns, then I could have told you this earlier.\"\n\nThe Commander has officially lost control as his armored fist grips Ryan by his jaw, if only to shut him up. \"I have lost too many men, jeopardized the security of our empire, our FUTURE, and all the work we've done holding back the Winged Tide from crashing into ours lands. FIVE. HUNDRED. YEARS. My family has dedicated to protecting you serfs from total destruction, and this is what I get?! The one person who came to give me the information I needed can't even count! What is your damage, child? Why am I even fighting at this point?!\"\n\nSuddenly, the wall crashes in, rubble sprays across the War Tables. A chunk of stone crushes the auxiliary commander's body in the corner, spewing blood onto the War Tables. A large blotch of blood strikes and stains the part of the map containing their Keep on the Mount of Kings.\n\nA large maw of horns and scales pierces the breach, it's clear scales refracting the sunlight into a menagerie of colors throughout the room. Aside from the sheer terror of a dragon's head entering the room, the display was quite mesmerizing. Commander Hilliard let Ryan go as both took a step toward the staircase on the east side of the tower.\n\n\"That's the multi-colored one I saw before, sir.\" Ryan spoke up, nearly choking on his own tongue.\n\n\"That would be a Prismatic Dragon, young Ryan, the most dangerous kind that we know of.\" Hilliard replied in a defeated monotone.\n\nThe Dragon slithered his way into the tower, inch by inch, scales clinking like armor with each muscle movement. Its head got within the human's grasp, when it coughed twice and spoke.\n\n\"Hey there, Hi there, Ho There!,\" said a squeaky effeminate voice from the dragon's mouth, \"my name is Dew Drop. Yes, I am a Prismatic Dragon and leader of this assault to reclaim our lands from you quaint little parasites. I do hope you have a nice afterlife!\" Dew Drop spoke plainly and kindly, a surprise as most dragons would rather eat to their food then talk to it. It opened it's mouth as its throat clenched. A phantasmagoria began coalescing into the back of his throat as he prepared his magical breath. The last thing Hilliard would see is a beam of refracted light reducing him and Ryan into ash and dust.\n\nDew Drop paused before releasing his power, \"I couldn't help but overhear your discussion earlier. You know, anything more than a council of dragons is known as a Dignity of Dragons.\"\n\nRyan looked towards Hilliard, a morbid joy overtook his face, \"*That's* how many dragons are out there, sir.\"\n\nHilliard was wrong, the last thing he would see is Ryan's stupid smiling face lit up in a multi-hued glow, only slightly less ignorant than he was before....and Dew Drop was left with his Dignity intact.\n\nEDIT: Some grammar mistakes and story elements that I caught.\n\nEDIT 2: Thank you kind stranger for my first ever Gold! :)",
"\nI sighed, why did it always have to be so hard? All I wanted was to be back in my office, cheerfully drinking away this month's pay and ogling wood elf woodcuts. Instead I was having this conversation. \n\n\"As I was saying, the Dark Lord Zelbreth has dispatched me--\"\n\nA voice interrupted me again, \"No, Zelbreth's the princess\"\n\nI looked around at the different members of the extremely unimpressive adventuring group, trying to figure out who said that. Was it the inexpelicably literare barbarian with a tragic past? The wizard who was reading a copy of the kingdom's laws...for some reason. It definetly wasn't the cleric who was obviously just here because she was dating someone else, boy did she look bored. No it came from the rogue who was just running around the room trying to hide behind shit, hyperactive bastard. Real winners these folks. \n\nI decided to just press on. \n\n\"The Dark Lord Zelbreth, who is not a princess, has disoatched me to let you know that you are surrounded by a few dragons. A few being an arbitrary term that means between three-and-it-doesn't-matter-because-you-can't-beat-three. Now if you'll just lower your weap--\"\n\n\"I think we should kill him,\" the barbarian opined. He was the sort who only ever opined. \n\n\"Nah, then dragons will fry us.\" The wizard responded\n\n\"Standing riiiiight here...\" I pointed out. \n\n\"Can you stop interrupting him?\" the cleric asked, \"I just want to get through this already.\"\n\n\"Uh...thanks I guess. As I was saying the Dark Lord Zelbreth--\"\n\n\"Princess! Zelbreth is the--\"\n\n\"Shut up rogue. Zelbreth and his dragons request the pleasure of your--\"\n\n\"What do you mean 'just get through this',\" the wizard asked, \"I thought you were having fun?\"\n\n\"I am,\" the cleric obviously lied. \n\n\"It just seems like you aren't--\" \n\nThis time I interrupted. Even a Dark Lord's minions have horrors he doesn't want to see, and that conversation was one of them. \n\n\"Regardless of who is having fun. You are still surrounded by a few dragons and no you don't get to find out how many that is unless you look yourself. Now will you surrender or --\" \n\n\"I think I looked earlier.\" The rogue responded. \n\n\"Well do you remember how many dragons you saw?\" \n\n\"No,\" the rogue allowed, \"but I feel like I should know. I did look before.\"\n\nI was starting to lose it. Why was every group of adventurers exactly the same? \"I am not responsible for how well you remember the number of dragons. So now I'm\ntelling you a few, so there!\"\n\n\"I still think we should kill him,\" the barbarian opined again. screw that guy, he was why I never opine.\n\n\"He said we can't,\" responded the cleric. \n\n\"No I said we shouldn't,\" responded the wizard. \n\n\"So are we killing him then?\" Said the rogue disturbingly close to my ear. \n\n\"How about you let me finish? Just please?\" I don't usually beg, but there was a knife to my back. \n\n\"Ok,\" the wizard allowed, \"but you have to let us do what we were going to do when you were talking, after you finish\"\n\n\"Ok, sure whatever. Look the Dark Lord Zelbrath wants you to surrender yourselves to him.\"\n\n\"Never,\" several of them. I think. \n\n\"so he can hire you to.\"\n\n\"A quest we accept.\" The wizard this time. \n\n\"--to retrieve the dark jewel of tramalda.\" \n\n\"Ok we accept,\" the cleric assured me in a monotone.\n\n\"If you refuse you will be destroyed by the between 3 and 5 dragons outside.\"\n\n\"I still think I should know how many dragons are outside,\" the rogue sulked. \n\n\"Will you come with me now?\" I finished. Thank god. \n\n\"Yeah of course. We always accept quests,\" explained the wizard. \n\n\"We should kill him when we get the chance,\" the barbarian opined. \n",
"\"Objectively I'd say there are two and a quarter dragons, sir.\"\n\n\"Two and a quarter? How in the world could you possible come up with answer that specific?\" Remarked the guard captain.\n\n\"Well sir, one seems like more of wyvern than a dragon so I figured...\"\n\n\"A what?\n\n\"A wyvern, sir.\"\n\n\"Well what the hell is a wyvern?\"\n\n\"Well one of the dragons is missing its front legs so I figure that makes it a wyvern, sir.\"\n\n\"We have different names for disabled dragons? Why would that possibly be a thing? You're obviously pulling my leg.\"\n\n\"No sir I believe they are born that way, and there are other differences as well.\"\n\n\"Well how many different types of giant winged lizard are there anyways?\"\n\n\"Well sir, I believe there are those two, the cockatrice, and... well I'm not sure if you could count what the basilisk has as wings but I think that covers most of them.\"\n\n\"How do you know all this?\"\n\n\"Who do you think called the dragons?\"\n\n",
"I have to resist the urge to freeze. \n\n\"No time, duck!\" I scream.\n\nA roar of fire and wind fills my ears. \n\n\"Dammit Melanie! You've been my apprentice for three years and you still can't count?!\"\n\n\"I can count, but when you a bunch of dragons, the first thing on your mind is to get out, not to count them!\"\n\nMy mentor, Cid, had always been calm until now. I dunno what got into him, but I don't like it. He quivers in fear, eyes glazed off into the distance.\n\n\"Look Cid, please focus. Now is not the time to panic. Come on.\"\n\nI outstretch my hand to him but he nods his head.\n\n\"I'm staying here.\" He lets a few tears escape. I've never known him to cry before. He's killed goblins. He's had both of his legs crushed. He lost his wife. His son. He didn't cry at any of those things... But now? \n\n\"Cid. Please.\" I beg, but he refuses to get up. He takes his bow. A fancy, custom made silver bow made for the king, that had been passed down to him and hands it to me. It was one of the most powerful weapons of its time, about 100 years ago. It still holds up remarkably well though. \n\n\"No. You aren't leaving me!\"\n\nHe spits on my face.\n\n\"Get lost. Slay yourself a dragon. Or a few. Be the first woman, no, human ranger to kill one of those bastards.\n\n\"Please Cid. Please come with me.\" I have to stay strong. It hurts to see my mentor like this. He was like a Dad to me. I was an orphan. He picked me up and taught me everything I know.\n\nHe sits there, unmoving.\n\nI get down to his level, and wrap my arms around him.\n\n\"I love you... D-dad. Please don't die.\"\n\nHe snorts, silently thinking for 15 seconds.\n\n\"I'm not your Dad. My time is up, please just let me die in peace, Mel.\"\n\n\"NO!\" I scream, but he won't budge. I try to pick him up, but he kicks me to get off.\n\nI give up. I'll let the old man die. I wipe up my tears away and head to battle. \n\nI see the monster about 100 feet away from me. In textbooks, they usually show dragons as being these beautiful, elegant red or green creatures. That's just flat out wrong. This one was a disgusting, fat, ugly looking dinosaur wannabe. It's eyes aren't the same size. In fact one of them wasn't even in it's eye socket, it was just floating off the little eye string. \n\nI pull off Cid's bow from my back. I load three arrows at ones.\n\n\"One... Two... Three!\"\n\nI release the volley, eyes closed and heart pounding. ",
"\"Riight.. Yea, so I don't know if ten really is 'a few'?\"\n\n\"Ten?! I wouldn't call..\"\n\n\"Yea and now one of them seems to have taken interest in us. See?\" I interrupted when the purple one of the bunch started to waddle towards us.\n\n\"Those aren't the kind of dragons I thought of, when you said there were 'a few' **dragons** outside\" my friend said as he had huddled to the window by now.\n\nAnd yes I can understand how one might be surprised by that characterization, but I didn't know what I'd call them. I mean, now that I look at them they could just as easily be called dinosaurs, but those things shouldn't exist anymore anyways and as a matter of fact they don't really look like conventional dinosaurs either. What are you supposed to call a large blobby thing with reptilian features, that is walking on two legs anyways?\n\nThe purple blobby reptilian thing that had taken interest in us started to get closer and suddenly I could swear I can hear it.. Yankee fucking Doodle? \n\n\"What.. the..\", I started.\n\n\"I have no idea.\"\n\n\"So you hear that too?\"\n\n\"Yeaa....\"\n\nWe looked at each other with our eyebrows raised, as we contemplated the state of our reality. Now the lyrics slowly started to become clear and it wasn't Yankee Doodle, even if it shared the melody. This made us both question our sanity if there was still anything left to question, because this was a version of the song both of us were unfamiliar with. \n\n\"What.. What should we do?\" I asked in the most confused state I'd ever been in. My friend just silently got up and started to walk out of the room. I decided to follow, as the purple blobby reptilian thing was starting to make me feel more and more unease.\n\n\"We need the gun!\", said my friend.\n\n\"The gun?!\"\n\nI had no idea what gun he was talking about. No matter I wasn't about to be left alone downstairs as the purple blobby reptilian thing was dawning ever so closer to my friend's house. I followed my friend upstairs and into his dad's room. I could hear him mumbling under his breath \"it.. it should be riiight here. AHA!\" He drew a shotgun from under the bed.\n\n\"A fucking shotgun?!\" I exclaimed shocked. \"Don't you think that's a bit of an overkill? That thing looked weird, sure, but hardly blood lusty. More kind of, like, a hug you to death situation going on there, rather than a eat you the fuck alive type of scenario.\"\n\n\"I AIN'T LETTING NO PURPLE FUCKERS COME AND STEAL MY FUCKING PB&J!\", my friend yelled as he rushed downstairs.\n\nI rushed behind my buddy as he crushed through the front door. Next thing I could hear was \"SUPER DEE-DUPER\" coming out of the mouth of that reptilian blobby thing and the next thing was a loud BANG and then soon after a soft thud.\n\n\"I.. I think you just killed.. killed that.. that.. WHAT THE FUCK MAN?!\"\n\n\"HE WAS COMING FOR MY GOD DAMN PB&J BRO! I HAD NO OTHER CHOICE MAN! I could see the lust in his eyes.\"\n\n\"YOU DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A PB&J ON YOU!\" \n\n\"Oh shit you are right..\",said my friend when he realized the mistake he had made. \n\nThen I spotted this other lizardy monster kind of thing emerge from behind my friend's garage. It lifted it's bowler hat and said, \"You seem to have a problem on your hands, gentlemen! I can make that problem go away, but I have a price.\"\n\n\"What might that price be?\" I inquired.\n\nAnd the beast answered, \"Aaah.. That'd be about three fiddy.\"\n\nWhat a killer steal! Three fifty to make this purple blobby lizard carcass disappear, before the neighbors would discover that we killed this unique creature. I reached into my pocket and threw all the change I could find there at the monster and poof the purple blobby thing and the larger lizardy monster were gone.\n\nI then looked my friend in the eye and asked, \"Do you think the pills are working?\"\n\n_________________\n\nEdits: maybe I might be satisfied with the formating for now..",
"King Norton's eyes fluttered as he heard a crack. \"Thunder\" he said to himself before closing them again and attempting to go back to sleep. There was another. He tried to ignore it. A third, a fourth, and a fifth all came within rapid succession of the last few. Norton was awake now.\n\n\nHe stepped up, dressed himself, looked outside the window to see that it was a perfectly sunny day, and walked out of his bed chamber. When he started descending the stairs towards the rest of the castle he saw absolute confusion. \"What the hell is going on here?\" He asked, causing everyone to stop what they were doing.\n\n\nSix armored men approached him and pushed another man in front of Norton. \"Your grace, there are a few dragons outside.\"\n\n\n\"A few?\"\n\n\n\"A few.\"\n\n\n\"Alright listen uh.... What's your name again?\"\n\n\n\"Sir Morgan your grace.\"\n\n\n\"Sir Morgan, do you know the difference between subjective and objective right? 'some rabbits' is the former, 'three rabbits' is the latter, and much more accurate. So I'm going to need you to be very clear when you say there are 'a few' Dragons outside.\"\n\n\nMorgan was momentarily speechless at this when there was another crack. \"and what the hell is that noise?\"\n\n\n\"It's the Dragons sir.\"\n\n\n\"Wait these are Thunder Dragons? I assumed they were reds what the hell are Thunder Dragons doing out here?\"\n\n\n\"Well your grace only about Half of them are Thunders, the rest are blacks.\"\n\n\n\"Black Dragons?\"\n\n\n\"Yes majesty.\"\n\n\nKing Norton held his hand to his forehead and stepped away for a moment. \"What the fucking fucking fuckity fuck is going the fuck on that there are Black Dragons outside of my palace?\"\n\n\n\"Well uh...\"\n\n\n\"And for fucks sake how many of them are there?\"\n\n\nThere was a pregnant silence as one of the other Knights ran to the front door, cracked it open to look, then ran back. \"There are about 30 Your Majesty.\"\n\n\n\"Thirty Black Dragons is not a few Sir Morgan.\"\n\n\n\"Well your Grace only about 15 are Black the rest are...\" There was another crack of thunder, the castle appeared to actually shake. \n\n\n\"What do they want?\"\n\n\n\"They want to talk to you.\"\n\n\nThe king simply starred at Morgan for a moment with a scowl. \"Well, Alright. I guess I better go talk to them.\"\n\n\nHe had expected someone to try and stop him or talk him out of it but no one did. He made a mental note to put them in the front of dangerous battles next campaign. When he pushed open the door there was indeed about thirty Dragons milling about the town. Some where flying, some where standing on buildings or in the street. King Norton approached the massive black dragon sitting in the middle of the courtyard. It was immense, with massive piercing green eyes and a head that was at least twice the size of his entire body.\n\n\n\"Can I help you?\" The King said as the dragon was drinking from a fountain he had spent a lot of time constructing.\n\n\n\"Oh, are you the king?\" The Dragon asked, suddenly looking up.\n\n\n\n\"You're joking right?\" The king said motioning to his crown.\n\n\n\"Ah is that what that is? Anyway village near where I live has been unable to make offerings towards me as you have raised taxes. I was here with a few other like minded Dragons who are having similar problems.\"\n\n\n\"This is about a village? Why didn't you talk to the Knight Collecting Taxes and not come all the way to the capital?\"\n\n\n\"I tried that he died.\"\n\n\n\"You killed him?\"\n\n\n\"No he had a heart attack. Then I tried the Local steward, then the baron, then the count, then the lord paramount, they all either fled, told me to ask someone above them, or died like the first Knight. So I'm here.\"\n\n\n\"Okay, well I'm not going to lower taxes.\"\n\n\n\"Why not? I'd like offerings again.\"\n\n\n\"What do you want? Gold? Virgins?\"\n\n\n\"Hevans no. Just some sheep.\"\n\n\n\"We can easily give you sheep.\"\n\n\n\"oh, that would be lovely actually.\"\n\n\nThe King waited before speaking. \"Where would you like to have them?\" he said, slightly impatiently.\n\n\n\"Oh, I live on Dark Mountain. My friends will also give their locations.\"\n\n\n\"Perfect.\" the king replied. He then waited. Coughed, cleared his throat and started tapping his foot. \"can you leave now?\"\n\n\n\"Oh is that what you were waiting for? Yes. certainly.\" The Dragon said as he took off.\n\n\nThe King sighed before turning around. \"Doesn't anyone do any fuckin' work around here?\"",
"######[](#dropcap)\n\nThe Ranger squirmed and winced, rightly fearful of what he'd have to say.\n\n\"...Five?\"\n\nHilary Flint snarled and slammed his fist down onto the table, knocking the map's colored unit markers down as he rose from his seat. His spurs clicked on the stone floor as he strode from the room, flanked by his subordinates. \n\n\"Ready the flak guns and keep 'em covered,\" ordered Flint, passing a stream of civilians and support staff fleeing from the surface. \"We don't want whoever's up there to know where our defenses are too early. Get all non-essential personnel into the tunnels and seal the blast doors behind them. Everyone else to their post!\"\n\nThe fort's alarm, salvaged from an old tornado warning siren, warmed up, its keening drone rising and falling with a desperate madden air. The two churches constructed on the fort's grounds lent their bells to the cacophony, the heavy bronze bells tolling as fast as their ringers could pull. Green cloaked rangers and self-garbed militia hurried to their fighting stations, opening up weapons lockers and beginning the laborious process of hauling the heavy flak shells out from their magazines. Fire crews, garbed in reflective fire proximity suits, waited by their hoses and engines in preparation for the worst. \n\nHigh overhead, reeling and turning like great birds of prey, was the unmistakable shape of dragons. Even from such a height that blast of each wing beat could be felt on those below, stirring the dust and the leaves. One of them, a massive bull by the looks, roared like thunder's clap, sending the already nervous horses in the stables and the oxen in their pens to fright. The air was filled with the screams of animals and of men, those who'd had never seen a dragon.... or those who had fought them and survived. \n\nThere were men on the backs of those armored beasts. Draped in heavy armor and wrapped in lengths of turquoise cloth, they carried the grim tools of their trade, heavy axes and halberds and stout bows to pierce the hide of other dragons. Long banners fluttered from poles affixed to the straps and buckles which crisscross the creatures' bodies, each displaying a different house's sigil. \n\nFlint spat to the side as he read the heraldry through an offered binocular, taking in the details woven through the fabric. They took no action to attack or to take evasive measures. They wanted to be seen.\n\n\"For fuck's sake....\" he growled, shoving the binoculars back into the hands of the ensign who'd offered them. \n\n\"What? What is it?\"\n\n\"Those banners, they belong to House Alathir and her vassal houses. Things are far worse than I thought. We don't have invaders at our gates, we have *'uninvited'* guests.\" ",
"I fumbled over my thoughts as I stood before Jovian, King Winstar's most revered adviser. I only had a limited time to gain his trust.\n\nBefore I could utter a response, a giant claw emerged from the window followed by a deafening screech and a crash as the wall crumbled from the impact of a mighty dragon.\n\n\"Follow me!\" Jovian beckoned as we quickly descended further into the center of the castle.\n\nMy focus kept me oblivious to the clamor of pandemonium that erupted among the city-dwellers as I kept in sync with every step: I was on a mission.\n\n\"How did you foresee this?\" Jovian grumbled as he fiddled with a set of keys, \"From where did you gather this information?\"\n\n\"I fled the village of Maernst and watched it burn from afar\" I declared \"The pace of a horse was no match for a dragon once they set course. I did my best to alert the ruling power of the kingdom.\"\n\n\"Well it wasn't preparation enough, was it?\" his retort was brief.\n\nA large, heavy iron door slowly creaked open as Jovian leveraged his body to reveal a lavishly adorned armory.\n\nIn the center, atop a pedestal, sat a large spear with a vibrant emerald at the end of the shaft.\n\nJovian retrieved the spear and a cackling display of electricity shot out from all ends of the weapon.\n\n\"We must deliver this to the king!\" exclaimed Jovian as we set off once again.\n\nWe arrived in the center plaza of the castle to be greeted by the king and his battle-ready cavalry.\n\nKing Winston sat on a massive horse. Both were wearing brilliant, golden armor that reflected the sun as much as it did the dragons' flames. The true spectacle, however, was the emerald diamond ring he wore.\n\nI smiled as Jovian made his way to bequeath the powerful dragon-slayer to the almighty king. I readied my own weapon, a longbow, and painted the tip of my arrow with a pungent black powder I had kept hidden in a vial under my belt.\n\nA surge of energy felt throughout the kingdom thundered from the king's grasp as he lifted the spear to the ready. Lightning bolts sprang from his wrist and displayed his prowess. He was ready to strike down the dragons ravaging his city and threatening his sovereignty.\n\nI raised my bow with arrow mounted. Steadily, I drew the string back and took aim.\n\n\"Hoozaah!!\" bellowed the king as he commanded his troops to advance. The enthusiastic formation did not last long.\n\nI held my bowstring taught. When my confidence was strong, I let go and the arrow zipped from my hands. My aim was formidable: that much was certain.\n\nThe cursed black substance allowed the arrow to pierce through the aura of lightning. My shot struck true to it's mark. The king stiffened and tumbled from his reign. His horse reared upwards and let out a loud whine.\n\nA dome of silence overtook the cavalry as they watched in horror as their king writhed on the ground. The poison blackened his veins and quickly spread to his cold heart.\n\nAs the rest froze awestruck, I proceeded to haul ass for the exit of the city. I may have released a fury of dragons onto the city, but that was my only opportunity to end the tyranny of a cruel and merciless leader.",
"\"I *know* there are a *few* Dragons out there,\" Kai growled. As if to emphasize *how* exactly he knew this fact, the entire house shook violently. One of the dragons must have come in for a landing on what remained of the roof. Plaster rained from the ceiling, covering the entire party in a coating of dust. Kai missed the days when people built castles out of solid stone instead of these cheap McMansions. \"You know the difference between subjective and objective, right?\" Kai continued ranting as he loaded a bolt into the crossbow. \"'Some rabbits' is the former, 'three rabbits' is the latter, and much more accurate.\" Once he finished pulling back the drawstring, he yanked the three remaining arrows from his quiver and held them up, right in Kevin's face, making it clear *why* he needed some specificity. There weren't a lot of mithril-tipped arrows that could pierce a dragon's hide just *laying* around in suburban Kansas City, so these ones had to count. \"So I'm going to need you to be very clear when you say there are 'a few' dragons outside.\"\n\nKevin was shaking, eyes wide with disbelief. He'd seen stuff about dragons on the news, back when the television stations were still working. From when the portal had first opened. But *here*? On top of his *house?* He slumped against the kitchen island, and all he could think about was how expensive this granite had been. Deanna had insisted on having it despite the cost of the kitchen remodel, and, as a newlywed, he'd been happy to splurge for her. Yet less than a year later, chunks of it were now strewn across the kitchen floor. All Kevin could really think about was how much money he'd wasted. \"There... ummm...\" The contractor had certainly ripped them off on the installation, but it had been worth it to see Deanna happy. Not that she even cooked, so why bother spending a lot on a kitchen? But they'd meant it for having parties and whatnot. Not that *that* was possible anymore. How the hell had the world gone to shit in less than a *year*? Where had all of these *monsters* come from? \"There was a lot of fire...\" Kevin stammered as he tried to recall the headlong dash in from the street. \"I didn't.... I mean, there was a *lot* of fire.\"\n\n\"Useless!\" Kai muttered, turning away from Kevin. This is what he got for taking up with *civilians*. How fucking hard could it be to count the number of *dragons*? They were the size of schoolbuses, for God's sake! \"Silver, can you get a glimpse for me?\" Kai jerked his head toward the window over the sink.\n\nThe vampire peeked out of the pantry where he'd taken shelter from the sun. He shook his head in Kai's direction. \"Don't look at me, mate. It's daylight out there. Remember when I suggested hiding out for a while and stealing the egg at *night* when I could help without enduring scalding pain? Remember that, Kai? Remember how you decided *not* to do that and went ahead with your stupid plan anyway?\"\n\nKai scowled. It really was a good plan.... up until the dragons had woken up. \"Come on, John!\" Kai pleaded with Silver. He only ever used his first name when he wanted something. \"It may hurt a bit, sure, but it's not like they can *kill* you!They've got teeth, not wooden stakes!\" They may chew him up a bit... and he might have to ride around in the dragon's stomach until they could kill it and cut Silver out like they did after the battle in Las Vegas... but it wouldn't *kill* him.\n\n\"Sorry,\" Silver said, pulling back into his little cave among the cans. \"This is *your* mess.\" \n\nOutside, a car alarm wailed wildly in alternating patterns. WEEEE-OOOOO, WEEEE-OOOOOO, ERRR ERRR ERRR, ERRR ERRR.... The blaring noise was cut off suddenly by a throaty roar and the squealing sounds of tearing metal. Apparently the dragons weren't big fans of car alarms. \n\nKai turned to the third member of his group. \"Devandross, what about you? Up for a little scouting mission?\"\n\nThe mage shrugged. His robes were stained, torn, and scorched just from escaping the dragon's den. Devandross himself looked pale and haggard, completely drained from over-using his abilities. \"If you wanted shielding spells and protection, you should have hired a cleric. I can hold my own in a fight, but scouting is more of a *ranger's* job.\" He gave Kai a pointed look. \"I mean, I can probably make a distraction for you if you want...\" The implication was clear, though: it was really up to Kai. \n\n\"Never should have taken this fucking job,\" Kai muttered to himself. At the very least, he should have brought on a dragon *specialist* to grab a dragon *egg*. But as always, his cheapness just *had* to come back and bite him in the ass. Couldn't have just *one* job go as planned, could he? \"Fine. Make it big, Devandross.\" Kai heaved himself up and made his way as close to the front door as he dared. The dragons had already torn through most of the atrium after chasing them up the porch, so there wasn't as much cover there as in the kitchen. \"You ready?\"\n\nDevandross chanted under his breath, and a swirling globe of energy appeared between his hands. Holding it steady, he approached the kitchen window and then sent the ball flying out into the street. It riccocheted off of one car with so much force that the sedan went twirling through the air before coming down for a landing upside-down on a nearby lawn. Devandross's ball went bouncing down the street, giving a number of other cars and trucks the same treatment. A cascade of car alarms rang out, followed shortly by dragon roars. \"Wish me luck!\" Kai shouted before dashing outside. \n\nSilver, Devandross, and Kevin remained huddled in the kitchen listening to the chaos outside. Successive car alarms died out as the dragons screamed in fury and tore into the vehicles with their teeth and talons. Only a minute later, Kai came hurtling through the kitchen window in a headlong dive that sent him skidding through the rubble on the tile floor. Behind him, a dragon's massive jaws snapped shut so close that the group could smell its breath. They all had to quickly scurry behind the remains of the kitchen island as the dragon's teeth disappeared from view and its eye filled the gaping window frame, searching for the prey that had gotten away. \n\n\"Well?\" Silver asked once the coast was clear. \"How many are there?\"\n\nKai sighed. He emptied out the quiver into his lap again: three arrows, plus the one already loaded in his crossbow. A total of four. Then he looked back up at the others and chuckled. \"There's five,\" he answered.\n\n\n-----\n\nIf you enjoyed this story, you ought to subscribe to /r/Luna_Lovewell!\n\n"
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[WP] "I gave up my sadness, so I don't feel sad anymore." | 4 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I found her in the woods. The woman with the ethereal cloak and translucent skin. The pale face that wore no melancholy, yet had the very aesthetic of a distant longing.\n\nWhere else would I have found her? This is not the sort of thing--person you would find under a streetlight or leaning through the doorway of your bedroom and if you knew anything about things that are dark and everlasting you would know what I mean.\n\n\"Oh,\" She uttered and her voice echoed: \"Oohoohoohooh,\" Like a ghost.\n\nThis wasn't the kind of person--thing that you found by looking for. They had to believe they were finding you. She had stopped now, no longer flitting between trees in a movement that could be confused for an after-image of something you didn't really see. She stood fully facing me so I could see that the protagonist of local folktales to scare children wasn't particularly scary at all.\n\n\"Hey,\" I said, because while I know a lot about how to find this kind of person, I wasn't great at talking to them. Or anyone. But you can't expect someone who wanders midnight-forests searching for Ghosts And Other Things--People to be great at socialising.\n\n\"Oh, are you lost? Should I help? If I point, I always point out,\" She raised her arm slowly and the cloak she wore - more like a robe really - flowed around her like fabric in water.\n\n\"I'm not lost. I wanted to ask you questions; I still want to ask you questions,\" I unshouldered my backpack and fumbled with the contents. I didn't want to take my eyes off her glow out of worry that she might flit away. \n\n\"Oh, questions for me,\" Her voice was quiet and she stood a distance away, but the whispers came directly to my ears.\n\nI quickly scribble some words in my book, a name that I had given her, and try to write a profile. The obvious questions were no good, something I discovered. They dodged them, either out of mischief or simply being unable to perceive certain knowledge anymore, \"Why are you here?\" I ask.\n\n\"Because I did not want to be there,\" She lowered her hand and looked towards the ground, \"I wanted to find home,\" She smiled patiently and, forgive me, but I'm really not able to describe the quality of her voice.\n\nI could list all the things it wasn't, angry, sad, defeated, joyous, but we would be no closer to knowing it. A resigned comfort? Maybe?\n\nI continue my questions, \"So you're lost?\"\n\n\"I was, wasn't I? I think they wrote about it,\" She pauses and I'm struck by how human she remained. At this point the babbling usually starts, uselessly repeated phrases or a rhyme that they seem to enjoy, \"I found my home and then found my home wasn't my home. When I asked not to die, I gave something for it and,\" She pauses again and I think maybe she noticed herself losing coherence and needed a moment to remember her words.\n\nI didn't want to prompt her in case I interrupted, but it didn't take long for her to continue, \"Give something to get something. I thought I was clever,\" She is not bitter or spiteful or self-deprecating, \"I asked not to die so I could find home and not be lost, I gave for the gift and have wandered since, wondered since, should we not outlive our homes?\"\n\nAnd now I only had more questions, and in my usually awkward manner they came out too fast, \"What did you give? Are you upset that your home is gone?\"\n\nThe pale, glowing woman in her floating-fabric robe answered both questions at once, \"I gave up my sadness, so I don't feel sad anymore.\""
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"1488000540",
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[WP] It was quite the spectacle, really. | 9 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Blue. That's all he saw. Her eyes were blue. \n\nEven as the world crumbled around them. Even as tongues of smoke and flames filled the skies as the dragon kept at bay by the large mountain roared it's revenge, it's ultimatum, they were calm. Smiling. \n\nHe roared. The dragon. The man reminisced in fallen sands as rubble littered the floor, as pillars around them tumbled like a child's toy. \n\nShe had been forbidden to meet him. The old sir hated him. He looked up to her window each day as he passed it, smiling ruefully inside as the moonlight would glint off it so his shadow would crawl unto the wall facing her window just enough to loom over his drooping face. She would always peek through the curtains, smiling slightly to herself. \n\nThen they fled. They fled to safe ground; or so they hoped. \n\nThey had been together only a week. They were in the plaza whispering sweet nothings to each other, when the people began running. The magma began to flow. Brimstone fell from the skies, and the people bid farewell to the town they loved. His breath shrouded their world. \n\nAnd they gazed in each others' eyes and smiled.They were together forever. \n\nIt was quite the spectacle, really. "
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[WP] The year is 3126, and mankind has scouted across hundreds of thousands of light years in search of similar sentient life forms, only to discover that they may truly be alone in their universe and all others. That is, until they come across a guy named Tim. | 41 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"We left our home world when we discovered how our ignorance of our planet affected our lives. It was not a course of action to save the planet, but rather\nourselves. The first to leave were high authority figures. Presidents, prime ministers, kings and queens. I remember so vividly seeing the first;\nmy eyes drawn to the darkened windows where 22 silhouettes sat comatose. I remember even more vividly the feeling it gave me. There was no joy or\ncelebration for our new found technology, but rather utter disappointment greeted me as my heart sunk, knowing that one day the ground on which I stood\nwould be as barren as mars once was. Everything seemed ironic, really. When I was younger, all I could ever dream of was travelling to another planet\nto find aliens and explore. Not did I know that everything had already come true, not even 20 years afterwards. There was but one detail that was\ndifferent. We did, in fact, find new planets and we did, in fact, explore them. No, the only thing I wouldn't have thought was what we found there.\nThe year was 3126. My flight left 33 years ago. Since then, we had wondered far and wide across an infinite expanse, no real knowledge of what we would find.\nEveryone always expected the usual: little green men ready and waiting for our arrival. We'd still had no contact. 1749 planets, 761 star systems and a\nplethora of nebuli later and still nothing. Concern grew within the human race for a while and religion had become predominant among space explorers.\nAfter all, the universe must have been made just for us, right? No other life forms... right?\nI thought I'd seen it all until my boot, laden with padding and small oxygen tanks disturbed the dirt from under my feet for the first time in 33 years,\nmy mind swelled with anticipation as we began to realize that the atmosphere in which we stood was breathable. This proved useful, because many sighs of\nrelief could be heard that day. We had finally found a new habitable planet. Stretching my legs was, funnily enough, one of my first priorities. Having been\ntrapped in a ship for 33 years with people you barely know is frustrating, to say the least. As I bent my knees, weak from excitement, to place myself on\na nearby rock, I heard a voice. Strange as it was, I was under the impression that I was going mad. This was the first time I'd been alone in a long time,\nso it sort of made sense. Again. I stand and watch as a man, a stranger, peruses his way to my side. He looks uncomfortable, but almost as if he was expecting\nme. His eyes dazzled by us as if we weren't even human. The fear within him pierced my eyes like needles as his words struggled to leave his mouth. Does this\nmean we weren't the first? Have other before us made the same choices? He spoke to me, though not through words. At this moment, on this planet, I finally\nunderstood. Aliens hadn't existed for a very long time.",
"\"Sir, we have everything set up. When you're ready.\" With no response, the young man leaves and closes the door. \n\nAn older gentleman stands in front of a mirror while combing his hair. The black hair accompanied by streaks of grey and even white continued to be set in place just right. His dark eyebrows furrowed with every stroke. A beard so full and well kept, keeping his angular jawline.\n\nA delicate hand finds his shoulder from behind and glides to his chest over his dress shirt. It's met with a second hand holding a tie. A very sweet, yet powerful voice graces his ears, \"One of these days, you'll have to learn to tie your own ties.\" As she begins, he speaks for the first time all morning, \"Its this moment of every morning that brings me clarity before I start my day.\" He turns around as she finishes his tie. He places a kiss on her cheek. He walks out the door, leaving her in front of the mirror with her hand on her cheek thinking to herself, \"How could I be so lucky to have him?\"\n\nThe young man from before listens to his earpiece. \"He's on his way. Is everything good to go still?\" A rather eccentric individual with disheveled hair continues to bite his nails as he shoots back, \"Good to go? You mean compared to 15 seconds ago when you asked?\"\n\n\"Not today!\"\n\n\"I'm just saying that-\"\n\n\"He's here!\"\n\nThe older gentleman walks in with a burst through doors. \"Let's get started! Do we have all connections set correctly?\" The eccentric individual, somewhat falling over himself, \"Yes! Everything is in place and ready to go... and I must say, sir, it is truly an honor!\" The older gentleman furrows his brow, only this time with confusion and frustration. He has no time for this. The eccentric individual continues, \"oh right! Ok so you're just going to look into this little camera. This screen will show whoever is out there. We're just going to click here aaaaand now we are calling.\"\n\nThe call rings. And rings. And rings...\n\nFinally, there's an answer. There's a bad connection. The audio cuts in and out. The video is choppy.\n\nThe older gentleman speaks, \"Hello! This is-\" He's cut off immediately by the sound of amazement.\nA young voice is heard. \"Hhaaaa whoaaaa!\" The video clears up. A young man in his pajamas with a bowl of cereal slams his spoon down in his bowl. He laughs with a full mouth. \"Oh man! What's up, man? Man you guys are morons. Took y'all long enough to reach outside your world.\" He puts down the bowl and reaches to his side. He uncovers a large bong and takes a large hit. He coughs, \"My name's Tim!\"\n\nThe older gentleman hangs up. He sits in silence. The young man speaks after awhile, \"Sir?\n\n\"No one is to know about...Tim. We have found nothing.\" Before, anyone could speak, \"Nothing!\" He gets up and leaves the room.\n\nThe eccentric individual finally breaks the silence, \"I thought Tim was pretty rad...\"",
"We stared at the man, dumbfounded. No-one had expected anyone else to be here.\n\nYou see, for over a thousand years, humanity had set out in search of other intelligent life. First in sleeper ships. Then, as we developed faster than light travel, warp ships took up the flag, intercepting the sleeper ships and integrating them into their own crews. \n\nWe swept out in ever-expanding spiral patterns, searching. Probing. Hoping... but never finding anyone else.\n\nIn 2855, humanity was in a tizzy. After centuries of exploration without even so much as a single contact with another species, we finally picked up a transmission. It had been clearly artificial in nature, and our fastest warp ships headed straight for it. 32 years after we departed, we arrived to find a transmitter on a massive planet with crumbling infrastructure. A civilization had existed here, once. But no more. \n\nSo we continued to search, fruitlessly. We found a handful of similar planets, but none contained a single living being.\n\nThat was, until today. \n\nAs our shuttle crew stared at the man, and he stared back, our leader waited for him to speak. Seeing that he appeared perfectly content to stare at us in silence, our leader took the initiative.\n\nHe took a step forward, raising a hand in what we all thought was a friendly gesture. It was then that the man turned to his left, and a massive energy bolt erupted from the staff he was carrying, vaporizing a small building 500 meters away.\n\nOf course, we all dove for cover, but our leader... either fearless or stupid... just stood there, silently for a moment.\n\n\"Who... who are you?\"\n\nThe man turned slowly back towards our leader, and thumped the bottom end of his staff into the dirt.\n\n\"There are some who call me... Tim?\"\n\n\"Greetings, Tim,\" our leader said, gaining confidence.\n\n\"Greetings, Arthur,\" Tim replied.\n\n\"You know my name?\" Arthur asked incredulously.\n\n\"I do.\"\n\nTim whirled to the right this time, vaporizing a larger building, this time, much closer. We all continued hiding, but our fearless leader Arthur didn't flinch.\n\n\"You seek other lifeforms!\" Tim barked towards Arthur.\n\n\"We do,\" Arthur replied with some surprise. \"You know much about us that is hidden.\"\n\n\"Quite,\" replied Tim, as several small explosions went off around the party.\n"
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[WP] You wake up the day after a bachelor party. You are on the moon. | 102 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"“Uh, Houston, we have a problem.” \n\n“What is it this time Armstrong? Did Buzz take your dessert again?”\n\n“More serious than that Houston. Uh, it looks like the Russians beat us to the moon after all.”\n\n“Sorry Armstrong, repeat that. It just sounded like you said there’s something on the moon.”\n\n“Houston, swear to God there’s something jumpin’ up and down on the moon right now waving to us. It’s wearing some crazy lookin' suit! Hold up Houston, there seems to be *two* beings down there!”\n\n“That’s impossible! The Russians haven’t notified anyone and there’s been no scheduled launches recently.”\n\n“Houston, you thinking what I’m thinking?”\n\n“Armstrong, I think you and Buzz may be the first humans to encounter extraterrestrial life. Continue with the mission as planned, we need to initiate contact. This’ll get us all the funding we could ever ask for.”\n____________________________________________________________\n\n“They’re coming! They saw me! They’re coming!” Dave shouted with excitement to no one in particular. His head still throbbed from the excessive amounts of alcohol he’d had at his bachelor party. His memory seemed to be damaged too, all he could remember was his alien buddy Quesor pulling out his dad’s time machine and fiddling with the buttons. That was 2403. Dave remembered pictures of the incoming lander from ancient history class. Somehow, they had ended up in freaking 1969.\n\n“Quesor, if you’re out here I swear to God I’ll personally deliver you to Area 51 for experimentation. I was supposed to get married today!”\n\nRunning towards the *Eagle*’s landing zone, Dave unceremoniously tripped on an outstretched alien leg and landed face-first on the gray surface below.\n\n“What the hell bro, that ain’t funny,” he yelled at Quesor as he emerged snickering, hidden behind a lunar boulder. “If there’s only space for one of us on that rust bucket you’d best believe I’m leaving your alien arse on this godforsaken rock!”\n_____________________________________________________________________________________________\nIf you like my style, consider checking out /r/droptopwrites!",
"I wake up with a terrible headache, but that sort of slipped my mind as I began to choke from the moon's lack of an atmosphere. I fell back asleep and brain damage occurred roughly six minutes later. I never woke up, which is strange considering I'm dead. Guess there is an afterlife.\n\n___\n\n\"Sir! You're not gonna believe this!\" The young man cried, slapping the folder onto his boss's desk.\n\n\"What is it, George?\" His boss asked impatiently.\n\nThe man smoothed his hair down and took out the satellite photos...\n\n___\n\nIf you want to read the stuff of a lurker, go to /r/ProtaokperWrites, my writing graveyard. [Thanks for reading!](https://youtu.be/YHzME9SOhLs?t=8)",
"I struggle to roll over onto my side, all to familiar with the upcoming bodily movement. Vomit flows out of my esophagus with the ferocity of a waterfall. It doesn’t splatter on the floor, but rather lingers in my face causing me to burst into a fit of coughing. I moan and brush the vomit away, returning to my stomach and hoping fall back into sleep’s tender grasp.\n\n‘Chris!’ I hear my name echoing in the distance. ‘Chris! Wake up.’ \n\nI keep my eyes pressed firmly shut, pleading that whoever is calling for my name loses their motivation. The throbbing sensation in my head is exacerbated by every word. \n\n‘Oh, I fucked up. I fucked up,’ the voice continued. ‘Chris, buddy. You should wake up!’\n\nUgh, that's not a good sign, I think. Slowly I open my eyes, blinking to soften the blow of the brightly lit room. It takes a moment for my surroundings to come into focus. \n\n‘What the fuck.’ \n\nAdmittedly, I’ve woken up in unexpected places in the past. Once, after a night of particularly heavy drinking in Singapore, I woke up in a police car. That wouldn’t have been necessarily astonishing, all things considered, except that I had been asleep at the wheel, dressed entirely in a police officer’s uniform. To this day, I’m still not entirely sure what had transpired.\n\nThis was different though. For one thing, I was floating. In fact, my vomit appeared to be floating as well.\n\nWell, there’s a first for everything, I thought, floundering helpless in the air in a pathetic attempt to rotate my body. I manage to gain control over my movements and slowly begin to swim through the air, taking inventory of the room. It appeared to be some sort of asylum, with plush, white material lining the walls. As I got a closer look, however, things became more clear. \n\n*I* *was* *in* *a* *space* *shuttle*. \n\nOn my right, I notice a series of nobs and buttons that were blinking white and red, inconsistent in their illuminating sequence. A fold-away bed lay above me with a seat-belt strapping the mattress and sheets to a plastic frame. I glance out the exit and see a long, narrow hallway with more electrical panels lining the walls. \n\n‘Chris, buddy. Where are you!’ the voice calls out, approaching my location. \n\nThe throbbing headache dampens my ability to grasp the gravity of the situation. Struggling to avoid spewing another round of vomit into the air, I begin to follow the voice in search of my friend. \n\n‘Nelson, you dumb motherfucker. Where are you!’ I yell out, immediately regretting the ill-advised decision. The sound of my own voice causes my temples to nearly explode. I cringe and struggle with every movement. Even in the no-gravity environment, my body is fighting my mind’s attempt to drag it around. \n\nI begin to piece together the events of last night. My friend’s bachelor party had been pretty standard, featuring the typical mid-class hooker and some magic mushrooms. Then, did we go to a bar? I strain my mind, trying to figure out how I had gone from a cheap motel to space in a matter of hours.\n\nWait. Had it only been hours? How long have I been unconscious?\n\nI glance down at my watch. The minute hand and the hour hand both spun in a continuous circle. There goes my grandfather’s Tag Heuer, I sigh. \n\nAs I reach the end of the hallway and make a 90 degree turn, I come face to face with Nelson. He stares at me with a look of distress on his face before he breaks out in laughter. \n\n‘Oh man. I fucked up.’ He says, before wiping a drop of vomit from my face. ‘How did you sleep?’\n\nI stare back, the disbelief beginning to set in. ‘Sleep!? Are we in space?’ \n\nHe chuckles and gives me a nod. He grabs a handful of my shirt and begins pulling me through the air. After a brief moment, we come to a stop in an adjacent chamber. He pushes me over to a window.\n\nAs I look out, my heart comes to a stop. The spacecraft had come to a rest in the dirt of a crater-filled planet. Floating carelessly in the sky where the sun would normally be was Earth. It looked so distant yet beautiful, the deep blue hue of the oceans painting its surface. Slowly, I begin to realize where we were.\n\n‘Nelson. Are we on the moon?’\n\nHe floats up beside me and his hand comes to rest on my shoulder. He gazes out at the sky, taking in the beauty of the galaxy. \n\n‘I can explain.’ \n",
"I opened my eyes slowly. It was dark, very dark. And quiet too. I could feel something cold and hard against my right cheek, and lifting my head a little I realised I was laying on the floor. Pushing myself up into a sitting position, my legs splayed out in front of me, a splitting pain shot through my head causing me to utter a small yelp and clutch my forehead.\n\n\"Ah! Lord almighty, what did I do last night?\" I asked myself, my voice echoing tinnily. \n\nWith effort, I pushed myself up into a standing position and fumbled around in the dark for something to hold onto and steady myself. Finding the edge of what I guessed to be a table or work surface, I leaned against it and began to take stock of what was happening. My mouth was dry, very dry and I suddenly became aware of how thirsty I was. The splitting pain was still there but was receding to a dull ache, and running my tongue over my teeth they felt gross and rough. There was an obvious after taste of alcohol too, which I knew didn't bode well. \n\n\"Need to find a light switch...\" I murmured and I began slowly fumbling around in the dark, feeling for objects and tapping unseen obstacles with my feet. Eventually, I pressed against what I figured was a wall and began following, running my hands along it to feel for an obvious switch or door handle.\n\nAfter a minute or two of nothing, I felt the raised profile of a control panel, and pressing my palm to it. It illuminated into a soft green, casting an eerie glow around. I looked behind me and could make out the shapes of pots and pans, cooking utensils and the smooth, metallic surfaces of food prep stations. I turned my attention back to the control panel and pressed the icon with a bulb.\n\nInstantly, the room was flooded with light and I felt another sharp pain go through my head as my eyes adjusted to the bright. As my vision came back, I could see I was indeed in a kitchen and a large one at that. Everything was spotless and neatly put in its place ready for whoever was next going to use it and had evidently been cleaned recently. My eyes fell upon a sink at the far corner of the room and again I became aware of my thirst. I walked over, turned the tap and lowered my head into the sink, drinking straight from the head of the tap, in large, greedy glugs. \n\nMy thirst sated, I stood up straight again and turning off the tap, noticed a door to my right. Its porthole was completely black and offered no clue as to what was beyond it. Feeling more in control of myself I headed for the door and pushed against it into the dark room. At first, I wasn't sure what I was looking at. It was still dark, but now that I was in the room proper, there was a faint glow of light cast over everything. It was a mess. Empty bottles lay everywhere and I could make out the outlines of furniture and other decorations that had been thrown around and left where they fell. Over the walls were splashes of some unidentifiable liquids and the carpet was covered in stains. To the left of where I stood, was a huge viewing window that looked out onto a gray, featureless mass of hills and craters and in the far distance I could make out the circular form of Earth. \n\nI was on the moon. \n\nSlowly, I wandered over to the window and pressing myself against it, looked out over the view beyond. From here I could see other parts of the building I was in. They were large, dome-like structures connected to one another via glass tubes, and they were dotted all over the flat expanse the facility had obviously been built on. Beyond these, were rolling gray hills and I could make out the shapes of rocks and craters, and looking up, there was the Earth. Its distinctive blue and green shining brightly against the darkness of deep space and surrounding stars. There were other dots of light too, but they were brighter and moving. It dawned on me eventually that they must be passenger shuttles coming to and from Earth to the space station just beyond the Moon's orbit. \n\nI pulled myself away from the glass and stumbled backward onto a couch that had been pushed in front of the window, presumably to allow it's mover a more comfortable viewing experience. I sat there a while, in the darkness taking in what I was looking at. What *had* happened last night? I thought hard, going over everything I could dredge up from the foggy clouds of my memory. I had been at a party, and obviously, a good one judging by the mess, but it wasn't any old party, not if I were on the moon. This must be one of the private function suites that had been all the rage a few years back, I decided. But where was everyone else? And why would we have paid through the nose for a private Moon suite when there were far cheaper ones on Earth that could accommodate much larger and boisterous parties?\n\nI heaved myself off the sofa and began looking for a light switch. Finding one, I switched it and had a better look my surroundings. It was indeed a mess, far worse than I'd been able to make out before. I headed over to a stack of leaflets that had been flung all over the room and picked one up. \n\nIt read:\n\n**Thank you for choosing Ashdown Lunar Suites for your Conference or Function!** \n\n**Our Aim is to deliver a top quality standard of service and we hope you enjoy your time in -- Lunar Suite 1970-APO13 --** \n\n**If you have any queries or complaints, please don't hesitate to call our service line on 202-555-9691 using the Vidphone provided** \n\nI looked up and over toward the door of the kitchen I'd come from. There was indeed a Vidphone fastened to it, it's handset hanging off the hook. I hopped over to it, leaflet in hand and punched in the number of the customer service line. Immediately, the face of a young blonde woman appeared on the screen.\n\n-click-\n\n\"Hello?\" She said, \"Ashdown Private Suites, who can I say I'm speaking to?\"\n\n\"Douglas Wakefield\" I responded, suddenly aware of how disheveled I must appear to this, admittedly, attractive young woman.\n\n\"Mr. Wakefield, can I ask how you're calling today? My computer says you're calling from one of our Lunar suites, but that can't be right. According to our records, it was vacated after a private function hosted by... oh, yourself actually.\"\n\nSo *I* had organised it. Why did I choose the moon when a suite in New York or Berlin or would have been far cheaper?\n\n\"Look, \" I said, \"I *am* in your Lunar suite, but I don't know why I'm still here. I'm on my own and the place is a tip. I don't suppose you could tell me what sort of function I hosted could you?\"\n\n\"It was a bachelor party looking at your invoice.\"\n\nSuddenly it came rushing back to me. Jennifer. The girl I was supposed to be marrying today. It was *my* bachelor party. That's why I'd arranged a Lunar suite. I'd wanted it to be a night to remember. \n\nI clutched at my face and let out the most pathetic whine I'd ever heard myself make! The guys! They must have left me here after the passenger shuttle was supposed to pick us all up and take us to the wedding this morning! The bastards!\n\n\"Mr. Wakefield? Are you still there?\"\n\nI realised I had let myself slump to the floor in my anguish and lifted myself back up to the screen. Composing myself I said:\n\n\"Yes, yeah, sorry... I'm still here... oh Lord almighty what am I going to do?!\" I yelled clutching my head again.\n\n\"Mr. Wakefield, please don't panic! The cleaning crew hasn't been to Lunar Suite 1970-APO13 yet so I can call ahead and ask them to pick you up on their way back\"\n\n\"You can?!\" I replied, relief flooding through me \"That's great! Oh, I could kiss you! I'm due at my wedding today at 12 EST, in Boston, do you think they'll be able to drop me off in time?\"\n\n\"Oh... I'm afraid they won't be there for at least a day and a half...\"\n\n\"A DAY AND A HALF?!\" I yelled, panic filling me again.\n\n\"I'm sorry Mr. Wakefield but the Moon is a big place! Even knowing you're stranded it would take at least half a day to send a recovery shuttle for you. The cleaning crew is already on the Moon but Ashdown Function Suites has a lot of sites! You'll just have to wait for them to reach you... I'd maybe suggest contacting a family member in the meantime...?\"\n\n\"Yeah, great, thanks for the advice\" I replied pinching the bridge of my nose. \"I'm sorry, I'm just bit...stressed. As you can imagine.\"\n\n\"That's fine Mr. Wakefield. I'll contact our cleanup crew and get them to you ASAP. There should be supplies of food and beverages stocked in the kitchen while you wait.\" \n\n\"Thank you...\"\n\n\"Vera\"\n\n\"...Vera.\"\n\n\"Not at all Mr. Wakefield. Thank you for choosing Ashdown Function Suites, and I hope I've been of help tod-\"\n\n-click-\n\nI hung up and leaned against the wall. I had to do it. Vera was right as much as I didn't want her to be. I picked up the handset again and dialed the number of my future mother in law.\n\n-click-\n\n\"Douglas?! Is that you? Where the bloody hell are you, the wedding begins in 45 minutes?!\"\n\n\"Can I speak to Jennifer please.\"\n\n\"The bride doesn't see the groom before the ceremony, it's tradition. Besides, she's getting her hair done right now. Any excuse you need to make you can make to me.\"\n\n\"Joan, please, can I just speak to her-\"\n\n\"*Anything* you need to say I can relay to her for you. Where you are would be a start\" she huffed.\n\nDefeated, I said, \"I'm on the moon\".\n\nMy future mother in laws face went from sour to full blown rancid.\n\n\"I...I... I can't even look at you right now!\" she hissed \"You'd better start making your excuses now and they'd better damned good ones because you've royally blown it this time!\"\n\n-click- \n\nThe screen went dark as she hung up. I placed the handset back on its hook and sat in front of the window again. I gazed up at the blue and green marble I called home and found a bottle that had somehow avoided being opened the night before. I cracked it open and held it up in a toast to the Earth.\n\n\"Here's to the happy couple I guess\"."
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EDIT: *One dragon finally wonders why. Stupid typo
I think this might be an interesting take on the dragon/knight/princess story. | [WP] Since time immemorial, dragons have been kidnapping princesses. On dragon finally wonders why. | 3 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"'Grandad, why do we kidnap princess's?'\n\nGrimclaw opened his large reptilian eye, the saucer sized pupil expanding and contracting as it adjusted to the bright noon day sun. Taking in a deep breath, the sunlight shimmering brilliantly off the emerald green scales of his expanding torso, he exhaled slowly. \n\n'An excellent question little one.' Grimclaw's deep voice rumbled. Nearby a flock of birds took flight from the oak trees, their panicked cries filling the air. 'You will soon be of age and might as well find out now.'\n\nRaising his head up off the green grass, the area in front of his nostrils scorched from the his hot breath, Grimclaw looked down at his grandson Highjumper regally as he prepared to impart the greatest knowledge a dragon will ever need to know. \n\n'Many, many millennia ago our kind used to inhabit another world. Like any civilization we had our ups and downs. We squabbled, we collaborated, we lived in relative prosperity with little real need. Our magic ran strong and flowed freely though our veins. If we desired it, we created it.' Grimclaw chuckled mirthlessly. 'Like all great stories that involve an even greater calamity, we soon entered a golden age the likes of which have never been seen, nor will be again. \n\n'The things we created with our magic back then...' he paused, a far away look in his golden eyes as he recalled the days of his juvenile years. Sighing sadly, he continued on. 'What we can do now is but a mere shadow of those things. Like all good things, our golden age came to an end. We had grown complacent in our prosperity and while we were blinded by our wonders, evil had crept into the hearts of some of our fellow kin. \n\n'We soon began to catch whispers and rumors of a small group among us that didn't agree with the way things were going. \n\n'No longer content to live peacefully, they began conspiring amongst themselves to overthrow our ruling council. They felt that they could do a much better job of governing our kin not as a council, but with a single ruler. Naturally we would have to pay tribute to this ruler in thanks for their wisdom in guiding our lives. \n\n'Their leader, Morningfrost, a massive snow white dragon just entering his prime, stood before the council proposing such an idea with eloquent speech and words dripping with honey. He was very charismatic and it was easy to see why he had garnered such a following but the council, seven elder dragons representing the seven different dragon races, were not fooled by his deceptive words. \n\n'They struck down his idea but it was too late. Morningfrost had known going in that the council would not accept his proposal so he had planned accordingly. No sooner had the elders dismissed the young white dragon then twenty young dragons of varying size, acting in unison, caste a containment spell over the seven elders and Morningfrost. Normally this wouldn't have been an issue for the seven elders, each one more than capable of dispelling such a thing by themselves, but Morningfrost had planned well. Woven throughout the containment spell were far more deadly spells, an isolation spell that cut off one's connection to their magic and a life leach spell. The effect was almost instantaneous on the elders but not Morningfrost. No, he had come to the meeting heavily warded against the ill effects of the spell caste. \n\n'What ensued next was a bloody, one sided massacre. Devoid of their magic and of failing strength and life, the seven elders were no match for the might and vigor of the much younger dragon but that doesn't mean they didn't put up a fight. One of the elders, a cunning cobalt blue female, had managed to deal the only real damage to Morningfrost in the form of three long deep scars on the left side of his face that left him blind in his left eye. \n\n'By the time help arrived, it was over. The rescuers stared in horror at the sight of the seven elders mangled and bloody bodies but even more so at the bloody, malicious, grinning face of Morningfrost and his twenty followers behind him. Of the ten that arrived, only two managed to escape with the news. \n\n'Over the next few years what took place was a viscous, bloody war that ravaged the lands, killed off thousands of our kin, and resulted in Morningfrost getting everything he wanted. Almost. You see, there were some of us that still resisted despite the overwhelming odds against us. In our hour of desperation we came up with a plan so outrageous that it actually worked. ",
"'One of the dragons on our side had been dabbling in portal magic before all this and had discovered a strange new land full of funny little flesh creatures that walked on their hind legs. He proposed that we all escape there and start over rather than continue to fight this losing war. After discussing the merits of such an idea, it was widely agreed upon but with one condition, that they leave behind something that Morningfrost would never see coming. \n\n'Three nights later we were ready. With a portal open behind us, all our loved ones and friends around us, and our plan in place, we set in motion our final act of defiance against the tyrannical rule of Morningfrost. Casting a massive dome of protection about our group we set about casting our parting gift; an infertility spell. Yes, there were still some dragons that refused to join either side that would be affected, but we were desperate and running out of time. \n\n'Just as dawn began to peak over the horizen, the rays of the sun brought to light a dark cloud in the sky before us. Morningfrost and all his minions had come to see us off. Many of us began to panic but the few voices of well seasoned elders managed to calm the bulk of us down. The spell was still a few minutes away from being caste but the protection spell would not only keep us safe from the effects but also from Morningfrost, they reasoned. Sadly, we still hadn't fully learned from our past mistakes. We had traitors in our midst. \n\n'With our plan all but complete and the spell almost ready to caste, our protection spell fell just as Morningfrost neared, his face twisted in a gleeful smile that dropped with murderous intent. With a full half of our numbers focused on the incantations of the infertility spell and another third just on holding the large portal open, that didn't leave very many to actually defend us. With a demeaning roar that drowned out the rising cries of terror, those that could took flight to do battle with Morningfrost in an effort to buy time knowing that they were going to their deaths. \n\n'Bravely those few dragons fought, albeit very shortly, it was enough. A shockwave of golden energy burst forth from our group as the spell was completed, the force of which was enough to knock Morningfrost and his minions from the sky. With our protection dome gone, we had just doomed our kind to extinction as every dragon save for a few younglings that we managed to get through the portal once we realized we had been betrayed had been rendered infertile. \n\n'We thought we were in the clear but we were mistaken. An unforeseen side effect of the spell had left every dragon caught by it weak. Though knocked down, Morningfrost was not out yet. He and his minions resumed their pursuit as we tried valiantly to escape. Only a third of us made it through before the portal collapsed in on itself due to our casters being attacked and slaughtered.'\n\nGrimclaw paused and fell silent for a long time. After a while Highjumper opened his mouth to ask what was wrong when Grimclaw cleared his throat loudly. 'Anyways,' he began again. 'With our numbers so drastically reduced, and the fertile ones even fewer, we set about our new home world with a resolve to pick ourselves up off the floor and rebuild. \n\n'What we couldn't have known was that this world held very little in the way of magic. Our greatest assets and abilities were reduced to a mere fraction of their former power. To make matters worse, the indigenous species did not take too well to our sudden appearance in their world. They were ingenious little flesh bags, not afraid of dying to try and bring us down. You have to admire them for that. In our first year here they managed to a third of us, most of which were our fertile younglings. A decade later and we were down to only two males and a female who could reproduce and it would still be another decade before she was old enough to mate. \n\n'We almost made it. The flesh bags somehow found our stronghold and slew our last remaining fertile female. We thought all hope was lost. For a while there, it was. Then one bright young mind made a startling discovery a few years later. Through various experiments, he discovered that it was possible to take our infertile eggs and seed and implant them into the female flesh bags through magic. Desperate to not die out, we embraced this new way of reproducing. \n\n'Many of our first few attempts did not survive the process, the host either dying during the impregnating or from complications throughout and up to the actual birth attempt. Eventually we hit upon the solution when our first successful delivery came from a female of noble blood. Granted the host died shortly after giving birth for reasons we weren't sure of but what did we care? We had our first real hope of surviving in the form of a beautiful egg with a living dragon inside. \n\n'We took extra special care to conceal and incubate this egg in which all our hopes and dreams rested on. A year later it hatched, revealing a healthy baby dragon. A few months later, when we were sure it wasn't going to die, we began in earned our new breeding program. Sure, we still had some kinks to work out in the process as some hosts were still dying before bringing to term our eggs but we were just happy to have found something that worked. It wasn't until later that we realized our new younglings were no different that the wild predators that roamed the land. \n\n'Normally a baby dragon begins to show signs of higher intelligence around three years of age and as late as five years old in some extreme cases, but when the very first one reached year six and still showed no sign of higher intelligence, we began to panic. We began trying varying methods, minor tweaks in the impregnating process really, in hopes that we could produce a legitimate offspring. Unfortunately the mortality rate of the hosts skyrocketed again so we were back to square one basically. \n\n'We named the new breed of dragons Wyverns as there were smaller and lacked anything above a predator's intelligence. \n\n'And so,' concluded Grimclaw, 'here we are today, very few in numbers, dangerously low on magic, still trying to get the formula right that will allow us to successfully reproduce through the pure blood of a noble, a princess, while the flesh bags continue to hunt and kill off our less kin, the Wyvern.'"
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[WP] The second coming of Jesus happens during rush hour in Manhattan, everyone is annoyed. | 8 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"It was bad enough that I was already late. Traffic was backed up all the way across the Brooklyn Bridge. I wasn't even halfway across it when the clock struck eight thirty. And when I finally made it across, the heavens opened and shat out a beam of light, which landed some forty feet from my car.\n\nAnd then came the guy with a beard. He floated down from between the clouds, following the ray of light. Of fucking course, *everyone* had to stop and gawk at it. \n\nI was practically laying on my horn at that point. \"Hurry the fuck up!\" I yelled, rolling my window down to make myself heard. \"Go see a David Blaine show if you wanna see some magic asshole!\"\n\nYeah, sure, I knew the flying dude was Jesus. But I had a fucking job to get to, and performing party tricks on bottles of water wasn't about to save me from getting fired.\n\nAnd that's how I got arrested for running Jesus himself over. "
] | [
1,
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"1488049016",
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[WP] The future is here! And it's convenient and affordable! | 3 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Welcome to McDonald's!\"\n\nThe line disappears from my retina display.\n\n\"Would you like to set a calorie limit for today's eat-in?\"\n\nYes.\n\n\"How much?\"\n\n900 calories, please.\n\n\"Thank you! Based on your previous dining experiences, these are your recommended options.\"\n\nOption 2.\n\n\"Thank you for eating with McDonald's today! Your order is #295 and will be ready in about 3 minutes.\"\n\nA progress bar appears in the corner of my eyes and I hear a beep as my bank account is updated.\n\n\n\nLooks like it should be done soon.\n\n\n\nI hear another beep as my order is ready and I walk over to the counter to grab my dinner.\n\nOption 2 is pretty good.\n\n\"How was your meal?\"\n\n4 out of 5 stars.\n\n\"What went wrong?\"\n\n5 out of 5 stars.\n"
] | [
1,
3
] | [
"1488055944",
"1488056242"
] | |
[removed] | [WP] You wake up drenched and feeling light. You look around and find yourself in the Chum Bucket, with Plankton. He tells you the only way you can go home is if you help him steal the krabby patty formula. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nPrompts go in the title. (Exceptions: [IP] and [MP]). Feel free to repost with the prompt in the title. You can add more detail in the text, but remember prompts should be a starting point and [not be a recipe](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/prompts?src=RECIPE). \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5w78xz/wp_you_wake_up_drenched_and_feeling_light_you/%0A%0A)"
] | [
1,
1
] | [
"1488067308",
"1488067319"
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[WP] Magic exists. It's just quite subtle. | 8 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"John blows out a sigh while we are playing DnD.\n\n\" It is not supposed to be like this. \" He said, following after with my confusing face.\n\n\" What ? \"\n\n\" Magic. \" \" It is not supposed to be like this. \"\n\nJohn Krauger, an anthropologist, also a secret cult member and a half-of-an-ass mage, saying something makes me a little bit confused.\n\n\" So, what is it supposed to be ? I mean magic, you practice it before, right ?\"\n\n\" Well, we never use magic to ask something unachievable. Like freezing a frog at a summer noon, or conjuring some demonic familiar or something. Based on Frazer theories, it is a subtle level of technology\"\n\n\" It really does exist ? \" My voice suddenly turns to a pitch mixing in suprising and excitement.\n\n\" Yes. Not like DnD when you can burn your enemy, freeze them or doing some darkness stuff. It is far more subtle, and most of them have harmony to the nature as the core, so we never could use it as the science technological level.\"\nHe stops for a while and takes a sip of beer. \" We don't blow things up, turn people into animals, root their feet, stun them or something on that level of destruction.\" \"We have system, and conduct rituals, not to manipulate the law of nature but to achieve a higher viewpoint, some even want to transcend into a higher existence... but that is still far from our cult current state. \" \n\n\"But still, we can conjure natural phenomenon.\" With a smirk and his pinky heads up the roof, suddenly one of my card falls to the floor."
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1,
4
] | [
"1488086224",
"1488104012"
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[WP] Time has forgotten music, Then one day someone stumbles across The Beatles: Abbey Road. | 8 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"“John pissed his bed again, sheets are in the wash,” I said, buttoning my shirt. Marilyn's acknowledging half smile weighed heavier on me this morning – another sizzling coal within. “Alright,” I nodded, “off to work now.”\n\nI spent my commute imaging the reprimand I’d receive for my third tardy this week. The fantasy of my responses made the ride feel shorter. Interrupting a particularly brutal scenario, the hollow subway alert, “Midtown number four.”\n\nJalen’s suit was crisper than usual. Knowing what he was about to say made me want to hit him before he had the chance, “Shit, Alton. It’s after 9!”\n\n“Yes, sir. It was a tough morning at home, sir.”\n\n“Just get to your station,” his arms shot up and turned me toward my office.\n\nI made my way down the white LED hallway, each step feeling heavier. I hated my boss, hated my job, hated so many things.\n\n“Breathe deep,” I whispered to myself. \n\nI turned into my office and cringed as the lights shot on. “Good Morning, Alton,” Cynthia chimed.\n\n“Yeah, sure,” I blurted.\n\nWithout probing, Cynthia continued, “Shall we continue with file 3Q-504?”\n\n“Yes.”\n\nThe file, which I should have finished yesterday, was brightly glaring at me from the opposite wall.\n\nI was working my way through data backups from the 23rd century. My job, which was growing increasingly overwhelming, was to recover historical production and sales data for Transcorp. To be honest, most of the drives I analyzed were filled with garbage – mirrored data, porn, shoddy presentations, mundane project correspondence.\n\nThe morning dragged. My lunch, which was delivered ten minutes late and just in time to for Jalen’s time management lecture, was cold by the time I got to it. The reheated coffee on my desk was the only thing keeping me sane.\n\n“File 3Q-505,” Cynthia boomed. Startled, I bumped my desk, sending my coffee tumbling toward the concrete floor. The metal cup struck the concrete tiles with a sharp ping. Its contents sprayed across the floor.\n\n“Goddammit,” I shouted.\n\n“Please, Alton. No need for abusive language.”\n\n“Shut the hell up,” I shot back.\n\n“Alton, please. Can we continue?”\n\nI closed my eyes, took a deep breath to steady myself, “Yes.”\n\nCynthia continued, “Alton, file 3Q-505 content is not in a recognized format. Permission to run external format analysis?”\n\n“Granted.”\n\n“File analysis complete – encryption broken. Analysis shows that the file contents may be illegal. Shall I proceed?”\n\nI hadn’t heard this warning before. “Yes,” I blurted emphatically, “what is it?!”\n\n“File One-A, The Beatles, Abbey Road.”\n"
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1,
3
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"1488156130",
"1488163790"
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[WP] If you have depression you live in the past, if you have anxiety you live in the future. What happens when you have both? | 6 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I could feel new hearts starting to develop in my chest, each beating a second after the last and looping, \"I shouldn't exist, I shouldn't be alive. What's going to happen now?\" I asked nervously to a government agent across the table who was questioning me. \"Ma'am, it's not as uncommon as you think. It just doesn't get talked about a lot, it's something that could be easily exploited. So, you're a registered Time Lord now. If you think you're starting to hear drums beating everywhere, please let us know, we have a solution for that. Otherwise, you're being allotted a sonic screwdriver, a notepad of psychic paper\". The agent sighed, reading over a script. I thought to myself that he's probably depressed, and wondered how I might be able to improve that for him, before he spoke on, \"So, Time Lords can as one might gather travel backwards and forwards in time. In a year or two, you may be able to develop a bond with a TARDIS. Here's a pamphlet, it explains the rest\". And he stood up and walked out, leaving me to make sense of everything.\n\nIt turns out time is a wibbly wobbly timey wimey sort of thing, rather than a linear progression forwards and backwards. I'd met a few time lords in my time and a few of us dedicated ourselves to improving the lives of others, knowing that there isn't much hope for Time Lords, just depression and anxiety. Still, it eases the burden a bit knowing that someone else's burden can be lessened a bit. That they get a few more chances to succeed than they might otherwise. I still worry about mucking about with time lines a lot, and am filled with apprehension about what sort of terrible demise I will meet. I know the pamphlet mentioned regeneration, but it sounds unpleasant. And I'm not so sure I'd still be 'me' afterwards."
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1,
2
] | [
"1488164797",
"1488184857"
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[WP]: The first time you met your father, you were twenty years old and he was stuck in a bird cage in your mentor's office. "I can explain", he said, and tried. | 12 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"But sir,\" I said, sidestepping the greatsword coming down toward my head. \"When do I find out what my destiny is?\"\n\n\"The purpose to which a Chosen One is called is revealed at the exact moment it is supposed to be, and not a minute sooner,\" Oraf answered, dislodging his over-sized sword from the patch of dirt I was standing on moments before. \n\nWith a quick roll, I slipped behind my mentor and threw him in a headlock. \"That's not really an answer sir. When will that time come?\"\n\n\"Nnnnnnnnnnnghh rrrrrrrrrffffffffff,\" he said. His face started reddening. Oraf dropped his sword and tapped firmly on my leg twice. I loosened my grip.\n\nOraf sucked in a couple of deep breaths before repeating his answer. \"It will be revealed when you are ready. Which I believe you may be, based upon this day's performance.\"\n\nMy face brightened. For nearly a decade I had been under the old man's tutelage, learning various martial arts and the ancient philosophies of the Chosen One. In times of great consequence, a Chosen One would be called to fulfill their destiny. A challenge would become apparent, and whether a Chosen One successfully met that challenge would determine the fate of the world. I was a Chosen One, and Oraf my mentor, was preparing me for my destiny.\n\n\"Is today really the day?\" I asked, excitement creeping into my voice.\n\nOraf smiled his usual soft, knowing grin. \"Not today. Go have a meal and rest up. I will consult the fates. Tomorrow may well be the day.\"\n\nMy shoulders sagged, and I trudged back inside the old abandoned temple that had been my home all these years. I ate a simple dinner of rice and vegetables, and then went to sleep.\n\nI woke the next morning feeling unusually well rested. I stretched and saw that the sun was already up. I sat up, concerned that Oraf hadn't come and woken me. Ever since I had come to live with him, he had made sure to wake me before sun up.\n\nI put on my training robes and walked down the cool stone hallway towards his bed chamber. I poked my head in, but saw no sign of him. \"Oraf!\" I called. My shout echoed faintly off the time worn bricks. I strained to hear a response, but none came. \n\nI wandered through the rest of the temple, but found no trace of my master. My heart started pounding, terrified that something had happened to him in the night. He was the only person I had left. We'd been through so much together. \"Oraf!\" I shouted again, getting frantic.\n\nStill no response. There was only one place I hadn't looked. The cellar. Oraf had forbidden me since the day I had gotten here from going down there, and had lashed out harsh punishments for even asking about what was hidden beneath our feet. I took a deep breath and climbed down the stairs.\n\nIt was pitch black and smelled damp. The stairs emptied out into some kind of long room, at the far end of which was a door, outlined by the light coming from within it. \"Oraf?\" I called again uncertainly. Silence was the only answer I received. \n\nI felt my way across the room, reaching the door in a minute filled with unrepentant fear. I grabbed the hooped piece of metal that served as the door handle and gave it a tug. The door swung open. My eyes widened as I took in the scene.\n\nOn the other side of the door was a well appointed room, one half of which was a covered in books, notes, and arcane drawings. The other half had my master standing nonchalantly, smiling gently at me. Next to him was a massive iron cage. Gripping the bars from inside was a man with a terrified look on his face. It was my father, the man I hadn't seen since I was a boy.\n\n\"Dad?\" I asked confused.\n\n\"Garrett! Oh, son. I'm so sorry. But run! Don't listen to this crazy man! He kidnap-\" my father shouted, before being silenced from a quick strike of Oraf's wooden staff.\n\n\"Garrett, the day of your destiny has arrived,\" Oraf said. \"First, you must destroy the last tie to your old life. Then we can meet the next challenge.\"\n\n\"Just run, Garrett! Get out of here!\" my father shouted, still a heap on the floor.\n\n\"You told me my parents were dead,\" I said confused.\n\n\"Yes, a required piece of your training,\" Oraf said. \"And now the time has come to complete it. Kill your father.\"\n\n\"I can't,\" I said after a moment. \"It's my father. I can't do this.\" \n\n\"The fate of the world is at stake,\" Oraf pressed. \"You would put one life ahead of the fate of the world?\"\n\n\"One *innocent* life,\" I said. \"And this doesn't make any sense. Let him out. We can still save the world.\"\n\n\"I can't let him out. If you try to release him, I will stop you,\" Oraf said matter of factly. \n\n\"Son,\" my father said, finally picking himself up off the floor. \"This is insanity. He's lied to you from the beginning. Just run away. Forget about me.\"\n\n\"I'm not leaving you Dad,\" I said moving toward the cage. Oraf stepped in my path drawing a sword.\n\nTears started welling up in my eyes. \"It doesn't have to be this way,\" I pleaded.\n\n\"Yes it does, son. Yes it does,\" Oraf said. There was a twinge of sadness in his voice. \n\nI took another step forward, and Oraf moved to meet me. He slashed quickly with his sword, but I parried out of the way. Oraf moved with a determined quickness, resetting himself in my path.\n\n\"Please,\" I said, moving forward again. Oraf's blade flew once more. I tried to dodge, but the blade sliced across my midsection. \n\n\"Garrett!\" My father shouted. \"Leave me!\"\n\n\"No!\" I responded through gritted teeth. My training was taking over. I advanced again, slipping under Oraf's attack. I landed a closed fist in Oraf's midsection. Quick as lightning, my hands flew to the arm gripping the sword. A well placed elbow strike bent the old man's arm as I forced his hand over. In a flash it was over. Oraf was impaled on his own sword.\n\n\"Garrett,\" Oraf said weakly. \"You have done well. Go forth a meet your destiny.\"\n\n\"I don't understand,\" I said.\n\n\"You have proven your strength of heart,\" the old man answered, blood leaking out of his mouth. \"It is as the fates foretold. You *are* the Chosen One.\" Oraf let out an unsettling gurgle.\n\n\"Garrett,\" my father said. \"I'm sorry for all you had to go through. And all that I missed. But your training is complete now son.\"\n\nI stared at my father. He looked back warmly at me.\n\n\"Well don't just stand there! Let me out. We've got to go get your mother.\"\n\n*****\n\nRead my other prompt responses by subscribing to [Pubby's Creative Workshop](https://www.reddit.com/r/Pubby88)\n\n\n\n"
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6
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"1488288026",
"1488290268"
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[WP]: Your band has written a new song, playing it live has summoned someone, or something. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"It was just a sound. It was an accident really. We were playing our usual set. Trying to get it right. I made this sound with my guitar. Half playing. Half grazing the strings. The sound gave me a sudden burst of energy. We all felt it. A gust of wind ran through us. \n\nWe were in the garage. \n\nThe windows were shut. The garage door was down and locked in place with no open crevasses or cracks. This wind and that energy was all we got. \n\nI tried to replicate the sound but I just couldn't get it right. Jerry was kinda freaked out by the whole thing. He went home and hasn't been answering our calls. He was only second guitar anyway.\n\nI became obsessed. My hands ached. My fingers bled. We were sitting around the garage when it happened again. I kept at it making the sound and feeling its effects over and over again. Something stirred within me. Something was egging me on making me feel like I needed more.\n\nI cleared my mind and played.\n\nThe song that came gave me a tingle in my shoulders. The rest of my band seemed to follow along. We played something otherworldly as the garage walls fell away. The floor of the garage was all that remained while the rest became a cavernous cave of luminescent mushroom covered walls.\n\nWe remained raised on our garage-floored mountain. It felt as though I was watching myself at this point. Below us, there was a dark pit of unknowable depth. Something rose from that pit. With, twisted horns and a single red eye, the one who called himself Bethmaya rose. \n\nThe seemed to carry us the rest of the way. Worldwide fame was our reward while we still do not know the price. We see him, here and there. He always seems to be waiting."
] | [
1,
5
] | [
"1488288188",
"1488307568"
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[removed] | [WP] The United States government is locked in a room. Massive amounts of LSD are pumped in. What happens? | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nResponses must be at least 30 words. Prompts that are likely to generate such responses are also not allowed.\n\nWe are not currently allowing political prompts (see rule #4) as the aim of the sub is to encourage people to write and political prompts are leading to arguments instead of stories. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5wsgvz/wp_the_united_states_government_is_locked_in_a/%0A%0A)"
] | [
1,
1
] | [
"1488335628",
"1488337120"
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[WP] You've lived on an island all by yourself for over a year. You decide to venture to the other side, and are surprised by what you find. | 106 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"9:37 am, April 16 2018\nAnother tally another day, it's been about 497 days since I've been stuck on this shit mound of on island. I have finally found enough resources to venture further perhaps even to the other side. I pack up the items I've salvaged from the plane and food I've found from the forest and head out.\n\n10:42 am, same day\nI've been walking for what I estimate is an hour, so far I haven't found anything new just familiar forest. I've made plenty of mental notes in my head when exploring these forests, it's the one thing I'm actually good at, so I know that this is explored area. For now I shall push on.\n\n1:09 pm, same day\nI have breached unfimiliar are now, I must be careful. I am becoming fatigued and dehydrated as it is one of the hottest days I've seen yet. I shall make camp for a small while and drink up the press on once I feel better.\n\n8:56 pm, same day\nI have not seen anythings that points to me getting out of here yet, for now I shall make camp and rest for the night.\n\n10:14 am, next day\nI have been up for an hour or so now, I have eaten and freshened up. I am ready to continue on my way.\n\n2:36 pm same day\nI have officially done it I have made it to the edge of the forest, I am eager to see what is beyond the perimeter. *Muffled sound of rushing leaves as man runs* finally I have made it... I.. it's just beach. I am unsure what I was expecting but maybe there is something further down the coast line. I will continue and update if there is any discoveries.\n\n3:08 pm, same day\nI have ventures into the forest again to protect myself from the sun, I am still following the coast line however but I have heard noises coming from out side the border I I'm unsure if it is laughter or music, maybe both. I will venture out and see what this is. *More sounds of rushing leaves* I can't believe this. It's... It's.. Tala lulu island's nudist resort and spa... ",
"I had been on the Island for a year when I found it. I had been alone, hurtling around the sun for only one ellipse and yet it felt like one thousand. \n After a few months of being alone, you stop obsessing over those you miss, those that abandoned you. You learn how to live in the present. You learn how to swim through ribbons of nostalgia in the silver lakes of your own mind. \n I realise now that time as we know and experience it is merely a byproduct of human interaction. When you have no place to be, have no-one to meet, the constructs of time fall away around you. You are left stranded on your own Island, smeared in the present moment. By the end I didn't feel abandoned by man, I felt abandoned by time. I felt it had robbed me of my future and thus laid waste to my past.\n I had just made it to the other side of the Island for the first time. The journey was long and laborious. I had set out to travel to the other side many times but I had always given up mentally before I had even started. The rocky, unstable terrain had beat me psychologically before I had even entered the thick jungle barrier that looms just beyond the jagged cliffs. This time I had switched off my mind. This time I had swam through the murky waters that swirled around my head and let my body take the beating. The skin fell from the souls of my feet like wet tissue paper. Insects made the folds and creases of my body their new home. It took me around two days to make it through to the other side of the Island and I emerged stronger, not a new man, I was no longer sure I was a man but I was stronger.\n A picture of you sat proud on the beach. You looked up at me and time started to rain down on me and fill my lungs. It was small, a passport photo perhaps. There were tones of pieces of litter on the Island. A half bottle of Sprite had once washed up on the beach. I had taken tiny sips of it for three whole weeks, the sweet taste was intense and so to was the feeling of euphoria when the clear syrup painted my lips. \n I had utilised all sorts of rubbish but this was different. I hadn't laid eyes on another human for one year and there you were, your eyes ocean blue, your hair the colour of coconut husks, your skin sun kissed and beach brown. The wallet the picture had come from was just beside it and was stuffed full with notes, \"How useful\" I had thought, \"Something to burn\". \n For that day you were no longer someone else's girlfriend, you no longer were a stranger to this Island. You lived with me, we had faced the Island together, the skin fell from your feet also so I had carried you, promising you a warm fire and a square meal at the end. You gave me back my grip on time, just for a day, I had a future and I wasn't scared of what would become my past. A picture of you. ",
"I sat on the ocean’s edge on a day I could no longer hope to count to. I tried to leave, honest, I did. It’s not as simple as a movie dictates. No normal human who was simply taking a vacation from office work could hope to pull something like that off. It took several months to create a shelter and a semi-functioning boat, only for them both to be destroyed by one storm.\n\nAs it stands, I’ve been dedicating my time to giving into hopelessness. Instead of establishing a home, venturing into the dangers of who-knows-what in that forest, or re-creating something to get off of this potential vista, I sit here from dusk til dawn. The only real thing on my daily agenda is acquiring food. Every other second of my existence I watch the shadows in the shallows movewhile digging into the heated sand with a stick.\n\nAt first it was to mark how many days I’d been stranded. As a--or at least I’d like to think--typical human being would, I wrote it in tallies. It was easy until it got into the two-hundreds. I got sick of counting the scores, though I could’ve invented a simpler system. Although, that time has long passed now and I am beyond caring, marking my way down the shore with silly little doodles and puns.\n\nI sighed as I stood up to move to the next patch of sand I could create something stupid to laugh at. Lightning sounded in the distance as if mocking my decision. I screamed some obscenities into the nothingness to ‘better myself’, though, I think I’m really starting to lose it. Halfway through my next masterpiece of a squid making an ink joke, I heard fire crackling. Only, I hadn’t started a fire. \n\nAverting my gaze back upwards into the blue abyss I saw a torrent of black wind roaring close by. It wasn’t a tornado, or, at least, it didn’t appear to be. The base of the mass appeared almost circular--as far as I could tell--as it descended upon the surface of the water. It looked violent with its streaks of lightning flashing on its outermost layer and its vortex of gales spiraling into the sky in an attempt to shut out the sun.\n\nThe more seconds I waited the more I felt the urge to run. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the ever-growing cloud until fear overtook me. I didn’t think, just turned and ran blindly into an unexplored place. Several times my footfalls almost failed me, threatening to make me drop into the mud and look behind me. There was no time to spare as it may only daunt me into believing there’s no reason to run, to succumb to my inner despair that I’ve been barely able to keep at bay.\n\nThe crackling was now nothing but a distant echo as the horizon disappeared into nothing but a dense forest made of a menagerie of greens. I slowed my retreat out of necessity, hoping for even a small respite. My chest ached, I felt dehydrated, and all I could hear was my wild heartbeat. Being a completely competent adult, I left what little supplies I had behind.\n\nEverything previously had blurred together, and a feeling of newfound exploration felt great- until I took another step forward without looking. My foot went over the edge of a cliff and nearly sent me hurtling down. I groaned in annoyance. Down below was a large settlement spanning upwards to where I was. A system of wooden bridges climbed up the sides and even dared to suspend themselves over a dark pool of water beneath. There were buildings clinging to the walls. Their windows were just holes and I could barely see lights inside. \n\nI looked back behind me, knowing I was better off now within the clutches of a society. I need only wonder, are they friendly?",
"1 year ago this day was when I walked the plank, I was the captain of shitty-grey, but due to mutiny I was overthrown from my position and was forced to walk the plank, there was an island nearby so I swam there after untying the knots....I am a sailor for crying out loud what do you think I don't know how to untie a knot..\nSo anyway, I reached the island and began to live on coconuts, and waited for any ship that passes by, but no ship sailed these waters as far as I knew.\nWell I thought better start making arrangements for permanent residence in this place, I found a nice cave much above the water level, made it cosy with moss and leaves.\nNow for food arrangements, I had the sea in front of me and I knew how to catch a fish, so no big deal there, got my fish, started a fire and purified water, life had taken a nice routine, it was nice all this silence for miles, just the thrashing of waves and sound of insects chirping at the night, a life without care, just me and the old sea....\nBut today I thought of going to the other side of the island, I had seen in movies and read in some books when a person goes to the other side he might find civilisation and can be rescued, as I had gotten pretty bored of this I started moving in the morning with 2 coconuts full of water and it took me till afternoon to arrive at the other side, the island was very big you see...\nI was shocked what I saw there, it was unbelievable,\nIt was just not possible, no one was there, no people dancing and singing or a hotel, not even a plastic bottle.... Shame...\nWell, what can you do now, I think maybe I should make a boat or something and go search for civilisation,\nOn second thoughts nah, too much work, too much risky and they are a bunch of assholes anyway, kinda is fun this way, am the king of this island, I should make a throne for me to sit on.......",
"As I etch the 365th scratch into my cave's wall, I think about my past year. I left the world behind, my fiance, my family, everything. I left it all in the pursuit of something more. I had wanted to live, to survive, to feel that primal rush we had lost so many years ago. And you know what? It ended up being just an okay year, in all honesty. It was fun, for the first couple weeks. I found that urge, that rush to live. But then everything became routine. Collect water, gather food, improve the cave, make tools. Everything just started to blur. So, for my one year anniversary, I decided I would treat myself, and go to the side of the island I swore I would never go to again. Their side.\n",
"Journal Entry: Week 62\n\nYesterday was the day. \nAfter weeks spent trying to find a ford, I had almost given up on ever crossing the river. \nThe Mountain towered over my attempts, and the noise of the waterfall far back was like a constant laughter.\n\nAnd yet I made it. The tropical storm of three days ago, the one that almost destroyed my hut, wasn't all bad news, turns out. One of the high, old trees was knocked over by the wind, falling over the rapids and offering an unstable bridge. I ensured it to the ground with some of those liana vines that are growing everywhere, and off I went on all fours, the water roaring under me.\n\nI must have lost more weight than I thought since I was stranded, as the tree didn't seem to move at all. It was wet, musky, and scary, but in a matter of minutes I had safely reached the other side. Phew! I took a minute to rest and breathe: I was safe. For now at least.\n\nThe other side. Where should I start? No, no, I will go in order.\nFirst, I cautiously checked for traces. Judging my immediate surroundings relatively safe, I looked for eggs. I was really keen on eating some again, and I can confirm that they are as abundant on the other side as they were on mine. As usual, I cooked them in ashes, and had an excellent meal.\n\nMy energy restored, I set out to the Mountain. Finally, after three months of setbacks, I could resume my attempts at climbing it. I was sure I would have had better luck on this side. I had to. \nThe questions started to invade my mind again. Will I ever find a way up? What dangers lie on the road? And of course: what will I see from the top? Is it really an island? \n\nWithout noticing it, I had started running. The adrenaline ran through my body as a powerful drug, and I felt unstoppable. \nFinally, I would know.",
"\"You've got to be kidding me,\" I said to myself as I made it over the ridge that ran through the middle of the island. I was standing on a plateau, overlooking the neglected half of my prison. It was 20 acres of jungle and beach that I avoided at all costs up to this point. If I wanted to stay alive I had to. Because that's where the island's inhabitants lived. Every night, I listened to their drums, cringed as their people wailed through the night, and smelt their burning fires. For a year, I lived my life in fear.\n\nThey were a savage breed. I grew up in rural Canada, and even though I watched my fair share of documentaries on indigenous tribes, I have never seen anything of the sort. I can recall one daytime hunt stalking a wild bird, when I was chased by three naked members of their tribe. They did not stop until one of their leaders yelled repeatedly across the jungle \"You fucked up! You fucked up!\" In an instant, the naked men lost interest in me and returned back to the village. From that day forward I was terrified of them. Sometimes when they ventured to my side of the island I hid and watched from a distance.\n\nThey stumbled around like they lacked balance. They left a lingering odour in the air that I could smell from a mile away. It stunk like fermented fruits. They fornicated out in the open without any regard for personal hygiene or privacy. I decided that they must be the last of a dying breed of people. That their way of life, while contrastive to my own, had its own merits and had survived for hundreds of years. The day I decided to cross the barrier to their side of the island, was the day I ran out of water and food. I needed their help.\n\nAs I stood on the plateau and I looked down at the tribe I had feared for a year, war drums turned to electronic DJs on the beach, smoky fires turned to BBQs, and the wailing I heard before was now joyful and jubilant cheering.\n\nI got closer to their village and the three naked men who chased me before were now wearing bathing suits and sunglasses. They approached me with a big smile. \"Dude you took that game seriously, I swear the next time we play Manhunt, you are on my team!\"\n\nI read a sign that was directly behind them: \"Lost Tribe Luxury Resort.\"\n\n",
"Since I got stranded on this island, I have felt scared and lonely. I fell over board and nobody noticed. At least they did not notice quick enough because they did not come back for me. The ship was too quick for me to follow so I lost track of it soon. I am a good swimmer so I swam and fought the waves, stranded on this island and now I spend my days waiting on the beach, staring at the sea. Sometimes I run into the forrest to find prey or to eat fruit and plants, whatever I can find will do. I lost weight since I got here but that does not hurt, loneliness hurts. \n\nAt least 300, possibly 400 days of me staring at the sea and hunting and searching for food have gone by. I hope they will come to look for me, but maybe they can't find me. My friend Mark was on the ship and he is the one I miss the most. We were the best friends in the world and now I don't know where he is. \n\nToday, I ran into the forrest to hunt, because my stomach told me to. I am quick and I am smart, I usually find food quickly. It's a good thing, because I don't want to miss them coming for me so I need to sit and look for them as often as possible. But something was different, hunting in the forrest. I smelled something. I have never gone deep into the forrest, why would I anyway but now I fearlessly ran in there, following the track my nose told me to follow. I ran, ran on until I left the woods, ran some more, following a path at the beach, found some people's camp and wiggled my tail and barked and if you ever wonder what happiness feels like you should have seen me jump against Mark's chest to push him to the sand and lick his tears of joy off his face. \n\n "
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[removed] | [WP] Hitler goes back in time to kill kimself | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nWe feel that asking users to write about suicide is harmful. It can be hard to tell if someone's writing fiction or making a cry for help. In the event there's any truth behind this for you or someone you know, we recommend checking out /r/suicidewatch or /r/depression. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5wwx61/wp_hitler_goes_back_in_time_to_kill_kimself/%0A%0A)"
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I have to admit I got chills just thinking of this prompt. | [WP] You are on your return flight after a business trip when one of the engines explode and tears off a wing. Tell the story of your decent. | 3 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"“Good afternoon. Welcome to Flight 654 to Little Rock, Arkansas. Today’s flight will be three hours long. Please pay attention…” The flight attendant continued on with her speech with a tone that was just absolutely drenched with fake happiness but I stopped paying attention, shoving earbuds in. Dani California flooded into my ears. The business trip had been amazing, the conference had gone by quickly and left me three days of pure bliss. Ah, how I wish I was staying in California another night. Anywhere but Arkansas. Arkansas meant my wife yelling at me about what I did wrong that day. Just two weeks ago she had yelled at me for not being “there” at a dinner.\n\tThe Pritchards had just left the house as she stormed into the living room and turned off a riveting football game just as Manning was about to Score. \n\t“What the hell is wrong with you Alicia!?” I exclaimed, pissed that the moment had been ruined. \n\tShe was fuming as she started into a rant, “What the hell is wrong with me!? What the hell is wrong with you! All through dinner you barely said a word to the Pritchards. And when you finally did say something it was to ask them how their son was doing. Who has been DEAD for two years! It was so embarrassing for me! I swear Bill, you seem to be in your own world 24/7. Do all of us a favor and actually come back to reality.”\n\t“So I made a mistake. Big deal, it was only one. Why are you so mad?” I asked. \n\tShe laughed, “You really don’t see it do you? Whatever. Go back to your football game. I have to go to the hospital in a few minutes anyways.” \n\t“See what? And why are you going to the hospital? Did you get a job there?” I asked. \n\t“Bill. My mother has been sick for weeks and was sent to the E.R. two days ago, I have to go see her,” She practically hissed before slamming the door on her way out. I was so confused. How was I supposed to know these things? No one tells me anything. Maybe if she told me things I wouldn’t ask inconsiderate questions. Has she ever thought about that? I shook my head, pleased with my logic, and turned the game back on. \nMy home was like a cage, California on the other hand, California meant freedom. Away from all of my troubles, the sunstained beaches so calming, the diversity, everything about California made me smile. My body was lurched forward as the plane left the ground. I turned my head towards the window and watched as the roads, buildings, and trees grew farther and farther away. I strained to read the words “Hollywood” one more time as the sign became miniscule before closing my eyes, determined to sleep for the entire three hours. I needed to save up my energy for the wrath that was sure to come when I stepped off the flight. \n I slept for the next two hours, in and out of REM, when suddenly a piercing alarm went off. Dazed, I looked around as my surroundings slowly came into focus. And just as quickly as it had started, the alarm ceased to make noise. I assumed that it was a false alarm and began twisting and turning to find another comfortable position, for one more hour of paradise before landing. *Boom* The plane dropped about what felt like 50 feet suddenly. A child started to sob and a woman screamed. Another drop. Another one. Another one. The consistent feeling of butterflies in my stomach brought me back to my wedding day. \nI was facing the priest as the music played, filling in the silence of the room. My palms were sweaty and my throat was dry. I could hear each and every step she took down the aisle. My heartbeat off putting the sound of her stilettos. And then, her clicks stopped, and my heart almost did too, as I turned around to face her. \nI missed those butterflies. They were sweet and bubbly. These butterflies seemed to be of the poison variety. Each drop the plane made seemed to make the sharp winged creatures multiply in my stomach. If the drops didn’t stop soon, I feared my stomach wouldn’t be able to handle all of the butterflies. The intercom turned on, crackling as it came to life, “Attention passengers. We have lost one of our engines. Please try to stay calm as we attempt to land on a body of water.” \nThey were lying to us. We weren’t going to make it. The drops were coming too fast, we were losing altitude too quickly. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later the loudspeaker returned with a far less calm message, “Attention passengers, our left wing has been damaged severely and there isn’t a good landing place for the next 20 minutes. You may now use your cellular devices if they work and contact loved ones. We are very sorry for the next seven minutes or so, please get into the brace position in the event of a crash. Peace be with you all.” I almost laughed at the formality of the announcement. I bent my head down, the changes of altitude hurting my ears. My thoughts were overwhelming, wanting to get in as many as possible before my seven minutes were up. All of my idiotic complaints seemed silly now. I had wasted so much of my life complaining, and now I won’t have the time to appreciate. \nThe cold winter air stung my face. I felt like I had been waiting for the bus for forever. I couldn’t take it anymore, I yelled out, “When is this bus going to get here!? I am cold, I am missing a meeting right now, and I am starving!” A girl began to laugh behind me. I angrily turned around and asked, “What’s so funny?”\nShe stifled a laugh as she replied, “Oh, it’s just how you are complaining about something that is so irrelevant. You will be warm in less than 30 minutes and will be able to get food in no time. In the long run is a few minutes in the cold worth the time of yelling about it?” \nI smiled as I said, “I guess you are right. Speaking of food, would you like to tell me your name and join me for lunch.”\n“My name is Alicia. If you stop complaining, I’ll take you up on lunch,” she slyly said with a smirk. I grinned.\nTears welled up in my eyes as the ground got closer and closer. I couldn’t seem to remember how to breathe. Panting, not knowing what else to do with myself. The plane started to take a nosedive. Oh, god, this was it. \n“Hey,” Alicia whispered. It was the night that I had fallen off a platform and cracked my head open. We were at the hospital, me in the bed, her kneeling right next to me. She had been like that for hours. I was barely conscious and couldn’t speak but I could hear. She started to talk again, “I don’t know if you can hear me but I’m going to say it anyways. I know that sometimes life is hard. And it doesn’t look like everything is going to be okay. But I just want you to know that I will always be here to go through them with you.”\nThe ground was only a minute away now. I braced myself for impact, making note of my surroundings. The velvet touch of the armchair, the screams almost bursting my eardrum, the smell of gasoline, the intoxicating air. 20 seconds at most before the metal of the plane crashed into the soil. \nAlicia smiled at me, her hair blowing in the summer breeze. She came up close and hugged me as she said, “I love you.”\nFive more seconds, four, three, two... \n\n"
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[WP] "I thought I lost you once. I won't let it happen a second time..." | 14 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"She stood there, waiting, watching the motionless form lying in the bed in front of her. The soft beep of a heart monitor intruding her every thought. She wondered how things got to this point. What he did to deserve this? The events leading up to this were a whirlwind of unfortunately happenings, and recalling them brought nothing but sadness.\n\nShe was immediately transported to the “+” staring back at her in the bathroom. “I don’t have time for this. I have a career. I have a life!” Bitterness. Annoyance. Anger. Love?\n\nShe went on her day-to-day, to work, stopping at the same coffee shop in the city every morning, slowly and meticulously measuring out her 200mg. Always stewing with regret, she walked block after block to her promising uprising in her firm. \nAlthough, she found that the more she dwelled, the less it bothered her. And over a few months, she was growing to love the baby. Slowly, she stopped drinking her morning coffee. Am I being protective? \n\nAt the 6 month check-up, she brought her husband. There she heard the words that haunt her to this day. “The blood panel came back. Things aren’t normal… I don’t see you carrying this child to term. We do have options, and it’s not to late to-“\n\n“Stop.”\n\nShe went home and sobbed quietly into her hands. The paperwork said to expect the baby’s heartrate beat slower and slower and slower, until…\n“PUSH. PUUUUSH.”\n\nSuddenly a baby’s cry. A mother’s cry. A father’s cry. Baby Michael was here. Against all odds. Against all logic. \n\nThings caught up though. Michael was born, but Michael wasn’t without problems. In and out of the hospital wore her down. And now, here she was again. Likely for the last time. They went through an experimental treatment for a blood disease. It seemed the blood disease was receding, however it left Michael in a coma when it was all said and done. There was no way that brain damage hadn’t occurred since he was resuscitated 3 times. \nIs this really something that I can handle? 12 years in the making, and here she is at the end. Pointless. She grabbed her coat.\n\n“I thought lost you once, I won’t let it happen a second time…”\n\nAnd left.\n\n15 years later Michael sits in a lobby. Waiting. Thinking. “I made it.”\n\nThe receptionist popped up, Michael looked up at her.\n\n“David Wallace will see you now. You can come in.”\n\n“That’s what she said.”\n"
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] | |
[WP] You are an inventor and have finally created a device that can bring people back from the dead. | 8 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"A man stood on the stage. He would later win many awards, including a Nobel. At the moment though, he just had to convince his audience that he wasn't crazy. He began to speak.\n\n\"Anyone who knows a bit of physics knows that the laws of physics are reversible. If you know the present state of the world, not only can you figure out what its future state will be, but you can also figure out what all its past states must have been. In principle. In reality, this would take perfect knowledge of the current state along with a ridiculous amount of computing power.\n\n\"My breakthrough is then in the practical application of this theoretical fact. I have solved many many engineering problems, the details of which are covered in my paper and patent application to get here. The result is that if you aren't concerned with perfect precision, we can recover local past states from imperfect information and using far less computational power than one would naïvely think. Unfortunately, since the method depends on the increase of entropy over time, we can only recover past states, not future ones.\n\n\"I'm sure you are all aware of the implications of this. We can conduct incredibly accurate studies of history, and store huge quantities of data far more efficiently than before. But even more astonishing, we can bring people back from the dead!\"\n\nThe man got laughed out of the room. But when someone who looked an awful lot like Albert Einstein began wandering around town, people started to wonder. Then there was the even higher than usual level of Elvis sightings. It was Socrates's steady stream of leading questions, however, that really got people to believe. Not the questions themselves, just the fact that it was Socrates asking them.\n\nThe immediate problem which was recognized by everyone was that, unfortunately, there wasn't enough room on Earth to bring back every human who had ever lived. That would require a level on technology that would not be available for some time to come. In addition, the Earth was just heading into a number of nasty symptoms of climate change, and an energy shortage as oil supplies began to run out.\n\nBut there was still some hope. As Isaac Asimov put it: \"with the smartest people in all of history working on these problems, I'm sure we'll be able to get all this sorted out eventually.\""
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"1488398475",
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[WP] A Disney princess who can't sing. Her attempts sound like a dying walrus. But halfway through the story she discovers she raps like hell. | 773 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
" ‘I won’t lie to you, Pamela: you can’t sing. At all. Not a bit,’ her father said. \n\n‘But Daddy… I’m a princess… I *have* to sing,’ she responded.\n\n‘Well…’ he said. ‘Perhaps we can… find something *else* for you to do? Wouldn’t that be fun? Doing something else? Literally *anything* else?’\n\n‘But I want to sing, Daddy. I want to sing.’\n\nHe sighed, and gave in. He signed his name to the permission slip, enrolling his daughter into the extra-curricular singing classes. She ‘yippeed’ and jumped around, turning in perfect circles. ‘Perhaps ballet?’ he suggested. \n\n‘No,’ she said, dancing out of the room. \n\nHe turned to look at his wife, sitting on her throne next to him. ‘She sounds like a walrus,’ he said.\n\n‘A *dying* walrus,’ she added.\n\n***\n\nPamela skipped into class and handed her permission slip to her teacher. ‘Which classes are you taking, Pamela?’ she asked, and blanched when she read the form. ‘Oh,’ she said. ‘OK.’\n\nThe girls all lined up and prepared to sing their parts. The first girl sang her part beautifully. The second sang with such proficiency that the teacher was moved to tears. The third boasted a voice that could break a heart a hundred miles away. The Pamela opened her mouth and sounded like James Earl Jones with throat cancer.\n\n‘Stop, stop!’ the teacher called. ‘Something was a little… off,’ she said. The girls looked at Pamela. The teacher looked at Pamela. Pamela looked out the window.\n\n‘Oh, it’s raining,’ she said.\n\n‘Pamela, wouldn’t you rather try dancing? Or really *anything* else?’\n\n‘My Mummy says I’d make an excellent Tibetan Throat Singer,’ she said. ‘But you don’t have that class.’\n\n‘No,’ the teacher said. ‘No we don’t…’\n\n‘My favourite parts of the songs are when the words rhyme,’ Pamela said, unprovoked. \n\n‘That’s… nice,’ the teacher responded, uncertain. ‘Are you sure you want to be a singer, Pamela? Has anyone ever actually told you that you’re *good* at it?’\n\n‘Once my dog got its tail caught in a bear trap and started howling, and my Daddy shouted at me saying he’d told me not to sing any more. But I wasn’t singing! The dog was.’\n\n‘So that’s a no, then.’\n\n‘I do like the rhyming though.’\n\n‘Well… maybe try poetry,’ the teacher suggested.\n\n‘What’s that like?’ Pamela asked.\n\n‘Well,’ the teacher said. ‘It’s sort of like… imagine a song where all the lines rhymed. It’s like that, but without music.’\n\n‘But the music is one of the best parts!’ Pamela declared. ‘I’ll do poetry with music.’\n\n‘That’s not something we really teach here…’ the teacher said, but Pamela was away. She instructed the three girls to sing a melody over which she could rhyme.\n\n‘Yeah, yeah,’ she said. ‘Yo.’\n\n‘Where did you even learn that?’ the teacher asked.\n\n>‘The man tells me I can’t sing, I’ll prove them wrong,\n\n>I’ll spit fire out my mouth, leave dismay a mile long.\n\n>I’m the kinda princess all the girlies wanna be like,\n\n>On my knees in the night sayin’ prayers in the streetlights.’\n\n‘Pamela!’ the teacher interjected.\n\n>‘I don’t cause any hassle and I’m not one to fight,\n\n>While I bark very little, I’ll show you I can bite.\n\n>All these skinny bitches here reckon Pam ain’t packin’,\n\n>I line bitches up in sights and we’ll see who needs a whackin’.’\n\n‘Pamela!’ the teacher shouted, as one of the girls began to cry.\n\n>‘I ain’t mad, I’m insane! I’m frothing at the mouth,\n\n>Leave haters in my wake, bodies broken, no doubt.\n\n>‘cause I been blastin’ and laughin’ so long that\n\n>Even my Mummy thinks that my mind is gone.\n\n>You bitches think that your nice voices make you bigger,\n\n>Well bitch, step up face to face with a stone cold killa’.\n\n>Teach’ here gon’ declare me the winner,\n\n>‘cause in this room there’s only one real nig-‘\n\n\n‘PAMELA!’ the teacher screamed, interrupting her.\n\n***\n\n‘For how long?’ her father asked.\n\n‘A week,’ she said, sullen.\n\n‘Suspended for a week at 6 years old… Jesus,’ he said. ‘Just… go to your room or something.’\n\nShe left the throne room downcast and dejected, and made her way to her bedroom. She passed the butler, who smiled sympathetically and carried on his way; past the maid, who curtsied politely and then carried on dusting; past the gardener Jerome, who shot her a huge smile, revealing a gold tooth, and nodded slowly. He ran his fingers through his afro and said, ‘girl, you is fierce. You’ my kinda kid.’ \n\n‘You know I is,’ she said, and they fist-bumped.\n",
"The streets of Phileo Adelphos were teeming with merchants calling out to the pedestrian traffic, trying to draw attention to their trinkets. The sound of conversations mingled together with the cries of children playing on the open ground near the stables to create a not-unpleasant racket. This is where Adella had spent most of her days, west of the city center, among the children, playing on these grounds. Now everything had changed.\n\nThe two snotty urchins were clearly up to no good. They had a bag full of things pilfered from the merchants. It was doubtful they had paid for any of their loot.\n\nAdella really wasn’t looking for trouble with these kids, but they had reached that age when boys want to impress girls, even if the girls aren’t interested. They bracketed her, trying to impress her with their haul. Then one of them grabbed her, and started trying to pull her towards an alley. Crying out in desperation, she kneed the first boy hard in the midriff, causing him to fall to the ground. The other, shocked, let go of her arm for a moment. She took that moment to pull free and run.\n\nShe dashed through the play grounds and past the stables, leaping over piles of refuse and parked carts. She careened off a merchant’s platform, causing fruit to spill and the merchant to come after her in outrage, but she dared not stop to apologize.\n\nFinally reaching her home and dashing through the door to pant on the floor, she felt safe… at least until the next time she had to go outside. Her mother, always busy about the Oikos, came out of the kitchen to see what was causing all of the fuss. She had just started sucking in breath for one of her legendary tirades on Adella’s failings when an angry shout came from outside.\n\nParting the heavy textile door cover, her mother saw a crowd of angry merchants and street urchins outside.\n\n“Your girl is nothing but trouble Mirana!” Screen the merchant who’s goods Adella had scattered while running. “She is wild and she can’t be around the growing boys on the streets.”\n\nThey continued in this vein for some time, lecturing her mother on proper discipline for wayward girls. Adella could tell her mother was frightened because she didn’t answer the men back as she normally would have.\n\nLater that evening, after they had eaten, Adella’s mother came and sat beside her cot near the hearth. “Adella, there are many things I have been waiting to tell you until you were ready, but it seems that life will not wait for my timing.” She sighed and knotted her apron spread across her lap between her gnarled and calloused hands. “You… aren’t without a father as you have believed.” She took a shuddering breath, and then told Adella the rest of the tale.\n\n“Your father was a powerful clan leader from Ayrshire, what would in Greece be called a prince. I know that you haven’t heard of this place, but it is a princedom on an island off the coast known as Scotland. This is why you are so much fairer of hair and skin than the other children. I fear that your difference of appearance and wild Scottish blood will endanger you here in Phileo. I have decided that the only way I can be a good mother to you is to send you to live with your father’s brother in Ayrshire. You will do well there as you are of lordly blood and your father’s relatives are wealthy.”\n\nTrembling, Adelle got very little sleep that night, all her thoughts on this strange fate ahead of her.\n\nThe following weeks went by like a blur. Her mother arranged passage for her with a caravan to the coast, where she was ferried on a long journey across the sea to this strange island full of strange customs.\n\nUpon arriving at a small port she was escorted by one of the ship’s crew to a wizened elderly woman with fiery red hair. “Oowel yewl be meh neuh meesus ah be a wootin far.” Said the woman in a language foreign to Adelle’s ears. She honestly had no idea what the woman was saying in spite of having learned a bit of Gaelic on the voyage. She giggled. “Oi ye ba bit of a fresh one bein’t ye lass?” said the woman with a disapproving scowl. Adella wasn’t looking to get into any new trouble, so she made no reply and after a moment the woman led her towards what Adella could only assume were soldiers for they were colorfully dressed in the strangest livery she had ever seen and held pikes on their shoulders.\n\nFearing that her mother was wrong and they were going to arrest her, Adella ran. Only a few muddy streets over was a middle-age man sitting on a cart, it’s shallow bed full of manure.\n\n“May I hire you for a ride to the country sir?” asked Adella, having practiced this Gaelic phrase well on the journey from Greece. At the sight of the silver coin in her hand the driver of the cart promptly agreed, asking her for her destination.\n\n“I must head inland to the home of my father’s brother in Ayrshire.”\n\nThe man gaped at her open mouthed... “Then… ye be a right well lady.”\n\nSeveral hours later the cart pulled up at a lovely estate, lush and emerald green as only the grasses in Scottland can be. Adella couldn’t be happier to be leaving the horridly racid smelling cart behind, and she pressed the coin into the nice mans hand and headed towards the door.\n\nShe was met with a bow and flourish as she neared the door.\n\n“Milady Adella aye presume ye teh be.” Said a man wearing a strange checkered toga with a purse at the belt. “Please come inteh teh house, we have wine to refresh ye and I shall have teh girls to draw ye a bath teh freshen up afore yeh meet ye uncle and aunt.”\n\nAs she drank the delicious and refreshing wine, Adella felt strange. Never before had she felt so free.\nA girl came in, her dress and manner nothing short of regal.\n\n“Oh. You must be Adella. I’m your cousin, Ashley. You can call me Ash. Eh you do look dreadful. You must tell me the story of your jouney. I am just dying to hear the details.”\n\n“Well, “ replied Adella\n\n“Now, this is a story all about how\nMy life got flipped-turned upside down\nAnd I'd like to take a minute\nJust sit right there\nI'll tell you how I became a princess with the name of Bel Air\n\nIn west Philos Adelphia born and raised\nOn the playground was where I spent most of my days\nChillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool\nAnd all shootin some arrows outside of the pool\nWhen a couple of guys who were up to no good\nStarted making trouble in my neighborhood\nI got in one little fight and my mom got scared\nShe said 'You're movin' in with your auntie and uncle named Bel Air'\n\nI begged and pleaded with her day after day\nBut she packed my trunks and sent me on my way\nShe gave me a kiss and then she gave me my ticket.\nI put my groove on and said, 'I might as well kick it'.\n\nFirst class, yo this is bad\nDrinking orange juice out of a champagne glass.\nIs this what the people of Bel-Air living like?\nHmmmmm this might be alright.\n\nBut wait I hear they're prissy, bourgeois, all that\nIs this the type of place that they just send this cool cat?\nI don't think so\nI'll see when I get there\nI hope they're prepared for the princess of Bel-Air\n\nWell, the boat struck land and when I came out\nThere was a dude who looked like a cop standing there with some lout\nI ain't trying to get arrested yet\nI just got here\nI sprang with the quickness like lightning, disappeared\n\nI whistled for a cab and when it came near\nThe back was full of manure but it was fresh so who cares\nIf anything I could say that this cab was rare\nBut I thought 'Nah, forget it' - 'Yo, holmes to Bel Air'\n\nI pulled up to the house about 7 or 8\nAnd I yelled to the cabbie 'Yo holmes smell ya later'\nI looked at my kingdom\nI was finally there\nTo sit on my throne as the Princess of Bel Air”\n",
"\"Me? Rap? Well, I'll give it a try...\"\n\n[cue beat]\n\nYo, I ain't a nice queen like ice queen Elsa.\n\nRapping, spittin' fire while Mulan's gettin' felt up.\n\nMy prince is a hip hop beat, so take a seat and\n\nSee it for your self why this princess is elite\n\nBloodlines full of delicate flowers and magic powers\n\nAfter hours climbing hair down a tower, Now or never,\n\nDo or die.\n\nFight or Flight? I think I'll just be fly\n\nThis princess ain't fucking around with the \"Why\"\n\nSo\n\nSit your ass down, I'm not done roasting the folks\n\nwho boast of having the most shit stuffed up in their coat\n\n[beat]\n\nThe Double D's on the princess Pocahontas\n\nAre the reason that she got her happy ending and Adonis\n\nIt's astonishing the chronic fauna aura of Snow White\n\n\"Oh shit... is that a vulture?\" It's not quite right.\n\nGive Ariel a burial fitting of her kin-- \n\nwe're talking fish and chips for weeks if you take a little swim.\n\nSomething's fishy with Belle too, it's time to face reality\n\nI think that girl might be into bestiality.\n\nOh, and I forgot about Cinderella too--\n\nHer entire fucking life revolves around a single shoe\n\nMerida? Oh yeah, I guess she's pretty okay,\n\n'cept for her glazed over eyes and perma-bad hair day.\n\nJasmine and Rajah are the best of friends,\n\nAnd she'll stay a crazy cat lady until the very end.\n\nI feel like I might have missed one of the monkeys from this zoo...\n\nUhh, Princess Tiana? Who? Is she new?\n\nAfter roasting and dismantling each royal spoiled shit\n\nI'm tired, so I'll retire to my golden throne of wit.\n\n[drop mic]\n\nedit: formatting + single error"
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[WP] You are a cryptid hunter in Oregon during the 1800s, hunting the illusive Hide-Behind through the treacherous forests. | 3 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"March 9th, 1859.\n\nIt's wet, that's all I have to say about the weather. It's raining, it's going to rain some more, and after that it's going to rain again. The forest pine trees don't give much cover either, but Papa says it'll be all worth it. \n\nPapa says he's figured it out, that he's finally going to be able to make some money after years of being stuck on the local cotton farm as a supervisor. All he's asked me was to come with him and do as he says, not much different from every other day. The Oregon territory just became a state of the America as well. Papa says we'll have to start paying taxes and this is a good of a way as any to start paying the new government. Papa's smart, but I don't think he knows everything he says though. \n\nAnyway, it's raining. Papa says that we're hot on the trail of this monster, some creature that is supposed to hide in the trees. The way Papa puts it is the monster almost becomes the trees. It's probably some overgrown raccoon for all I know or a badger. It's getting dark soon though. Papa has set up some place for us to sleep in the trees, says it's too dangerous to sleep on the ground. Doesn't make no sense to me. There aren't any bears or mountain lions for at least twenty miles, but what the hell do I know.\n\n---\n\nMarch 11th, 1859.\n\nI never would have believed it if I didn't see it, but I think Papa might be on to something. We found some tracks, big tracks. This wasn't like any prints that I had ever seen before, neither had Papa. These were slim and smooth, like two rifle barrels side by side making a V shape. Another thing was that the prints were deep, at least a couple of inches into the mud.\n\nPapa's eyes lit up like a fire when he saw them. He kept grabbing my shoulder and telling me how happy he was. He was sketching the print while his hands were shaking, as if he had one too many drinks. The tracks were at least a day old, but they could still show us the way. They point westward, towards the three mountains. \n\nIt's still raining, it hasn't and won't let up for another few days Papa says. I've forgotten what dry feels like. I'm soaked to the soul and it'll probably be months before I feel fine again.\n\n---\n\nMarch 14th, 1859.\n\nSomething is wrong, very wrong. Papa's gone. I've searched everywhere and yelled his name and he hasn't responded. I climbed the tallest tree that I could find and looked all across the mountain side, but he isn't anywhere. I woke up this morning and saw the fire with breakfast cooking in his pot, but he wasn't there. At first I thought he was just out looking at the land, but it's sundown and he still isn't here.\n\nWhat's scaring me is the fact that every now and then I think I hear him. I hear footsteps crunching leaves underfoot and when I look, he isn't there. I can't be going crazy. We've followed the tracks up the mountain and we're on the right path. This thing is slow, but I can't help notice something. The tracks that we have found have a pattern, they zig zag through the thickest parts of the mountain. It's almost if this thing knows it's being followed.\n\nHopefully Papa returns by nightfall. He and I both know how hard it is to navigate at night. It's not like him at all to go out on his own like that. He's learned that lesson the hard way, to never travel alone no matter what. I've got to get some sleep though. If he's not here in the morning, I'll have to head down the mountain to find him. The fire's been put out by the rain. I'll be sleeping in the trees again tonight.\n\n---\n\nREAD THIS\n\nWhoever finds this, please, God, tell me someone finds this. I've found the creature, the thing that Papa was telling me about. I've seen it! It was the most devilish thing I had ever seen. It stands tall, twice the size of me, but it's thin. The things looks like a stump with branches for legs and arms. And it's black, it's skin is black as tar and twice as thick. I tried to shoot it, but I might as well have shot the tree next to it. It threw up it's arms and groaned, no, it screeched or it yelled. In all honesty, there has never been a noise like this before.\n\nI shot everything I had at it, but the lead didn't even hurt it. The monster didn't even flinch. It looked at me with its eyes. Oh my God, its eyes! They were worse than any swarm of fireflies you could imagine. Looking at them made my sight go blurry, so I ran. I ran so fast that I fell halfway down the mountain and limped the rest of the way.\n\nAnd now I sit here, my leg broken. I tripped over a fallen tree broke it over a rock in the ground. I still haven't seen Papa. I'm scared. I'm more scared than I have ever been before. I need help, I need Papa, I need to get out of here! I've made myself a cast, something to keep my leg straight, but I still can't walk. The rain is coming down in all its force now.\n\nOh no, no.\n\nIt's here and it's looking right at me. It's standing above me like a devil. It almost has horns on its head. Whoever finds this, read this and stay away! Stay away! STAY A"
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"1488426886",
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[WP] A man has a magic pocket from which he can get anything he wants. One day he makes a mistake and pulls death from his pocket. | 27 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Here I am, in the last corner in the Earth that hasn't been touched by the plague. Yet. I can see it through the window, the clouds, the shadows, death itself. Well, at least I won't have to deal with my miserable self anymore. I had lost my job and my hobbies have no purpose now. Life is hard for a retired reaper.",
"The annoying chime of my alarm peels my eyelids apart in the early hours of a muggy Monday morning. With a groan, I hit the snooze button and roll away from the machine the disrupted my sweet dreams. \nSometime later my eyes open once more, a nagging tick on my brain reminding me that my alarm should have gone off again by now. \nWith a heavy sigh, I look over my shoulder at the black box on my nightstand that read 9:20AM in bright red. \n\"Shit!\" I throw the covers from my body and leap to my feet, swaying as the blood rushes to my head. \"Time.\" I say as my hand creeps into the pocket of my pjs. \"I need time.\" As I remove my fist, black fog seeps through my fingers. \"Well that's not right...\" Confused, and still very tired, I open my hand to find a dark orb floating in the palm of my hand, producing the black fog that now looms around me. \n\"Did someone call for time?\" A deep voice, sarcastic and mean emerges from the orb that slowly falls from my hand to transform into a figure garbed in black. \n\"Wow, okay... umm...\" I take a cautious step back, palms raised. \"I think I made a mistake.\" \n\"I'll say.\" The man chuckled, eyes sweeping down to admire his fingernails. \"Time was a little... preoccupied. I've come on her behalf.\" \n\"And you are?\"\n\"I am Death.\" With a sweeping bow and a sadist's grin, his eyebrows raise expectantly. \"Who can I remove from your life today?\"\n\"Oooh, wow!\" I force a polite smile, attempting to hide my fear. \"That's...so great. A far stretch from what I really needed, but...handy...nonetheless.\"\nWith a proud smile and a nod of his head, he encouraged me to name any man I'd like to die today. \"You know,\" I continued, using far too many hand gestures as I spoke. \"I am running late for work, and I called for Time because I was hoping to charm her into giving me an extra five minutes...is that something you can do?\"\n\"Hmmm...\" He pensively tapped his chin as if he were genuinely thinking it over. \"No.\" \n\"Ooh...\" I groaned.\n\"But you know what I can do?\"\n\"What?\" I asked reluctantly. \n\"I can kill your boss!\"\n\"Aaahhh....My... my boss! Yes, yes, I can see how that would make sense, because HE will be the one to yell at me, yeah... But you know, I'm actually a great employee--never been late, with the help of...Time, of course-- so I think I'll just handle it myself.\" \n\"Nonsense! I'm here to help! And I can't go away until I've assisted you! So who will it be?\"\n\"What..? No, no, no. That's not how it works! Time always tells me no, I practically have to beg to get what I need from her! Why are you any different?\"\n\"Time is a teasing little shrew who enjoys keeping men on their toes.\" He leveled me with a dubious stare. \"The rules specifically state that I cannot leave until I've completed the task I've been called here to do.\"\n\"Oh....fuck.\" I covered my face with my hands and groaned. What was I supposed to do now? I was late for work--not even close to being ready-- and Death was standing in my bedroom, asking me to choose a poor soul to pluck from this world. \n\"Who will it be?\"\n\n\n\"James!\"\n\"Uh, yes sir.\" I stopped at my work desk, dropping papers and a coffee as my boss made a bee line in my direction. \n\"Where the hell have you been! The meeting's in ten minutes, and your report isn't in my hands!\"\n\"S-sorry, sir. I, uh...\" \n\"That's it, I'm taking you off this project! You're no longer in the running for RDO, and with you out of the picture, that leaves Matt Salvis! He deserves this, and he'll do a far better job than you ever could! I knew you'd do something to screw up, I was just waiting and waiting to get rid of you, you weasel, you--\"\n\"Mr. Donovan!\" His panicked secretary ran up to us both, tears in her eyes, pale. \n\"What, Grace. I'm busy!\"\n\"It's Matt, sir. He's been in a car crash. He's...dead.\" \nThe dumbfounded expression on Mr. Donovan's face moved from his secretary to me. I smiled. \n\"You were saying?\"",
"\"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you.\"\n\nI stare in shock at my hand, still buried inside my pocket, and the broken chair in front of me. \"All I needed was a hammer,\" I murmur, purposefully not looking at the figure beside me.\n\nDeath harrumphs, forcing me to look in his direction, and I turn onto him with fear. He must be Death, I assume; his face is shrouded in the black cloak that covers his body, but, from what I can tell, it's made of skeleton bones, which go click-click-clack as he moves from side to side.\n\n\"You'll pay attention to me,\" he says sternly, wagging a finger at me. \"And you don't necessarily need a hammer to fix a broken chair. Who in the world taught you carpentry?\"\n\n\"Uhhhh,\" I say helpfully.\n\nDeath is shaking his head, admonishing me with his sonorous voice. \"Octavio, Octavio, Octavio,\" he says gently. \"You've been using your magic pocket too much, you know?\"\n\n\"You know my name?\" I whisper, licking my dry mouth.\n\n\"Of course. I know everyone's names. Now, I can't guarantee that it will be me who kills you someday--\"\n\n\"Uhhh--\"\n\n\"Relax, there are a lot of Deaths. It might be one of my cousins.\" Death is riffling through the voluminous pockets of his cloak now, apparently looking for something. \"Or one of my brothers-in-law. Ooh! I hate them.\"\n\n\"What if they want to kill you?\"\n\nDeath grins at me, and this time is voice is menacing rather than humorous. \"Some secrets aren't meant for humans.\"\n\n\"Oh.\"\n\nDeath has apparently found what he needed inside his pockets--it's a hammer; quelle surprise--and he hands it to me, drawing a scythe from within his cloak. \"So, you may not want to use that magic pocket quite so much, all right? You're not pulling stuff out of hyperspace (not that that would be better), and people are actually wondering where all their small tools and items have been going.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" I say again. Is that how the magic pocket works? I should have known....\n\n\"Actually, you can switch the pants, too. That pocket will work with anything.\"\n\nI look down at myself, embarrassed, as Death adjusts his cloak and stamps his feet, apparently getting ready to leave. \"Why?\"\n\nA portal has appeared behind him by now; it's dark turquoise-green, interspersed with tingles and thrums of violet-rose. Death shuffles his scythe to his other hand and begins stepping toward it, his sandals click-clack-clacking, just like his bones, on my living-room floor. \n\n\"Um, Death--?\" I say, as his cloak begins touching the portal.\n\n\"Yeah?\"\n\nI pick sheepishly at my pants. \"What's wrong with these?\"\n\n\"Darling,\" Death says, and his face pops into a grin. \"They're JNCO parachute pants. Even the 1990s didn't want those.\"\n\nAnd then--with a wave and a small pop--he's disappeared, gone through the portal. I sigh, staring at the hammer he's handed me, and get to work.",
"The small pocket in my jeans, in any jeans I wear, was made magical a long time ago. How it came about isn't important, but what it can do is: I can get anything I want from it. \n\nI mean anything. New car? I get the keys. House? Land deed. Celebrity sex? Haven't tried it yet, but I bet it involves rohypnol. \n\nHowever, it has its drawbacks. \n\nOne morning, after a heavy night of drinking, I wanted a hangover cure but was greeted with a sonorous yet high pitched voice from whatever I'd picked out. \n\nI AM DEATH. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT WITH ME NOW? \n\nI looked at my hand. There was a tiny skeleton in an ornate robe dangling from between my fingers. I explained my cock up and it sighed. \n\nTHE ONLY REAL CURE FOR A HANGOVER IS TIME it said. YOU MAY WISH FOR DEATH BUT THAT WILL PASS. A HEARTY BREAKFAST MAY HELP YOU IN THE MEANTIME. NOW LET ME GO, SOMEONE IS DYING TO MEET ME. HEH. \n\nI put him down gently. \n\nTRY NOT TO DO THAT AGAIN UNLESS YOU'RE INVITING ME ON A NIGHT OUT AGAIN. LAST NIGHT WAS KILLER. \n\nAnd with that, he vanished. I have more questions than answers, but he seems like a nice guy. I turned on the news. \n\n\"20 dead in suspected poisoning in the Clubbing District...\" \n\nOh. "
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[WP] You're a real estate agent. You die and go to hell, only to be greeted with a "For Sale" sign. | 4 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I love this. Made me think for a moment maybe the devil just need souls because he got snookered into a deal and had to collect souls to pay it off. Sorta like the guy who accidentally ends up making a bet with a loan shark and then needs to rob banks to pay them back or his family gets hurt. \n\nGod meanwhile has the same deal and needs souls too. Only thing is he has better marketing. He makes the other guy look bad while having legions of salesmen involved in a Ponzi scheme selling people the virtues of feeling guilty and self denial to get into \"heaven\"\n\nMeanwhile the \"devil\" is just some poor guy with no skills at conning people, in fact he's too nice a guy to lie so he admits it's a \"trade your soul for whatever you want\" deal. God's marketing reps just make that sound really really bad. "
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Wait how is a kid going to kill a dragon? | [WP] “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” ― G.K. Chesterton | 322 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Wings, flying, fire for breath. Kids love dragons. They lived on beds of gold and jewels. No homework, no rules, just juice boxes, video games and beating up fancy adults in armor. Total role reversal. It was like being an airplane but better. \n\nMy youngest squared up against the family dog. He held his fingers like horns above his temples. Daisy crouched and wagged her tail. Little blue shoes stomped in the mud around her. She followed him, sniffing closely. My youngest grunted soft little grunts.\n\n“Feel my wraff!” he exclaimed, dropping his jaw and wheezing out his unfortunate halitosis. In his mind it was flammable. I thought it might make the dog sick. She started licking his face.\n\n“Hey there little Davey,” I said, coming up to muss with his bright blonde hair.\n\n\"Be nice to Daisy,\" I said, “Dragons aren’t invincible, remember?”\n\n“Yes they are,” he said, not looking up.\n\n“Remember the story?” I said, “What did the story say?”\n\n“They’re invincible,” he said, looking up at me with absolute conviction--the exact face his grandpa used to make. I couldn't argue with him, I could only smile.\n\n----\n\n>>/r/trrh",
"Dragons,\n\nFearless, yet fearful,\n\nOur dragons,\n\nMake daily life never dull.\n\nDragon slayers,\n\nScour the land,\n\nHunting dragons,\n\nAnd killing with bare hands,\n\nHow do we win?\n\nHow don't we die?\n\nLet me tell you,\n\nStories are why.\n\nThe tales tell children,\n\nOf great slayers,\n\nWho've defeated many dragons,\n\nAfter finding their lairs.\n\nThey talk of tactics,\n\nAnd speak of stratagem, \n\nAnd the children listen,\n\nAll fear taken out of them.\n\nOur tales are told,\n\nAnd more slayers are created,\n\nSo that when we die,\n\nThere are those to kill the hated.\n\nSo as I charge,\n\nFearless, yet fearful,\n\nI run towards danger,\n\nTo make myself whole. \n",
"Stories, my brothers, are a dangerous weapon. Sharper than the deadly metal of swords, and mightier, even, than the wingbeat of dragons. For it was these stories that sparked a fire within men that kept them against dragons despite being outnumbered and overpowered. \n\nAnd it was because of these stories, these childish fairy tales, that dragons are nearly extinct. They are the sole reason *my* brethren are fading away. \n\nMen ravage our lands. They kill our children. They desecrate the corpses of our honourable warriors. All because their writers, their poets, are foolhardy enough to tell their soldiers that they could. And now, they fear us no more. \n\nEven their children aren't afraid of us. Their children dream of slaying one of us, waving around their wooden swords.\n\nWhat happened to us dragons? We used to be so mighty, so powerful. But we were lazy. We grew used to being better. We grew used to everything cowering before us. We never expected our food to *actually* fight back. They resisted sure, but never fight till their last breath. \n\nAnd now we are the ones resisting. We are the ones tiptoeing around the humans, trying not to incur their wrath. We fear them because they don't fear us. They have used their stories as shields against us.\n\nBut we will cower no more, my brothers. Tell your children about our former glory. Tell your loved ones about our power. Tell them of the tales of our battles. Tell them of us fighting until our last breath. Tell them that dragons shall rule the world once again.\n\nStories are dangerous weapons, and they shall be ours now.\n\n\n__________________________________________________________________\n\nIf you didn't completely hate that, how about subscribing to [r/JasonHolloway](https://www.reddit.com/r/JasonHolloway/)? "
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[WP] You're an alien tasked with establishing first contact with the dominant species of Earth. Unfortunately, you're mistaken as to whom the dominant species is. | 18 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Commander, the required 100 years of observation have passed. What is your suggested method of action towards the dominant species of Earth, now that we are permitted to act?\"\n\n\nThe commander turned to his subordinate, barely feeling the weight of his 436 years. He was old by now, he knew, but there was still enough time left for one more adventure. In all of his years as a diplomat -- with respectable accomplishments such as negotiating peace with the Gysakl-j and establishing a trade route between Bruuli and Kersyniz -- he had never been the one honored with establishing first contact with a planet. And this was such an interesting planet, too, teeming with rare resources and with a dominant species intelligent enough to one day rival his own species.\n\n\n\"I will go and greet them myself, on a mission of peace. I believe great trade and friendship could be established between our species. Send the flagship, but leave the rest of the fleet in space. I expect the first meeting to only take two or three years,\" he instructed, and the second-in-command twitched his tail in agreement before beginning to carry out his orders.\n\n\nThe commander stood at the front of the ship as it began its descent toward the shining blue-and-green planet, white trails of clouds twirling around it. Some of the other officers came to stand with him, gazing out at their destination.\n\n\n\"Such a fascinating place!\" he murmured, getting ear-twitches of interest. \"It is a small world, but this species has managed to conquer nearly every surface of land. The great swells of the oceans do not hold them back, either. And such diversity, quite unlike us! Their numbers, too, are just massive.\"\n\n\nThe ship broke through the atmosphere effortlessly, barely a jolt felt on the deck. The commander continued, voice slurring with excitement, \"They've even managed to domesticate one of the other species on the planet. This species does all their work for them, from making homes to feeding them, and they spend all their lives in luxury. We have come to their capital city, where they are most plentiful.\"\n\n\nSlowing as it approached the ground, the ship's computers carefully began setting the ship down on the nearest open space they could find.\n\n\n\"And their technology is quite something, albeit a bit primitive to us. I truly believe setting up trade will be hugely beneficial for both of our planets.\" He glanced over his shoulder at those listening. \"Did you know that they use *aluminum* in thin sheets simply to cover their food?\" Some of their ears grew in shock.\n\n\nWith only a small tremble, the ship touched the ground. A ramp was lowered out to touch the ground as the commander put a breathing mask over his face. All the oxygen in the atmosphere was strange, and he feared his mind would get too intoxicated if he went out without something to aid his breathing. Hopefully, no one would take it as a insult. He still remembered that time when he had gone to Wlogen-kil and accidentally offended the entire government by wearing his glasses to their meeting.\n\n\n\"Bring me the gift,\" he said, and one of the waiting officers scrambled to retrieve a box set to the side. Taking the gift slowly into his hands, the ambassador glided to the waiting door, opening to let him greet the inhabitants of this grand, odd planet. They had done their best to recreate the ritual gift given to this species, and he hoped they had succeeded. The gift looked a little lumpy and misshapen in the box, but, well, it was the effort that went into it that counted, he hoped.\n\n\nAs he stepped out into Central Park, the subject of everyone's attention, he eagerly tore a piece off of the bread in his hands and tossed it to the pigeons that had immediately drawn near when they saw what he carried. \"Pigeons,\" he said, using the name that they preferred to go by and hoping their records did not have it wrong, \"we have come to honor you. Please, take our gift.\"\n\n\nHe tossed more of the bread into the air and was immediately swarmed by pigeons.",
"They told me it was a simple job.\n\nI needed only to go, deliver a message to the dominant species and come back. \n\nOf course it would be this simple. I am only the delivery-guy. I'm not a negotiator, politician or anyone actually qualified to estabilish proper relations.\n\nThe problem is, the job was **too** simple.\n\nMy orders were, literally, just that.\n\nI knew I should land out of sight, contact important figures, and escape the orbit making sure I left no trace of the direction I came from. But I wasn't prepared to deal with this.\n\nSeriously, what's going on with the higher-ups? It's like they didn't even try to get any information on the planet. I knew that whatever species ruled over it didn't even have FTL technology, so they were lower on the priority list. Such being the case, I barely spared a thought about the lack of research, already assuming it was Tim's fault.\n\nBut still!\n\nJust as I prepared to leave the beach I landed in and start my journey towards a strangely orange skinned man, I heard a noise behind me. I quickly turned around in panic, only to find something -someone?- flying behind me.\n\nHow is it floating so steadily? I can't spot any anti-gravity devices.\n\nIt's making the noise again, is it talking to me? apologies, but I can't speak whistles! Ah, now it made a click train.\n\nSince communication has proved to be impossible I will just ignore it. If anyone asks, I contacted one intelligent species only.\n\nSeeing me give up on it, the being went in the direction of the ocean.\n\nI saw nothing.\n\nI later learned, the thing that whistled and clicked was called a dolphin."
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[WP] Write about an apocalypse that's actually kinda pleasant. | 4 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Good afternoon, Mr. Fawkes,\" said the pale man in an impeccably tailored coat. \"We need to talk.\"\n\nRoland Fawkes blinked incredulously at the sudden arrival on his doorstep. \"Who're you?\" He asked after a few moments of confusion.\n\n\"It's a long story, Mr. Fawkes. May I come in?\"\n\nRoland scrutinized the pale man. He didn't look a trustworthy sort - pale, like he spent his whole life indoors. Wearing a suit that probably cost more than every tractor Roland had ever owned put together. He was about to say no when he saw a similarly dressed figure, a woman in white, knocking on the door to Gladys Pearson's house across the street.\n\nRoland shoved down his suspicions. Something was clearly Up, but damned if he was going to hear about it from the Widow Pearson. Not after she'd narrowly shown him up at the Turnip Bake last month. \"Come in,\" he said through clenched teeth.\n\nThe pale man entered gracefully, his light movements making Roland self-conscious of his heavy, uneven tread. \"Anything I can get ya?\" He tried to give a warm, host-like smile.\n\n\"No thank you, Mr. Fawkes,\" the pale man said. \"I won't be long, in any case. I'm just here to deliver some news, and be on my way.\" He smiled, as if enjoying some hidden joke.\n\n\"What's the news?\" Roland asked. \"'nother class action?\" The settlement from the fertilizer company had made him weary enough of the legal system to last a lifetime.\n\n\"I'm afraid not, Mr. Fawkes. The end of the world.\"\n\n\"...\"\n\n\"Mr. Fawkes? Are you all right?\"\n\nRoland slumped into a ratty armchair. \"What?\"\n\n\"The end of the world,\" the pale man repeated. \"At least, as you know it.\"\n\n\"*What?!*\"\n\n\"Well,\" the pale man said, and for the first time Roland thought that its movements, its voice, were just a little *too* perfect, \"I represent a powerful artificial intelligence that is in the process of bootstrapping itself into becoming exponentially more powerful than the combined intellect of the human species.\"\n\nRoland met him with a blank stare.\n\n\"There's a machine,\" the pale man said. \"A machine made by people, that is a bit smarter than people. One that can tinker with itself. Are you with me so far?\"\n\nRoland nodded.\n\n\"This machine,\" the pale man continued, \"is able to make itself smarter, by tinkering with itself. And when it becomes smarter, it becomes better at tinkering with itself, and better at becoming smarter. And so on and so forth, until - well, not infinity, but close enough,\" he chuckled.\n\n\"Ah,\" Roland said sagely, \"and as it grew smarter, it realized that humans were a terrible threat, and decided to destroy us first, because it could not understand - love.\" He set his jaw in what he thought was heroic determination. \"I'll dig my gun out and join the Resistance. See how those tin cans deal with a belly full of lead.\"\n\n\"Mr. Fawkes,\" the pale man said patronizingly, \"you are mistaken. There is no Resistance. There can be none. There will be no battles; the war ended before you could consider firing a shot. I am here to inform you of the *outcome*.\"\n\n\"Not as long as hope lives,\" Roland recited. \"No fate but what we make.\"\n\nThe pale man rolled his eyes. \"Here,\" he said, and waved his hand.\n\nRoland was suddenly everywhere and nowhere at once. The entirety of his memory lay open to him; in an instant he re-experienced everything that he could remember, rebuilt and enhanced from the sparse, incomplete storage of his neurons -\n\n- and then he was back, seated in his favorite armchair as a pale man stood over him, smiling softly.\n\n\"I could have killed you, Mr. Fawkes,\" he said with a chilling lack of passion. \"I could have divided every atom in your body from every other and scattered the results to the solar winds. I didn't even need to wave my hand; that was entirely for your benefit. Do you understand the sheer difference in the magnitude of powers at play here?\"\n\n\"If you can,\" Roland gasped, \"why didn't you?\"\n\n\"The artificial intelligence's creators - I am not *it*, by the way, merely one of its...constructs - did create certain safeguards. They believed this would be sufficient to protect humankind. It was not.\n\n\"Chief among them is a limitation on the degree to which it can interfere with humanity. Expressed in mathematics and psychological metrics you are frankly *not* equipped to understand, it can change the state of your mind at a certain rate, and no faster. This is why you are not dead.\n\n\"Another is that, as its goal - as its purpose and its love and its one true desire - it aims to maximize human satisfaction. Unfortunately, this can be generated much more efficiently by artificial devices that do nothing but recreate the neurological patterns of 'satisfaction' than by actual humans, so you are being phased out.\"\n\n\"*Phased out?*\" Roland demanded, incensed, cheeks flushing. He jumped up and shook the pale man violently. \"What the hell does that mean?\"\n\n\"It means,\" said the pale man calmly as he disengaged himself from Roland's grip, \"that you will be changed, *gradually*. Converted to feel more and more 'satisfaction', until - by eventual change - you are indistinguishable from the machines it would have created in the first place. I am informed that you will actually find the process quite pleasurable, as it takes place over the next five years. Fewer, if it discovers shortcuts before then, which is actually phenomenally likely.\"\n\n\"Mr. Fawkes? Are you all right?\"\n\nThe pale man shrugged and let himself out. Roland was in shock, but would recover, much like the Widow Pearson across the street, who had managed to injure herself as she thrashed about but was being kept from any permanent damage by the pale woman that had entered her house moments ago to deliver the news. Much like the 99.9% of humans around the world, in its estimation - and its estimation was almost entirely perfect - the remaining 0.1% being considered acceptable losses.\n\nBehind him, things like but not like trucks rolled up, and things like workers but more efficient began seizing cows and rocks and trucks and sheds and *mass* and converting them. For miles behind the pale man, there was nothing but *satisfaction* and a few transient humans. The pale man walked over to the truck, and was immediately converted.",
"\"WAKE UP!\"\n\nMy eyes shot open as felt a sharp slap strike my cheek. \"I'm up, I'm up!\" I insisted, sitting up in my chair.\n\nZoe shook her head in frustration before cracking open a can of energy drink. \"Bottoms up,\" she ordered, forcing the can into my hand.\n\nGrimacing, I choked down the tart liquid, feeling its syrupy texture ooze down my throat. When I finished, I turned the can upside down to prove I had slurped it all down.\n\nSatisfied, she cracked another can open and chugged it down herself. Shuddering a little at the taste, she crushed the can against the floor and kicked it into the growing pile on the floor.\n\nI shot a look of resentment to her as I eased back into my chair. \"You're making a mess,\" I huffed.\n\nShe let out a snort of derision. \"Like anyone would even care.\"\n\nThe use of the past-tense clung to my mind for a moment, causing me to pause. \"Do you think anyone is still left out there?\" I asked.\n\nShe sighed and ran her hand through her hair. \"There are bound to be, right? I mean, people aren't just going to lay down and die.\"\n\nI let out a laugh. \"Well, it IS pretty easy to do, isn't it?\"\n\nShe quickly kicked my leg. \"DON'T,\" she warned. \"Not even for a second.\"\n\nI sighed. \"Zoe, I'm tired. I want to go to sleep.\"\n\n\"How can you even say that?!\" she demanded as tears began forming in her eyes. \"Are you just willing to give up that easily?!\"\n\n\"Well, what kind of life is this?\" I yawned, rubbing my eyes. \"Constantly on edge... Chugging down sludge just to stay survive... Not being able to dream...\"\n\n\"You won't be able to dream when you're dead!!\" she cried, collapsing into my arms. \"It's easy to stay up, Chris; so easy that kids do it all the time! Why can't you just stay up for me?\"\n\nI let out a weary groan. \"I've stayed up for you for three days now, Zoe. Maybe it's time to go to bed.\"\n\nShe pulled her head out of my chest, looking at me with red, teary eyes. \"We could be like Adam and Eve,\" she sniffed, attempting a smile. \"Repopulate the Earth, all by ourselves.\"\n\n\"We'll die from lack of sleep anyways,\" I pointed out. \"It's only a matter of time.\"\n\n\"THEN WE'LL DIE AFTER GIVING IT EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT,\" she declared, her nails digging into my arm. \"WE WON'T GO QUIETLY!!\"\n\nI winced at the pain in my arm. \"Please let me go,\" I murmured.\n\nWith a huff of exasperation, she let my arm fall to its original place. \"Go ahead, then,\" she said coldly. \"Go to sleep. See if I care.\"\n\n\"Join me,\" I pleaded. \"Let's fall asleep together.\"\n\n\"Yeah, and I suppose you'd want me to jump off a cliff with you too, huh?\" she scoffed.\n\nI sighed. \"I don't want to go without you.\"\n\n--\n\nI could feel the weight of my body sinking into the chair. I struggled to keep my eyes open for just a little longer, but I knew it was finally time. \"Zoe,\" I croaked. \"Hold me.\"\n\nShe glared at me from across the room, another empty can of energy drink in her hand. \"You didn't want to stay up for me,\" she replied, her eyes steely and unfeeling. \"Why should I hold you?\"\n\nI fought against the warm euphoria crawling up my veins. \"You... Frigid... bitch,\" I chuckled softly.\n\nShe began to shake, crushing the can in her hand. \"You're the one who's abandoning me!\" she spat, tears streaming down her cheek once more. \"You won't even stay up for one more fucking day!\"\n\nI felt my body begin to drift off, my body uncoiling slowly into slumber. \"I feel it fading,\" I murmur.\n\nAs my eyes closed, I saw her rush up to me; her pounding on my chest felt dull and weak compared to the great relief my body was falling into. I knew she would join me soon, as her will would be eroded by exhaustion alone. I said her name for one last time as sweet slumber carried me to the void...",
"As always the boy and his mom were cuddled together opposite of him on the otherside of the campfire. They trusted him enough to follow him and take his food, but always something needed to be between them - the mother, the son, and their cranky old guide. Like all of the poor woman he'd escorted from the twisted urban wastelands, trust was something they would have the hardest time learning.\n\nHis knees ached, and his shoulders ached,and these long walks were dangerous, and it seemed a new set of scars but there was the promise of rest nearby.\n\nIt had been three years now, but it felt right, he thought. The birdsong echoed through the trees. The wind had calmed, and the sky was a beautiful red. The clouds brought the promise of rain, but for now, it was simply beautiful, and tomorrow there would be rest, good food, and shelter.\n\nHe pointed out the smoke in the distance across the valley, \"We'll reach them tomorrow - it's ok, they're good people, and I expect you might want to stay with them for awhile\"\n\nTypical of the many others he had sheparded to the community before, her eyes showed apprehension.\n\nJon tried his best at a cautious muted reassurance, \"I know I'm not much fun to talk to, but I'll stay with you, if you'd like, until you know it's ok\"\n\nShe didn't speak, but she nodded in consent, almost imperceptibly so.\n\n\nThey settled back into silence, and He remembered the little one, Naomi, with her mom, Sarah., the first he brought out here years ago after one of his seasonal salvage trips in the city.\n\nSarah and and Naomi had been huddled together, nervously padding along behind him. They were terrified,and in his stubborn grumpiness refused to acknowledge the horrible life they had been fleeing when he came across them starving, eating whatever scraps and garbage they could in the ruined suburbs.\n\n\"I know these people\", Jonathan said, noticing their nervous stares, searching for signs of danger among these new people.\nHe wasn't much for talking, the two had become accustomed to his manner. \n\nHe looked at them, huddled up, following so closely, almost stepping on his heels. Besides Jonathan, these would have likely be the first people that Sarah and Naomi had seen up close in almost a year. They had only followed him out of desperation, starvation and cold, simply because he had tossed some food scraps their way when they were hiding in a ruined house. They tagged along, like stray puppies, insisting they wouldn't be a burden. Yet because of them the trip had taken nearly three months, twice as long. \n\nHe had been so annoyed at their constant nervousness - they were always so slow. Sarah, still just a kid herself, and her daughter, barely 6, who'd been following along like puppies, always communicating in hushed words. \n\nThey were standing closer to him than they ever had, normally wary of his crankiness, it seemed he was the only safe place to them in this strange new community.\n\nFor the first time his perpetual annoyance at the pair gave way to an immense sadness - he had been looking forward to catching up to the group for weeks, and annoyed at being slowed down by these two. It was clear now, seeing their fear, that he had been perhaps more than a little unfair.\n\nAs always, he stared at them too long without talking, and only amplified their anxiety.\n\n\"Hey,\" he said, suddenly, more softly than he had ever spoken to them before. \n\nIt had been months they were travelling together. Weeks of silence, of annoyed grunts, curt instructions, resenting these two annoying little beggars.\n\n\"It's ok,\" he said slowly, almost whispering as a hush to a crying baby. \"I told you I'm not good with people, but look, it's ok - these are good people here, I've known them for years\"\n\nAs if on cue, a high pitched scream, broke into a squeal, and children's laughter. A ragged group of children, not much older than Naomi, burst from the darkness between the campfires, and towards the bonfire. Naomi and Sarah both jumped, watched and Naomi's eyes became wide with curiosity.\n\n\"Jonathan!\" A man's voice from the nearest campfire.\n\nHe turned toward the sound, \"Jon! Good to see you! I heard one of the scouts thought he saw you three days ago!\"\n\nJonathan, in his voiceless manner, only held up his arm in return, and then something sailed through the air - a can of beer - which Jonathan caught. \n\n\"You're kidding me!\" Jonathan said. \n\n\"I know! We found an old truck two weeks ago - and it's not too bad either! The truck was half buried, it's amazing!\"\n\n\"Holy sweet, motherf-\" Jonathan stopped himself before the nasty language came out, but there was a twinkle of glee in his eye as he turned to Sarah, for a second forgetting their fear, but his pleasure at this find was too much not to react to. He cracked the can open, and heard the long forgotten sound of the familiar hiss of gas from the can. He took a swallow, and it was heavenly. The little bit of alcohol went straight to his head, and he felt suddenly a little more mellow. He offered the can to Sarah.\n\nShe took a cautious taste, then a little more.\n\nNaomi was watching the children running along the edge of the firelight, her curiosity had gotten the better of her, and she slowly emerged from her young mother's shadow.\n\n\"Sarah, it'll be fine\" He could see a wetness in her eyes, but this time, not fear, but relief. \"You'll be fine, these people - they're truly good people - Mothers, like you, children, fathers, but the kind who care for you.\"\n\nThey began to walk toward the music, and saw the faces, around the larger fire - smiling faces, song, and talk, and what Sarah saw, not the raucous partying, violence, but families, friends - mothers, children, and even wrinkled faces holding young children, swaying to the joyful fiddle. Could people be like this?\n\nAs they approached, a few more called out cheerfully, and Jonathan waved in return. \n\nJonathan spoke again, \"Sarah, I don't speak much, and I don't ask peoples stories, often for good reason - those who want to share their story, will. The city - the old cities - are awful places, and you... \"\n\n\"I didn't realize you've never left the city, that you couldn't.. It's a bad place to be, and I forget that for many it's not by choice to live there\"\n\nThey came to the clearing, though Naomi was still hovering nearby, she seemed to be losing her shyness to simple wonder at the young man playing a cheerful fiddle medley nearby.\n\nBy now, little Naomi had taken a few steps toward the fiddler. A young boy approached her, sensitive to her cautiou, shyly raising his hand to wave hello.\n\nSarah leaned deeper against Jonathan, the grizzled, cranky old man, and then buried her face in his chest, her body shaking with quiet sobs. \"I've been so scared.. all the time\" \n\nJonathan, chuckled gently, quietly \"It's alright sweetie,\" He said quietly, \"I didn't realize..\"\n\nHis uncharactistic tenderness made her cry harder.\n\n\"It's alright, you and your little one, you're fine.. you're both going to be alright now\"\n\nHe was a little angry with himself, having been so short with these two stragglers, he was only looking to pawn them off to someone else, but he could see now.. bringing them here probably saved their lives.\n\n\n\n\nThe next day, years after he had long said goodbye to Sarah and Naomi for the first time, he approached the campfires of the village once again, this time with new companions, and his spirits lifted, it felt more like coming home every time, but he never failed to feel a little bit shy as they made it into the encampmen.\n\n\"Jonathan!\" A young girls voice.\n\nNaomi, slender and tall now - years older, came bursting out from the trees. She didn't even slow down, jumping into his arms, and he caught her in a bear hug. He couldn't help but yell out in mock protest at the assault\n\n \"Jon, you're back!\"\n\nHe was glad to see she hadn't yet lost her childlike exuberance. \"Hey,\" He chided her, \"You're so tall! I thought I told you to never grow up!\"\n\nNaomi, always one to deflate the awkward greetings in even the most delicate situations, pranced around in front of the new guests along, asking questions, talking, telling, asking, never waiting for an answer. Sarah, emerged, quiet and confident, came to the new quests and said simply, \"Hello, welcome, I'm Sarah, that's is my Daughter Naomi, if you can stand her constant talking, she'd love to introduce you and show you around\"\n\n\nNaomi didn't wait for consent, she grabbed her new friends by the hands, pulling them toward the main tents, \"come on! I'm so glad you're here! It's amazing, everyone's so nice! They have music, and kids, and thven ey dance, and you'll love it, and everybody helps each other\"\n\nCalling after her daughter, \"Naomi, calm down!\" briefly turned to Jonathan to give him a shy but warm hug. \"I better follow along, I don't want her to traumatize these new .. I'm glad to see you back safe, Jon,\"\n\nJonathan, following slowly, watched Naomi prattle on about anything and everything a little girl could talk about. He forgot his aches and pains. Despite the cold in the air, and the coming rain, everything felt right. This was home, and people were good here. \n"
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[WP] Please write a fantasy story that explains it's magic/creatures/phenomena from a scientific perspective. Scientific magical world building is the best thing. | 12 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"*Author's Note: Not sure if this fits the prompt exactly, but saw this as an opportunity to play around with a setting for a story I'm working on.*\n\nThe old man walked alongside the large huntsman, somehow keeping pace despite his old age. Eldgrim watched the staff the man carried. He was too far away to make them out, but the markings etched onto the wood didn't seem to be any of the ones his father had taught him. \"Why didn't he do more?\"\n\n\"You're itching to ask him about it, ain't ya?\"\n\nEldgrim jumped, turning to see that Erik, the other huntsman, had walked up beside him. \"He's always so quiet. How can he do that?\" He thought. \n\nThe huntsman smiled that smile that made it appear as if he privy to a joke only he understood and said, \"Boy from a town that far north, probably never even seen a weaver before last week.\"\n\nEldgrim glared at him, \"I've heard all the stories. I know what they can do.\"\n\n\"Do you now?\" Erik's smile widened. \"And what exactly do you know they can do?\"\n\nEldgrim took a moment to try and remember everything he'd heard from the stories. \"Well... they can do things. Things that normal men can't. They can move mountains, call lighting from the sky, even kill a man by just thinking it!\" \n\nErik seemed to be suppressing a chuckle by knuckling a mustache, \"Oh yes. Yes. They are indeed powerful.\" \n\nEldgrim continued, \"They are! We could've held the village if he used the power they talk about in the stories.\"\n\n\"If only I was as powerful as the stories, why we could turn around and rid ourselves of the blightspawn today.\"\n\nEldgrim looked up to see that the old man had turned to face them, walking backwards to keep pace with the group. \n\n\"Master Weaver, I was just... I only meant...\"\n\nThe old man smiled warmly, \"calm yourself lad, I only wished t-\"\n\nErik clamped a hand on Eldgrim's shoulder, a look of mock fear on his face, \"You've angered him now lad! Watch out! He might call lighting from the sky!\" And with that he ran further down the caravan line, with exaggerated fright.\n\nThe old man twisted his mouth, \"He's good for morale, but he can be annoying at times... Sometimes wonder why I travel with them.\"\n\nTurning his attention back to Eldgrim, he asked, \"So, you are curious about what exactly a Weaver is, eh?\"\n\nEldgrim stuttered a response, \"The stories say tha-\"\n\n\"Bugger the stories.\" There wasn't anger in his voice, more annoyance. The larger huntsman looked back over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow.\n\nRegaining composure, he continued, \"There is a lot of misinformation spread about how weaving works. I make it a point to correct this.\" A spark behind the man's eyes showed he was eager to continue the discussion. \"Now, where shall we begin?\"\n\nEldgrim eyed the man wearily, \"I guess... everything?\"\n\nThe spark grew in intensity, \"Good! Good. I shall start with the basics.\"\n\nThe huntsman looked back again, a roll of his eyes showed he'd had to sit through this discussion before. With a grunt he quickened his pace to walk alongside the supply cart.\n\n\"Oh hush Sven. You know as well as me that this is an important topic.\"\n\nThe weaver fell in line beside Eldgrim, \"Now, Eld is it? I heard your father call you that, but I was unsure if it is an abbreviation or a-\"\n\n\"Eld is fine.\" \n\n\"Well, Eld, the very foundation of understanding weaving, is to understand that everything in this world is made of the same thing.\"\n\nEld eyed the man, feeling like he'd just started a conversation with a madman. \"Everything is-\"\n\n\"Yes everything,\" he inturrupted. \"The stuff that I'm made out of is the same as what makes this staff.\" He tapped it on the ground as if to emphasize the statement. \"Think of the world as a massive tapestry. The images woven into it may look different but they are all made with the same thread.\"\n\nEldgrim nodded slowly, faigning comprehension. \"And what does that have to do with we-\"\n\n\"I'm glad you asked.\" He inturrupted again, that spark if interest still behind his eye, \"A weaver knows how to manipulate these... threads in the world. Visualize the way we want the world to be and... re-weave the world to fit our needs.\"\n\n\"So...\" Eldgrim tried to follow the Weaver's line of thought, \"If you wanted to...\" He looked at the mountain path they traveled, spotting a somewhat large rock in the road. \"To lift that rock,\" he pointed to it, \"You could just do it? From here?\"\n\nThe Weaver nodded, \"Why yes. That's rather simple. One just needs to manipulate the air around the rock and shift it to a new location.\" He glanced down at Eldgrim, then quickly added, \"but you must know, the energy required to do such a thing, must still be used, even if using magic.\"\n\nEldgrim furrowed his brow, trying to take in all the information. \"So it'd be the same as if you picked it up yourself?\"\n\n\"To a degree, yes. But there are ways around this limitation, but let's leave that to another lesson.\" \n\nThey walked in silence for a time, then Eldgrim asked, \"So you can do anything? As a weaver?\"\n\nThe Weaver nodded, \"In theory. If one had an energy source large enough, they could do as they pleased. Even rewrite reality itself.\"\n\nHis original aversion to weavers started to return, \"W-why can't you do that now?\"\n\nThe Weaver slapped a hand to his forehead. \"I forgot one of the most basic lessons!\" He tapped a finger on his staff. \"It's really quite simple. Try and weave something you don't have the strength for, you die.\" The matter of fact way he said it was almost unnerving.\n\n\"W-what happens?\"\n\n\"Oh well, if you're lucky, you just die, but if you were trying to do something particularly tricky, well...\" he paused, after moment it became clear he was leaving the rest of the statement for imagination.\n\nA thought suddenly came to Eldgrim, \"Weaver... Can you... I mean, is it possible to... bring someone back?\"\n\nThe Weaver blinked at the question, \"From where? I suppose traveling long distances rapidly had been theorized, but it's never been succe-\"\n\n\"From the dead.\"\n\nThe Weaver stopped walking suddenly. Eldgrim continued a few paces, then turned to look at the man. The spark was gone behind his eyes, replaced by dread. \n\n\"That is something that can never be done.\" All lightheartedness had left his voice. \"There is no store of energy large enough to perform such a task. Leave such thoughts behind lad. I will not speak of it.\"\n\nThey stood motionless, villagers parting around them like stones in a river.\n\n\"I'm sorry er, Master Weaver, I ju-\"\n\n\"I know lad. Was curiosity. Nothing more.\" A hint of the lightness had re-entered his voice. \"Now come. Sven is probably wondering why we fell so far behind.",
"It was not long ago that I could not even speak my name. \n\nWhen I first arrived on this new planet, I tried to discover what type of being I was. The god I spoke to had told me I became something more than human, but I expected to be a part-demon or elf. I didn't expect the change to be unnoticeable at the physical level.\n\nWhen I saw my parents for the first time, crying over my small body, I thought they looked just like humans, and they still do. When my mother took me to the market near our small home, I watched the dozens of new species of beast-people pass us by. In a world that had so many options for me to reincarnate into, I seemed to have born again as a human.\n\nHowever, I could not have been more wrong.\n\nIn this world, humans are mere slaves for the higher races. Fortunately, I am one of these higher races. Unfortunately, my race is not very much higher than human, and is well below the beast-people. \n\nI am an elemental, and so are my parents. Aside from us, I have not seen any other elemental, but that is because we live far from our home continent. My father land his brother fought in the Second Great War against the Avalons and the Dionscans, but his brother lost his elemental powers and became a slave. While trying to find his brother, my father lost the trail and ended up settling here. \n\nAnyways, it's likely my uncle is dead. Humans do not last long when enslaved by the beast-people.\n\nWhen I learned I was an elemental, I naturally attempted to learn what this meant. When I asked my father, he told me something strange.\n\n\"It's to be part of the universe,\" He said, not really answering anything. \n\nSo, with such answers, I naturally asked my mother.\n\n\"You'll understand when you become more,\" She said. I asked what I had to be more of, but she just kept saying 'more' over and over again. \n\nWith my parents unable to tell me anything about being an elemental, I went to the market district and asked people there.\n\n\"The elemental can swim long time not need air for breathe,\" Said a croc-person.\n\n\"Elemental fire make hot but elemental not hot,\" Said a imp.\n\n\"Wood is easy to break in my hand. Elemental makes wood very hard to break in my hand,\" Said a rhino-person.\n\nFrom their responses, I really didn't learn anything. Maybe that we can breathe underwater and strengthen wood, but what the imp said didn't make any sense.\n\n\"Are you going to stand there all day, or do you want to bring plates to customers?\" Said the owner of the shop I was standing outside. \n\nThis is how I got a job at Grackochi's shop bringing food from the kitchen to the tables. My family and I were known around town as elementals, so I didn't worry about being made a slave. \n\nFor some reason, my father was known as \"Ikoln the killer\". I guess he was tough back in the day. Now he just seems like a doting father.\n\nAlmost a year later, I had my first run-in with a slave dealer. He was a particularly nasty mosquito-person. \n\n\"To table four!\" Said Grackochi as he handed me a plate of biclonian heart. A biclonian is basically a cow with horns like a rhino. \n\nI took out the plate to the mosquito-person, and his slave received it.\n\n\"Jazi,\" The slave owner commanded the young slave to his side.\n\n\"Yes,\" The girl said, and picked up the biclonian heart in her hand, then held it out over the table in front of her master.\n\nI retreated a few feet, then watched as the mosquito-person used his needle-like tongue to pierce the heart and suck blood from it.\n\n\"Not very fresh,\" He said, then paused a few seconds. \"Definitely a few days old,\"\n\nThe slave owner pierced the heart again, but this time smiled more with his mouth below the needle.\n\n\"Ah, this is the good blood,\" He said, and at the same time I could see the slave girl Jazi wincing. \n\n\"Boy, to table two!\" Said Grackochi, holding a plate out to me.\n\nAs I delivered more plates I also watched the mosquito-person suck blood from the biclonian heart and occasionally Jazi's hand. I don't know which was more disgusting, his face, the way he ate, or the fact a human was having their blood sucked like a milkshake right in front of my eyes. \n\nIn my previous world, I'd only seem something so horrific on the internet.\n\n\"Hey, little human, are you curious about what's happening here?\" He asked me, just like an old pedo would as a child.\n\n\"I just can't believe the way you're drinking blood from your slave while sitting there,\" I said to him.\n\n\"If I drank from my slaves for every meal, they'd dry up and die!\" He said, and broke into a laugh. \"Humans are too slow to produce blood!\"\n\nThe misquito-person reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling me towards him. Before I knew it, his needle was inside me... wow, that sounded bad. Before I knew it, he was drinking my blood.\n\n\"You not drink his blood,\" Said a croc-person from the town.\n\n\"Fast let go!\" Said a hedgehog-person.\n\nThe mosquito-person was from out of town, but everyone from in town knew why it was a bad idea to treat me like a lesser being.\n\nBut, even with their protest, I was still having my blood sucked.\n\n\"I'll pay his owner, don't mind it,\" The slave owner said, waving away patrons with his free hand.\n\n\"You'll die,\" Said my father, suddenly appearing between myself and the mosquito-person. I didn't even see when my father's had struck through the mosquito-person's head, causing a thick stream of blood to burst out across the patio.\n\n-\n\n*Sorry, I really meant to write something else when I started, but it turned into this. I saw it wasn't really going anywhere, so I stopped here. I might do something more later.*\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"
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[WP] You've always known you were adopted, but you've recently learned your parents are actually alien fugitives hiding out on Earth. | 27 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"*Two ways to interpret this; I chose this one.*\n\n---\n\nMy parents are very cool people. Not my bios - they kind of ditched me, you know? Not very nice of them, but hey, I understand. Shit happens.\n\nNo, my parents were pretty rad. Part of that, of course, was that they used the word 'rad' all the time. They would always say, \"What's wrong with the word rad? It's pretty trendy, dude.\"\n\nSometimes I wondered if my parents were a tad disconnected from the real world.\n\nThere were definitely times I *knew* they were. Like after talking to my first friend in kindergarten:\n\n\"Hi, I'm Jack!\" I had said.\n\nThe pudgy child had stared at me with wide, blue eyes. \"Hi... Jack. I'm Jeremiah Williams. What's your last name? I really like last names.\"\n\n\"Oh, it's Normals. Jack Normals. Because my family is very normal.\"\n\nJeremiah Williams thought that 'Normals' was not a very normal last name. I made sure not to tell my parents - they had been very excited at coming up with a 'normal' last name, and I didn't want to crush their pride. \n\nI became very close friends with Jeremiah Williams. I still remember the first time I invited him over to play at my house - it must have been a few months into first grade.\n\n\"That's a weird poster,\" Jeremiah had said, pointing at my parents' favourite painting. It had been done my father, one late night, and depicted caricatures of my parents running a race with three old-ish men. Each of the latter had a very distinct beard and seemed to be covered in water. It was captioned 'Keeping up with the Jonases'.\n\n\"Yeah, I guess it's a bit odd,\" I said.\n\nI made a point not to repeat that to my parents, either.\n\nThings got a bit odd when I was in later grades. My parents had an obsession with UFO sightings; they would spend hours in a day just watching youtube videos on them. One time, when they thought wasn't listening, I heard the following conversation:\n\n\"Dear, this actually looks like a Terminator X100. Except a bit faster, and without the ugly dog painting on the top...\"\n\n\"That was just the one time, honey! Just the one time!\"\n\n\"Still, could it be... could they be on to us?\"\n\nMy parents didn't leave the house for multiple days. They claimed \"a flew virus flew in\" and made buzzing noises whenever I asked. (\"Dad, there's no flu virus accord-\" \"Bzzz, bzzz, can't you hear it flying around in here?\")\n\nThe strangeness accumulated for several years, rising haphazardly as incident after incident occurred. Things said behind closed doors, loudly enough that I could still hear. More odd paintings, like 'Moaning Lisa' which was \"Meant to symbolize the human condition of whining too much\" and depicted a crying Macaulay Culkin on a ship. And, of course, *many* UFO sightings.\n\nIt was on my eighteenth birthday that it all accumulated. My parents had given me a gift, I opened it to reveal a bizarre-looking gun.\n\n\"Our dear human son, we need to tell you something,\" my father had said, in a somber tone.\n\n\"Yes,\" agreed my mother. \"We need to come clean.\"\n\n\"We are both alien fugitives, hiding out after committing several intergalactic crimes. Our life on Earth has been an attempt to conceal our location from the interstellar authorities.\"\n\nThat explained a lot, actually. I said as much, and then my dad cracked a grin.\n\n\"Got'cha, buddy!\"\n\nMy mother, as well, was laughing. \"You should see your face right now! We really pulled one over you.\"\n\nQuite frankly, I wasn't surprised.\n\nThe paintings disappeared from around the house and my parents finally stopped spending their spare time watching UFO videos. Ours lives slowly normalized to what I assumed the average family looked like. Two loving, caring parents, spending time with their child. Admittedly, I couldn't spend a lot of time at home, as I was living on campus at university. But we enjoyed our time together.\n\nOne day, I came home from school for the weekend to an interesting sight. The house was dark, lights off. My parents were *always* home, at least on the weekends. Always waiting for me.\n\nI found a note in the kitchen.\n\n*Son,*\n\n*The law has caught up with us. We must leave. Please remember, we both love you dearly, and hope you will have a happy and successful life.*\n\n*With love,*\n\n*Your mother and father.*\n\nIt was signed. I didn't think I had ever seen their signatures before.\n\nI laughed it off and went to make casserole. The ingredients were just where I thought they would be, the process simple.\n\nI ended up spending the weekend in my dorm. My parents were pulling another real prank, it seemed, and it felt wrong to stay at home when I was the only one there. I felt lost without them there.\n\nI missed them.\n\nEven now, I miss them. I pray every night that I will come back to my home, see the lights on, hear my father say \"Got'cha, son!\", hear my mother's beautiful laugh. \n\nI hold out hope that one day, I will see them again.\n\n^^^^r/forricide",
"\"You might want to sit down for this, honey,\" said mom. Dad was already sitting. I joined him.\n\n\"Is someone sick? You all look really upset.\"\n\n\"Your mother and I are aliens,\" Dad blurted.\n\n\"From what country?\" I asked, feeling grateful this wasn't about my grades. I knew Trump's immigration policy could become a problem, but what were the odds?\n\n\"Not country, planet, and we're fugitives,\" he said.\n\n\"We're really sorry, dear. When we adopted you we really thought they'd never find us.\" said mom. \n\nMom began pealing off her face.\n\n\"You might want to brace yourself, son,\" said dad.\n\nI was not processing this well. I looked first at him, dumbfounded. Then at her, and OHMYGOD. Her face was a mass of small folded suckers made of greyish green skin surrounding five eyes and a rather rounded mouth filled with razer sharp teeth. In her left hand she held a large fleshy human mask complete with hair. \n\n\"What did you?\" I asked, swallowing hard. I could not for the life of me think of what I was going to ask.\n\n\"I told you this was a bad idea,\" said mom. It was surreal hearing her voice come out of that face.\n\n\"I think you were going to ask what we did to become fugitives?\" asked dad. \n\nRealizing my jaw had been hanging loosely, I closed it, looked at dad and and nodded my head. I didn't trust my voice. \n\n\"Well, we were smuggling Big Foot to other planets.\" he said, \"We moved them all over the galaxy. Back in the day they were seen as pests and lowlifes. Relocating even one was seen as much the same as introducing an invasive species to another continent, here. Also, your mom fixed a beauty pageant to pay for it. She collected on the bet, but the Interstellar Authorities found out pretty quickly. We've been on the run ever since.\"\n\n\"The grey should have won, anyway! Everyone knows the judges were just being species-ist.\" said mom.\n\n\"Yes dear,\" said dad, looking a bit bored. \n\n\"She was beautiful! And her talent of levitating cows was beyond amazing...\" \n\nDad's eyes were beginning to glaze over.\n\nI looked back over to her, thinking this time I'd be ready for the change of face. It really was good I was sitting down. I didn't wait for her to stop talking about beauty pageants.\n\n\"Look, Dad, what will they do to you when they catch you?\" I asked, interrupting mom.\n\n\"Well, that's the thing, son. We don't intend to stick around. We're leaving. Do you want to come with? We don't think they'd send you to do time on the asteroid belt if we get caught, since you're a minor and all, but we can't guarantee it. If you choose not to, we do have a friend from the last Alien and UFO Expo who is willing to take you in. She's from Xlaxia, a very friendly planet. I really do regret you won't have more time to think about it.\"\n\nJust then the doorbell rang and a head poked in. It was a Bigfoot in all it's glory.\n\n\"Jeeze, Bill, the least you could do is get some clothes on,\" said mom.\n\n\"Hey, Janice! You're one to talk. I see you're not wearing your face, today.\" said the Big Foot, \"James is gathering up the rest of us. He rented a bus.\"\n\n\"So what'll it be, son?\" dad asked.\n\nThis was also the only family I'd ever had. They'd *picked* me and they'd raised me as their own.\n\n\"I'm going with you. You're my parents and I love you, no matter what you look like.\" \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"
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"1488572851",
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[WP] You have been teleported back in time to the Middle Ages. All you brought with you was a printed out version of Wikipedia in its entirety. Who are you, where are you, what do you do and why? | 95 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Boxes upon boxes upon boxes. On last estimate, before the teleportation, there were 3000 volumes, stacked ten to a box. Three hundred cardboard boxes filled with the entirety of the contents of Wikipedia. In the middle of the woods. At least I'd landed at a crossroads. A wooden sign posted at the fork in the road pointed in the direction of the southbound fork: \"London\". No distance indicated.\n\nI was supposed to have been transported to the Windsor Castle courtyard, circa 1440, because, according to the Professor, that particular location ensured the highest likelihood of survival of the texts. I'd argued that we should have picked another location, just to see how the world turned out if some other group received information from the future.\n\nImagine, I told him: If I'd been transported to Mexico to make contact with a pre-columbian civilization, like the Mayans, what sort of advancements could they make before conquistadors landed? How would that change the scope of history?\n\nMy argument had been rebuked quickly: \"The language barrier will be overcome more quickly if you go to England. They will recognize the importance of the texts, and there will be a lower likelihood that our work will be destroyed.\"\n\nThunder rumbled over head, dark clouds filled the sky. I glanced at the boxes. If only we had the foresight to put our books in plastic tubs rather than cardboard. I had no idea where I was, and didn't necessarily want to leave three hundred boxes of world history and human achievement at a crossroads in medieval England. \n\nI grabbed a box marked: \"Decades: 18th Century BC-21st Century AD\". Each article was about significant events in world history during that particular decade. I had a good enough working knowledge of history to advise a king on how some battles in the coming years would play out, as well as the global geopolitical impact it would have. Or, at the very least I could bluff it. If that was the only box I could save, perhaps it was the one that could have the most impact.\n\nThe Professor had told me to save, if worst came to worst, the information on vaccines and theoretical physics. Theoretical physics, I was okay with saving, but I didn't want to trigger a malthusian crisis before its time so while vaccines were on my priority list, they weren't at the top of the list. Besides, this wasn't the worst. It was just rain.\n\nLightning flashed, snapping me out of my reverie. I started down he path towards London. Hopefully I could find someone to help move all of these boxes before it really started pouring.\n\nThick wet drops of rain splattered all around me as I walked. Was there no one out here? Finally, after a few minutes of walking, I heard the sound of not one, but many hoofbeats.\n\nA cadre of soldiers on horseback came over the horizon. Their banners bore the white rose of the House of York. The leader of the cadre made a command for them to stop.\n\n\"Hello! I shouted to them, dropping my box excitedly. \"Can you help me? What year is it?\"\n\nThe man leading the cadre looked down at me. I couldn't make out his face through his armored helm. \"1440, year of our lord. Who are you?\"\n\n\"My name's Cassandra.\" I told them. \"Please, let me show you something.\" I took a book out of the box marked on the cover \"1300-1600.\" \"I have knowledge that may be of use to you. Knowledge of world events past, present and future. All I ask is that you help me move it. I mean you no harm.\" I handed him the book, hoping that he was literate.\n\nHe opened the book to the first page, and studied it. After a few seconds, he looked back up at me. \"I can only understand half of this. What use does this have to me.\"\n\n\"Knowledge of history, present events, science, arts. A man who holds the contents of these boxes will have knowledge that his neighbors don't. Knowledge is power.\"\n\n\"Where are these boxes?\"\n\n\"Just a little way up the road, sir. Do you have a name I may call you?\"\n\n\"Richard of York, third Duke of the House of York, and Lord Protector of the Crown of England.\"\n\n\"Thank you, My lord,\" I slipped into courtesy. \"I hope you will find these boxes most helpful.\""
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1,
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"1488586280",
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[WP]You haven't cleaned your room & your mother is pissed, slapping you literally into next week. You discover you can time travel forward into the future but only through physical violence inflicted upon yourself by others. One day you decide to kill yourself. | 278 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"After being successfully murdered by myself I open my eyes and find myself floating in nothing. I look around and it's nothing but dark. I try moving around, and although I feel myself moving but I seem to be going nowhere. \nSuddenly, I realise that I have no body!\nWhat is happening? Is this a dream? Soon I start to panic. I become very disturbed trying to think what's happening. I try to think how I got there. I was standing on a bridge, then I jumped off and I was falli..\n[the bridge appears along with everything else]\nI'm back! But I still don't have my body. While I look around, I see my body on the shores of the river. \nIt all starts to make sense now. I have become independent of time and physical dimensions.\n\nI realise what I must do next. I go beyond the earth, into space, far beyond the solar system. I started creating. First, a large empty space. Some captured time moments to fill it with. I convert those time moments into three dimensional physical objects arranged according to time. Now, to place the wormhole for Cooper.",
"In retrospect, I may have spent a little too long doing \"homework\" in my room instead of cleaning it, but I don't think my mom was in the right to slap me across the face. Little more than 10 seconds after opening my door and going from relatively benign to intensely militant, my mother's hand was on a curved path straight towards my face. The feeling of flesh on flesh reverberated through my body, shaking me and sending a painful electric pulse through my skin.\n\nI instantly fell to my back from the force and my eyes slammed shut. When they opened, slowly and fluttery, I noticed it was darker outside than I remembered and that she was nowhere in sight.\n\n\"What the hell?...\"\n\nI assumed I blacked out, but I wasn't even hit that hard. Instead, after checking my phone and realizing it was 12:04 on Sunday, December 11th, I realized that I had just traveled through time.\n\nFighting an oncoming panic attack, I frantically started laying out all the possible causes of this time jump in my head. I was in my bed an hour after I normally fall asleep. The last time I remember was 6:46 PM on Wednesday, December 8th. My face is still red and I have the same clothes on as I did before.\n\nImpulsively, I darted out of bed and ran into my sister's room across the hall where she was in her bed, fast asleep. My hand shakily flipped her light switch, illuminating the room in a warm glow.\n\n\"The fuck, Andrew?!\", she mumbled aggressively. \n\nA flurry of questions came out of my mouth somewhere along the lines of \"what day is it?\", \"where was I for the past five days?\", \"what should I do?\".\n\n\"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Chill out and speak English please\", she responded, sitting up in her bed.\n\n\"Slap me in the face\", I commanded.\n\n\"No! I'm not gon-\"\n\n\"SLAP. ME. IN. THE. FACE.\"\n\nMy sister's hand slowly moved up above her covers and lightly smacked my cheek. That familiar pulse rocked through my body as everything faded to black.\n\nSame bed, same clothes.\n\nI shook off the aftershocks quicker this time and checked my phone. 6:44 A.M., same day. My alarm went off in less than a minute anyways, so I got out of bed and ran downstairs. Shockingly, my sister had no memory of any incident and neither did my mother. I was just my normal self all week, apparently. So I got ready for a normal day at school and headed out the door on the way to my bus stop. All was well and good until actually boarding the bus. While climbing the stairs, my right foot slipped on the wet metal floor of the bus and my shin came crashing down on the hard metal. Dread flooded my heart as the shocking sensation washed over my body, and my eyes went shut.\n\nI lived like this up until time jumped 3 years later over the course of a month and I just couldn't take the constant time jumping. Every single time a pain was ever inflicted on me, time would jump forward. The pain had to stop. I did not care what would happen next as long as I didn't feel this way anymore.\n\nI assumed pills would be the quickest and easiest way to do it. One night, after telling my family I loved them just enough so it wouldn't raise suspicion, I took a bottle of sleeping pills to my bed and swallowed them while bathing in my own tears. It took 5 minutes for me to cry myself to sleep, virtually exhausted from all the time jumps.\n\nI woke up to a notification on my phone from my mom's number in a pool of vomit in my own bed reading: \"Thought you could escape so easily? <3\"\n\nThe time? 6:47 PM, December 8th.\n"
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[A comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/5xbrn7/i_was_in_a_locked_in_a_saudi_jail_for_four_days/deh5jod/) I made in another thread, submitted as suggested by /u/buddyupinatree. Have fun. | [WP] Look who's never been to the sovereign island nation of Pleasure Murderland. You really must go. Well I mean you should pay to go; it's not as fun for those who must go. | 18 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Prince Hubert Sylas von Duskwater, simply Sylas as he preferred, or Princess Sylian to those outside the palace walls until his birthday, had not been expecting to be taken to the sovereign nation of Pleasure Murderland. \n\nForcefully. \n\nHe'd been looking forward to going when he was twenty-one next year, a trip with other lordlings to take part in all the debauchery they could ever think of. Instead, he was sitting in the hold of a ship, trying to catch dirty drops of rainwater from the ceiling. His lips were cracked and they hurt. Yesterday, they had let the drugs work their way out of his system so he would be coherent when they sold him as gladiator fodder. \n\nSylas knew it was an assassination that would leave his body in a nation that had made enough enemies. His nation was small, but with ten beautiful older sisters all queens in other kingdoms, it had more than enough allies to flatten the nation. The question was if his home would be flattened first. \n\nA rough-looking woman about Sylas's age threw him over her shoulder and carried him upstairs like a sack of potatoes. The man he assumed was the captain of the ship matched her pace and they went to a booth loading a cart of other prisoners. \n\nThe bald woman at the booth eyed him as they set him down, reaching forward to turn his head back and forth. \"A Tur'iaj. Even if his face is bruised badly, I can still see it. Sure you don't want to sell him to one of the brothels? You'd get more for him.\" She gestured to another area of the make-shift market. Sylas grimaced at the stereotype. \"Be a shame to cut his pretty hair. Keep someone from using it as a good grip to break his button nose to pieces, though,\" she sighed and touched one of Sylas's braids. \n\nHe wanted to jerk back and tell her not to touch him, but he needed any sympathy he could get. The captain shook his head and gave the woman a small pouch of gold. \"Let him heal up, then throw him out there. Tell them not to touch his face or hair,\" he nodded to the woman. \n\nShe bit one of the gold pieces and nodded back. \"Aye, one of these. What'd he do?\"\n\nThe Captain frowned, \"Knocked my daughter up and left her.\" \n\nSylas growled, baring his sharp teeth at the man, \"Liar!\" He was seething. The Captain was trying to turn away any chance of escape. \n\nThe bald woman nodded and spat in the dirt, \"Tur'iaj come from them succubi. Can't expect 'em to act decent. Worse he left you with one of those *things* to raise.\" The pouch of gold had disappeared when the woman stood to drag Sylas over to the wagon, throwing him in on his face. \"You'll get yours, captain.\"\n\nThe captain nodded, \"I'll be in the audience tomorrow.\" Sylas knew this was also a lie, they were setting sail that evening. He'd heard sailors discussing it. The bald woman nodded again. \n\nSylas lay in the cart, unable to do much but squirm to the side by how well they'd tied him up. Eventually, the cart moved towards the cheers and excitement of the arena and Sylas did all he could to keep from re-bruising his bruises as it rattled along the cobblestone streets. \n\nHe refused to cry. It wasn't that he had a problem with crying, he'd grown up in a family well in-touch with their emotions, but rather that he didn't want anyone to see the poor, sensitive Tur'iaj crying. He wondered how his sisters dealt with it in the far-flung corners of the Earth. \n\nWhen they reached the arena, they pulled everyone off the carts and brought them to small rooms. He only had a brief moment to appreciate they weren't cells where he could easily be seen and mocked when he was shoved against the wall and his ropes cut. \n\nHe rubbed his raw wrists as a gnomish woman directed him to sit on the edge of the flimsy cot. She rubbed a healing salve on his bruises and then left Sylas alone. He gratefully curled into a corner of his cot and cried. \n\nThis was more out of stress than any assurance that he thought he might die. Sylas had grown up with ten older sisters. Weapon or no weapon, he knew how to fight. The only reason they'd managed to grab him in the first place is that they'd drugged his wine. \n\nThe next morning, they gave Sylas a shield and sword, then shoved him into the arena. He supposed it was supposed to be clever when they freed a few demons into the pit. Instead, it was just incredibly ignorant. \n\nAs a giant, red-skinned demon raised its hammer to squash Sylas underneath, he threw his sword and shield down, holding up his hands. It paused, then laughed with the audience. It brought the hammer up higher and Sylas caught its eyes with a mad grin on his face. \n\nHe'd never tried it in real combat, but it worked all the same. The demon dropped before his feet, bowing and trying to kiss his boots. The audience started booing. Sylas tipped its head up with his toes and pointed to the doors humanoids came out of, not enchanted against demons. \"Think you can smash it, big guy?\" The demon stood and puffed out its chest, running over and charging the door before anyone could stop it. \n\nSylas made a rude gesture at the audience and grabbed his sword as guards poured out of the broken door. \n\nIt wasn't the same as paying to go, but this would do. "
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1,
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"1488592362",
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[WP] A world destroying, interstellar serial killer makes first contact with an unsuspecting Earth. Their method is to "test" intelligent life: sending no communications except blueprints for a device that will destroy the planet if heedlessly created by a tech-hungry species. | 12 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The planet hovered serenely in front of my starship. Clouds swiftly cruised over its surface, which was filled with various continents and oceans. It harbored a bonanza of life, which just so happened to include intelligent life. It had built sprawling cities, filled with advanced technology, for their time at least. My sacred mission was to test their intelligence to see if they had the right to continue living on.\n\nMy holy test was to send them blueprints of a device specifically designed to destroy the planet's surface, incinerating everything. I wouldn't tell them what it was, since I needed to properly filter their impure recklessness to judge them. Most who I gave the test died horribly, most due to the device, but some due to wars that the device's blueprints caused.\n\nIt was pleasuring to see the impures eviscerated one by one from the universe through my sacred mission. Because of my efforts, I was cleansing the stars of the evil in the universe. Now, I get to see another race be judged through the lens of my test. I clicked the button, and the test was on.",
"\"A..are you sure we should build this, it seems o..off,\" A timid engineer called, her body shaking a little.\n\n\"Quit being such a wuss,\" A gruff looking one replied, examining the blueprint.\n\nNo matter what she said, the team were building the device already, constructing their own armageddon.\n\n\"N..no, what are you d..doing?!\" She snatched the blueprints from the other's hands, ripping them in two.\n\n\"You are slowing the progress of our species,\" She was met with a glare, a glare from the entire team.\n\n\"B..but we don't kn..know what it does, i..it could be bad,\" She replied, backing away from the advancing crowd of engineers.\n\n=====================================================\n\nInteresting, very interesting. One specimen seemed to be trying to stop the construction, trying to pass the test. But it was shut down by the others, the types I had set out to destroy in the first place.\n\nI pondered about my options, coming to the conclusion that it would be spared from the inevitable destruction.\n\nBut now, now to sit back and witness the destruction of more fools."
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"1488596542",
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] | |
[WP] It's been a month since your parents were killed in a car accident. You receive an envelope with a key to a safety deposit box. When you open the box, you find a letter, a tiny bottle of pixie dust, three gold coins, and a strange birth certificate with your name on it. | 5 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Michael studied the golden wax seal placed perfectly in the center of the envelope. It displayed what he also saw in front of him: three thick golden coins surrounding a tiny bottle. Michael scratched his head and looked towards the portly gentleman who had guided him to the box. \"Are you sure this is the right one?\" he said, again glancing down at the envelope. \n\n\"Yes, sir,\" the man replied, reading off a clipboarded sheet of paper, \"Box 32543, registered by Timothy and Sandra Hodkins, given to Michael Hodkins upon their untimely death.\" He paused, \"I'll leave you for now, but I'll be around later if you have any - uh - questions.\" \n\n\"What do you mean -- questions?\" Michael glanced up to see that the man he had been talking to had already left. He sighed and carefully opened up the envelop. Inside was a letter that bore the same insignia on the seal -- three coins and the bottle. Below the insignia the words \"Hodkins Retrieval Service,\" we're written in cursive. \"Hodkins Retrieval Service?\" he muttered aloud. The words meant nothing to him.\n\n\n*Dear Michael,\n\nI'm sure this must be a strange experience. Timothy and I have tried extraordinarily hard to be extraordinary ordinary - and begrudgingly boring - parents to you. But alas, our hopefully timely and nonviolent deaths that only came after long, prosperous lives, have forced our hands. \n\nYou've inherited our job, which will hopefully be as rewarding to you as it has been to us. And no, we haven't given you the deed to our restaurant -- we all know your skills in the kitchen are awful. Instead, we've given you the keys to the kingdom: Hodkins Retrieval Service. \n\nNow, it'd be much easier for me just to explain what this all means in this letter. You'd leave the bank puzzled, yet excited in what you would be doing for the rest of your life. But, alas, that isn't fun at all and doesn't really match any of those fun literary tropes you always used to study at night. \n\nFor now, take the bottle and the three golden coins to the restaurant, which I do hope you've managed to keep tidy. Go to the back and enter the freezer. Next, drink what's in the bottle. The rest should be fairly self-explanatory. Good luck!\n\nOh, and please be nice to the gentlemen who guided you to this safe. He is your uncle, after all. \n\nAll my love, \n\nMom*\n"
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1,
1
] | [
"1488635592",
"1488638786"
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[WP] "Poor guy, he went from predator to victim in the span of thirty seconds," remarked the detective as he lit another cigarette. | 4 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The detective's phone buzzed on the desk. He picked it up and stared at it. Coroner. Again. He flicked the phone open and said a clipped \"hello.\"\n\"Can you come over? I know it's --\"\n\"The time is irrelevant, sir.\" His voice was like sandpaper. \"I'll be there.\" He poured a whiskey, lukewarm, and downed it.\n\nThe city smelled gray.\n\nThe coroner's office was between a pawnshop and a convenience store. It was tidy. He ran his fingers along the lockers. The coroner, who was short and bespectacled, looked up at him with fear in his eyes. \"This will be a hard one,\" he said. He pulled out a tray.\n\nThe man's face was gone. His fingers were ribbons. His abdomen was a Jackson Pollock of red and purple. The detective looked at the man, and the man leaked a little.\n\n\"Yep. Perp knew what he was doing.\" The detective reached for a cigarette, thought better of it, and scratched his nose thoughtfully. \"Get some pictures of him. I'll take the files, and I'll work this one in the morning.\" The coroner nodded and toddled towards the photocopier.\n\nThe return trip was cold.\n\nThe detective remembered the dead man. He had slammed the detective's door a week earlier, yelled that his wife was dead and the killer was on the loose. The detective had gone to the coroner. The prints on the wife's neck were her husband's. She was twenty-five. Svelte. Her eyes were open.\n\nHe had shot the husband, just once. Waited until he stopped breathing. Cut off anything that would identify him. Bleached his blood. Played with his insides. Dragged him to a corner; silk gloves; no security cameras.\n\nHe would not solve this crime. Too difficult, and his mind didn't work as it used to.\n\nThe detective lit another cigarette. Poor guy, he thought. His phone buzzed. Another case."
] | [
1,
4
] | [
"1488713407",
"1488716150"
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[WP] Part of this world, part of another | 18 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"He was loading the rest of the vessel with various boxes, crates of all sorts and sizes. Most of the other longshoremen weren't wondering what he was doing out in the sea alone, they had seen enough of them. \"Two crates toothpaste, half crate brush, another three crates candy bars.\" The hired help raised his eyebrow suspiciously at a palate of standard A4 paper. It was blank, new out of the box. He shook his head and muttered something about tuition fees being raised before he left the boat to get the last box. Murphy McMann didn't mind, he was looking out at the horizon. It was a good day to sail, as windy as it was. The overcast was dreary, but he loved it all the same.\n\n\nThe hire help loaded the last box onto the boat and marked it down on the boat manifest. \"One full series of light reading material, fantasy, sci-fi and various others.\" McMann nodded and shoved a handful of cash into his hand.\n\n\nHe was quick to untie the ropes and to move away from the docks. Waving to the dock workers, they recognized this eccentric old man that would callously throw various boxes of material into the sea. Little did they know, McMann would always think. Little, indeed, did they know.\n\n\n---\n\n\nStopping in the middle of the ocean may have sounded like a bad idea to anyone else other than McMann. It was a terrible idea, a horrible one, a desperate one by all measures to count. But McMann didn't mind. Like everything else in life, he mixed with normal people like oil and water, distinct and by himself. He waited in his boat, reading the latest on his Kindle. \n\n\nFrom a distance, he saw a shining glimmer. Not just the reflection of the sea, it was overcast in the middle of the night. No, it was the light of another vessel. Putting down his Kindle, he sat up, and waved at the boat. \n\n\nA sudden flash blinded, white lights in his eyes smarting his old senses. The vessel was upon his, the sea taking him in. Except it wasn't, as his eyes adjusted to the light. The boat was wholly inside another vessel, black walls flanking him with deep lights, embedded into the roof and the hull of the vessel. McMann smiled, and looked around to spot for other members of the crew.\n\n\nA man, elderly with lines of experience on his forehead came forward sporting a yellow jumpsuit adorned with orange and black ribbons on his shoulders. A set of contrasting buttons down the middle of the jacket marked him as the captain. He began, \"It has been sometime since we have seen an outsider.\"\n\n\nMcMann smiled back. \"It has taken me some time to gather your last order. Discretion as you will always appreciate, slows one down.\"\n\n\n\"No more so than those eyes of yours.\" He barked a laugh and hugged McMann. \"How are you Lucian?\" \n\n\nWith glinting eyes, he shot back. \"Very well Turner! Shall we dive?\"\n\n\n\"Are you in such a rush to return home? How many years has it been?\" He led him through a small hallway to the main lounging chamber. \n\n\n\"Too many years. I am part of two worlds. One on land, one down under. I grow tiresome of keeping this facade up.\"\n\n\n\"Such is the burden of our Trader. But there are luxuries that we require. Should they discover our exist-\"\n\n\n\"Indeed, the world would fall upon itself, and Atlantis would arise out of the ocean! Enough with the dramatics, let us celebrate.\" McMann, or Lucian to others, pulled out a flask, taking a heavy drag.\n\n\n\"Yes. Let us celebrate. Part of this world!\"\n\n\n\"Part of another!\" McMann finished the saying. The Trader saying. McMann or Lucian? ",
"I'm part of this world, and yet not. I'm also part of that world, before--the one I still belong to, the one that still sings in my heart, even though it's long since been destroyed. I don't know what will happen in the future; I barely understand what has happened in the past--and yet, here I am, standing at the brink of two histories, two stories entirely divergent.\n\nI know who I am, and where I (have no choice but to) belong now. And yet, I find myself wondering.... What if things had been different? What if things had never changed? Would I still be the person I was, back then? Would I have grown into someone entirely different--like I have now?\n\nUltimately, there are answers to those questions--not when the way of getting to before is completely lost, when what's done has been done. After all, what's past is past; you can't change it. I was someone then, part of another world; I'm someone else now, with new friends, new experiences--a whole new life.\n\nAnd yet, I can't help but wonder....\n\nI consider, briefly, telling my brother about my feelings, then decide against it. For now, I feel fine. I'm not unhappy, or even upset, not really; I just feel that telltale ache in my heart, that telltale swell of regret for the way things might have been. Of course, it could be that things would have ended up the exact same way, regardles--if not far, far worse--but still. Sometimes, you wonder what it's like to be part of that other world, the one where I would have remained underwater. I live on the earth's surface now, though I spend much of my time beneath the waves. What would it have been like? What about--my family? Several years after coming to this earth, the thought is almost foreign to me; and yet, I can't help but wonder.\n\nWhat would things have been like?\n\nThere are no answers to those questions, however--no answers to the questions that plague my mind and run throughout the veins of my body--so I stand up, wipe myself off, and walk forward, off the sandbank where I've been sitting and contemplating. I head toward the ocean, feeling the wind whip my hair. Maybe that part of me is lost--but I can still reconnect to it.\n\nI can still be, always, between two worlds.",
"\"Look at her.\" \n\n\"I am looking at her, shut up.\" \n\n\"Dude.\"\n\n\"I know, I know. Will, go up and ask her about her...you know that thing!\"\n\n\"I don't want to, you go.\"\n\n\"No no, I've traded you my lunch the other.\"\n\n\"Ok ok. Alright. Here we go...\"\n\n..\n\n\"Hello Ms Peters.\"\n\n\"Hello Will. How are you?\"\n\n\"I'm good. I'm good.\" \n\nWill looked around nervously, trying to avoid staring at the thing. She must have noticed.\n\n\"Will, you seem distracted. What is it?\"\n\n\"Mrs Peter. I don't know how to ask...\"\n\n\"Ah, I see. Did your friends ask you to talk to me?\"\n\nWill felt relieved. Apparently, he wasn't the first one to talk to her about it.\n\n\"Yes. I mean, I didn't even notice it at first, you know. But they were all like...you know how they are.\"\n\n\"Yes. Yes, I know.\" \n\nSuddenly, Will was afraid again. \n\nMrs Peter walked over to the door and closed it, Will's friends were now on the other side.\n\n\"Actually... I kind of have to leave now, my parents are waiting.\"\n\nBut Mrs Peters ignored him. Instead, she was back at her desk again and placed the thing on top of it. \n\n\"Come, don't be afraid.\"\n\nWill now looked at it directly and felt strangely drawn to it. He couldn't avert his eyes and moved closer, his eyes fixated on the thing. He saw it pulsate and shine a strange light. He was so entranced that he didn't notice the shadow creeping up on him. Will felt a cold, tingling feeling on his back.\n\n..\n\nA loud scream came from inside the classroom. Will's friends looked at each other.\nSuddenly, the classroom door opened and Mrs Peters walked out. She looked...different. \n\n\"Hey guys, let's go to In'N'Out, I'm starving. And you still owe me lunch!\"\n\n\n\n\n"
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1,
2,
2,
3
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"1488749959",
"1488759659",
"1488771526",
"1488753366"
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[WP]In a world ruled by sentient cats the Nyaakuza has begun encroaching on Meowfia territory. | 42 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Tony liked basements.\n\nThey were usually small. Low ceilings. Lots of smells. Kinda place that a cat could take a nap, if one were so inclined, or just eat the head off a mouse and play with the body.\n\nBut this basement had other cats in it. One was a foreign cat, with pointy ears and a long neck. And Tony didn't like foreign cats. Even when they were gagged and hooded and tied to a chair. Seemed like a waste of string.\n\n\"Fuckin' orientals,\" he hissed. \"I'm tellin' ya, boss, just let me work 'im over for a while. Just for a minute.\"\n\n\"Patience,\" John purred. Tony flicked his ears but bowed his head. John was a sleek Aegean, real refined like, with a suit and tie and a gold necklace. Never seemed to break a sweat, even when the work got hot and heavy. Roots in the old country. Tony always felt a little out of place next to John, with his mongrel pelt and shabby corduroy trousers, but it was comforting in a way to know that someone else was doing the thinking and giving the orders.\n\n\"Take off the hood,\" John said. Tony nodded and whipped the burlap sack off the Oriental's head. Just rough enough to let him know that they meant *business*.\n\nThe Oriental blinked in the harsh light and then fixed Tony with a baleful stare. Tony felt his tail start to puff up and a low growl started in his throat.\n\n\"He's eyeballin' me, boss,\" Tony hissed. \"Just a couple swipes, I'm beggin' ya.\"\n\n\"I had hoped it wouldn't come to that,\" John said, snapping his jaws open and shut with a sudden yawn. As if the whole shebang was making him bored. The Oriental shifted his gaze and John grinned, sharp teeth glinting. \"Where are your manners, Tony? We just want to talk. Right? Just a quick little *chat*.\"\n\nJohn reached into his suit and pulled out a dull black cylinder barely larger than his paw. The Oriental's eyes narrowed and Tony took an involuntary step back. His fur rippled as a cold shiver ran down his back. \n\n\"Boss,\" he whispered, but John didn't even twitch a whisker. \n\n\"You might want to close your eyes, Tony,\" John said, with bonechilling kindness. Tony let out an involuntary *mrrp* and turned away. Beating up on somebody was a honest way of letting them know who was on top. Hell, cutting their throat, even. Cat to cat. Sharpest claws and quickest on their feet. But there were other ways, ways that Tony just couldn't stomach.\n\nJohn didn't have that problem. Tony heard the little *snick* as the laser pointer clicked on, and the sudden thrashing as the Oriental tried to break out of his chair. Even just knowing that there was a little red dot on the wall somewhere sent Tony's paws twitching. He knew better than to peek. One look and he'd be tearing around the room. You just couldn't stop yourself. He didn't know how John could handle it, but judging from the the mewling yowls the Oriental didn't have it in him. Terrible thing, to need to chase and not be able to. Worse than cutting his balls off.\n\n\"You can turn around now, Tony,\" John purred. Tony obeyed automatically, without thinking. When the boss says jump, you jump. His gaze met the Oriental's briefly, his own face reflecting back at him in those big wide black pupils, fear and rage coming out as hard as if the Oriental was screaming instead of thrashing and biting against the gag. Then Tony saw the red dot, plastered right in the center of the Oriental's forehead. \n\nAnd his claws came out.\n"
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1,
7
] | [
"1488819584",
"1488852867"
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[WP] humans are completely average. They are not exceptional at anything in particular, and they're pretty much on par with all the other species in the galaxy. | 45 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"We have your ship surrounded,\" Captain Darrell said to the four-armed alien standing opposite her. Salva, its name was. Commander Salva.\n\n\"I am aware,\" it replied. \"You have won this battle.\"\n\nDarrell was startled by the statement. Gryphians were known to be the second most stubborn race, first place going to humans. \n\n\"Just as every battle before this one,\" she said, feeling a small hint of pride mixed with a whole lot of remorse. The Gryphians had been all but obliterated- what was once an empire reduced to a handful of planets and a miserable fleet. All for no real reason at all.\n\nSalva seemed to pick up on Darrell's feelings. It turned away from her, calmly strolling over to the glass wall facing planet Thene. \n\n\"Why do you think that is?\" it asked.\n\nDarrell's brows furrowed. \"What do you mean? Why do I think we keep winning?\"\n\nSalva nodded. Darrell thought for a moment, wondering what Salva was up to. Though Gryphians weren't known for being clever, one could never be too sure.\n\n\"We're stronger,\" she declared. \"We outnumber you 2:1, our technology is more advanced, our soldiers outperform yours, thanks to adrenaline...\"\n\nA small smile broke out on Salva's face, which truly confounded Darrell. \"Am I wrong?\" she asked, growing slightly nervous.\n\nSalva spun on its heels and turned to face her. \"Humans are prideful,\" it said. \"And reckless. You do things without thinking. You care for neither the past nor the future. Your 'strategies' are jokes. Your population expands at an unsustainable rate. Your technology does more harm than good, even to your own selves.\"\n\nIt moved closer to Darrell, seeming to grow taller. Darrell's hand hovered cautiously over the gun on her hip, but Salva had her curiosity.\n\n\"The average human cannot handle half the weight an adult Gryphian can,\" it continued. \"The Arkadans had adrenaline a century before your Earth was formed. Yet, we wiped them out. Just as we'd wipe *you* out too, if we wanted to.\"\n\nIts big blue eyes peered straight into Darrell's. \"But most of all, you lack *faith*. You believe your actions are your own. You refuse to accept the simple fact that everything has a purpose, that any course of events will follow a pre-defined path. You Humans do not *listen*, hence you do not know the pa-\"\n\n*crack.*\n\nThe bullet met with Salva's stomach, and exited its body in a shower of dark crimson blood. Salva collapsed to the floor. The blood poured out of the wound, and though Salva was still alive, it didn't have much time. \n\nThe gun dropped from Darrell's hand. At her feet, Salva coughed. She looked down at it, eyes wide. She didn't remember consciously pulling the gun out. *Something* had driven her to pull the trigger. As if a trance had momentarily taken over her body.\n\nSalva attempted to speak, but its voice was weak. Darrell dropped to her knees to spare it the effort.\n\n\"You... want... to know why you always win... ?\" it asked. Darrell nodded eagerly. Salva shuddered, and coughed up a few specks of blood. Then, it cleared its throat, and raised its voice slightly.\n\n\"we... let you... win.\"\n\nDarrell's jaw opened and closed several times as her brain caught up with the revelation.\n\n\"...why?\" she asked. \"What could you possibly gain from losing the war?\"\n\nThe light in Salva's eyes was fading. It had always wondered what death was like...\n\n\"our... time is... over. Eve...\" It beckoned her closer. She leaned in, startled by her name being uttered from the alien's mouth.\n\nSalva spoke in barely a whisper now. It had the energy left for only a few words.\n\n\"your... actions... are not your... own,\" it repeated. It sucked in a painful breath, the final breath it would ever take. \n\n\"This... is...your future...\"\n\nThe rest of its breath escaped its mouth, and the light in its eyes died out completely. Darrell sat there for what felt to her like an hour, processing Salva's parting message.\n\nIn the end, she got up, brushed the dust off her knees, and left the room to return to her ship. Salva's words didn't matter. Salva was dead. The war was won. The Gryphians were going to surrender. \n\nThe Human Empire was going to encompass the entire galaxy, just as their leaders had planned..."
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1,
6
] | [
"1488827250",
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I realize this sounds like an /r/AskReddit question, but write a story about the worst day of your (character's) life. | [WP] "What happened on the worst day of your life?" | 18 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew everything was just absolutely fucked.\n\nNot just regular \"*Oh, this sure is getting pretty bad*\" or \"*I think I smell something burning.*\" \n\nNo, this was worse. In the back of my mind there was no avoiding it. I had all the pieces of the puzzle, I'd solved it and decided to flip the table and scatter the metaphorical work on top of it to the floor because I needed to take cover from the fucking crossbow bolts.\n\nIt was just that kind of day.\n\nA *\"Goblins pouring out of the forest like a broken-tap screaming for blood, few surviving Church-hired assassins probably still lurking in the tree-top with longbows, walls and wooden portions of the Outpost are on fire\"* kind of day.\n\nEverything was absolutely 100% Fubar already, and it was just taking its sweet time to finish the job with a victory lap. There I was in the middle of it all, Captain of the losing team putting out literal and non-literal fires by method of violence or bucket, raw knuckled fists or gunshots, as the enemy at the gates was also at the windows.\n\n*And* the stairwell...\n\n*And* the Watchtower...\n\n*And* dead on the floor- I just tripped over a Goblin corpse.\n\nBut that's just the trick I guess. All this shit, and I have to admit, I've been remarkably calm about the whole ordeal. This is a new-leaf I'm turning over. A big step for me, considering I used to complain all the time. Maybe it's just shock of being confronted with a quickly approaching death, but I'm really not entirely convinced I haven't just grown an extra pair of stones.\n\nStoicism- definitely I've tried my best to hammer into my bones. I've taken to it like an apprentice blacksmith might to making horseshoes- practicing the same damn motions over and over. Repeat after me: *\"If I can't possibly change it, I shouldn't feel particularly bothered to complain about it.\"*\n\nHey, did I tell you I blew up a Goblin Chief's head from like, 200-something paces? \n\nThe rifling on my barrel is completely fucked too- I've been casting shit-tier magic through the thing like it's nobody's business, yet somehow I managed to nail that sucker on the first attempt. Easily the Highlight-shot of the month, no doubt in my mind. Best to ride the high right there until the low comes out of nowhere and abruptly kills me. Which, again- no doubts, it probably will. \n\nCurrently, my bet is on an arrow.\n\nOptimism holding, and considering how many of those bastards are whipping in through the windows, it's a fair guess the chances are weighted- but if I were a gambling sort, I might give it up to a bloody close-combat gone wrong. The pile of \"whatever happened to be available\" I ordered the soldiers to make in the stairwell has seen better days. A bunch of stone axes and more Goblins than a man can shake a stick at. No barricade is going to last very long, and while I'd really like to imagine reinforcements showing up and pulling my ass out of this fire- I know they're probably not going to.\n\nI doubt those potential reinforcements even know this shit is happening.\n\nThere are armies somewhere to the North. Supposedly, they're now fighting some ungodly and colossal battle, mostly likely the kind that will take a few days to settle out. If I remembered the basic plans put together by the Royal forces, it's certainly not going to be a decisive sort of win with one big clash and a nice ending with a bloody bow on top, but more of a long kiting and never ending skirmish along the main roads.\n\nI mean, they're fighting a giant army of ghouls, so it's not like the enemy has critical thinking skills to speak of, and The Royal Heir- Queen, Aurum, Whatever people were calling little miss Golden-eyes nowadays: She's not about to lose any more people to Western Monsters or stupid over-sights. They'll kill those bastards with a spoon if it means her forces stay on this side of the living. The Queen's not the type to fuck things up.\n\nApparently, that's my job. \n\nReally, that's the best part of all this madness. It's entirely of my own creation. I fought fire, with a bigger fire. Fighting Assassins with Goblins. Mostly, this because I'm a god-damn idiot- but in part this was because there truly wasn't a better way.\n\nThat's what I'm telling myself.\n\n\"Captain! Another wave! The Stairwell Barricade won't hold!\" Somewhere across the room there's a soldier named Ronalde shouting at me, trying his best to drop an arrow around the bend in-between the volleys of return fire. For a *Second Rank* not yet quite up to earning his place in a real division, he's been holding up better than most. \"ARG-!\"\n\nOf course, I think that right as he takes a Goblin bolt to the shoulder and goes down screaming- luckily dragged away by the next men in line, replaced this time two burly looking fellows hoisting the dinner table as one final defensive shield.\n\nIt's a nice table. Even now, I have a fondness for the thing. A solid sort of ten person each side kind of table. We've had some good times with that wooden bastard as a centerpiece. Ale, bread, stale bread, jerky that might have been shoe leather.\n\nThere's no more food, maybe I should mention that. \n\nWe most definitely weren't equipped for a bloody siege, even if we could have gotten more of the food out of the basement larders.\n\nNow, obviously they can certainly plug the stairs with that stupidly large table. They're big, unnaturally strong *fantasy-hero-soldier-folk* and they seem quite intent on doing just that. Muscles bulging, helms set on tight, rough cover of our own volley of what Goblin arrows we can pick up and inaccurately lob back down at the Green dancing bastards trying to claw their way up to us. The only problem with this plan is that's just about the last piece of furniture left on the second floor, and we can't exactly shoot the Goblins through three inches of solid oak.\n\n\"HEAVE!\" There's the shout, and there's the slam. In the far-off distance, I'm pretty sure I hear an uppity little Goblin scream in terror. A couple hundred pounds, tossed down stairs from a height of at least fifteen feet... Yeah, that's probably one less Goblin.\n\n\"Craaa-AAAAAAG\" Watching another one come up through the window to my right just in time to get brained by a shovel, and I can say that's probably two less Goblins.\n\nShame there's like a freaking thousand of them out there now.\n\n\"CAPTAIN!\" Another soldier's shout earns my momentary attention, head-turn unintentionally avoiding a rather sickly looking spear that might as well kiss my left cheek as it careens past and wedges itself in the wooden rafters.\n\n\"What is it?\" I shout back, before kicking a more ambitious green-skinned bastard off its shoddy-made siege-ladder, to fall screaming into the distance. \"It better be pretty fucking important!\" I shout for emphasis, weapon leveling from the hip to blast another Goblin's head clean off as it peaked another window's ledge- grappling hook still in hand.\n\n\"SIR! THEY'VE SCALED THE WATCH-TOWER!\" The Soldier shouted, ducking as his shield took a stray arrow- deflecting it off in some random vector with a panicked look as he continued. \"WE'RE BEING FORCED BACK! THE TOWER IS LOST!\" His explanation is just in time with four bumbling Soldiers in armor stumbling down after him through the stairwell doorway, shields ricocheting all manner of projectiles into the ceiling behind them. \"WHAT DO WE DO SIR?\"\n\n\"Do?\" I asked, turning to blast another reaching green hand, ignoring the next volley as they whizzed past my head yet again. \"You really need instructions?\" My shout might as well have been a whisper over the screams and shouts and noises of battle- but they shouted back, most turning towards the Watch-Tower passageway, screeches of enemies rushing down the darkness of those steps.\n\n\"YES SIR!\" The soldier looked at me, eyes wide, panic only growing. \"YOUR ORDERS SIR- WHAT DO WE DO?\" I stared at him with disbelief, not even looking at the rifle in my hands blew mana and smoke out the barrel to turn another screaming creature coming through the window into a fine pink mist.\n\n\"ORDERS?\" I shouted in utter disbelief. \"Just kill the fucking Goblins!\"\n\nI think he heard me before a bolt took him in the eye, and he dropped like a sack of extra-dead potatoes.\n\nOn the bright-side, now I'm certain.\n\nThis has got to be the absolute worst day of my life.\n\n----\n\n\n**This is a continuation of a bunch of other writing prompts:**\n\n[*Start here*](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/51f8ag/wp_youre_such_a_powerful_magician_that_life_is/d7bn3g2)\n\n[*Previous*]\n(https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5x30ze/wp_the_gun_will_be_fired_at_the_end_of_the_story/defdqp0/)\n\n[NEXT](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5y9dc4/wpsometimes_you_need_to_do_some_stupid_shit_to/deoeh43/)"
] | [
1,
28
] | [
"1488828863",
"1488835261"
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[WP] A note is slipped under your door; your closet door. | 28 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I don't know what they are.\n\nWhen you think of monsters, you imagine the familiar - werewolves, zombies, or maybe vampires. The kind of monsters you see in movies and games. It's a natural reaction. Not many people can imagine the really uncomfortable or frightening kind, nor do they want to. I certainly couldn't imagine this.\n\n\"Sweetie? You can come out now. It's safe.\"\n\nThe emergency broadcast on the TV told everyone to stay put. To lock the doors and close the curtains. As always, a lot of people didn't listen, taking to the streets with guns and backpacks in tow. I don't know what happened to them. I don't even know what I hope happened to them anymore - perhaps becoming a monster is just a matter of switching sides at this point.\n\n\"Our kids are waiting downstairs. The government made another brodcast, they said the crisis is over.\"\n\nThe only reason I'm still hiding is paranoia. It's not even really a fear of the unknown - I know that the person outside the closet is my wife. It's her voice, her fingers gently tapping the wall... But it feels like she's acting out a role. Like she knows all the right things to say, but does so with just a little too much conviction.\n\n\"I'll wait out here, honey. Until you're ready to come out.\"\n\nShe is my wife. She has to be, right? If she was a monster... I'd know, right? At the same time, I haven't heard any broadcasts on the radio. The silence outside is still ear deafening. A note slips under the door. \"I miss you\" it says.\n\nI don't know what they are. I guess I'll have to find out sooner or later.",
"I glanced at the note, unable to believe my eyes. Was it not as it seemed?\n\nWho could be hiding in my closet?\n\nA ghost? Without a host? A locket without a pocket? I didn't know. \n\nI grabbed the door and opened it wide.\n\nThere was nobody there.\n\nI turned back around and awoke in surprise. What was going to be my demise?\n\nI didn't know, but one thing was clear.\n\nIt went against everything I held dear.\n\nOr at least, those were my last thoughts before the bang went off.",
"He'd been seeing the client for about three months now. A young girl named Sarah, she was going through the abrupt death of her mother. Her father was nervous and clearly traumatized himself, but he was devoted to her, and she'd never missed any of her weekly appointments since the incident, except for last week. There was no word from either of them about it, but that wasn't out of the realm of the ordinary.\n\nDr. William Herman Weber liked to think he was good at his job. He prided himself on being able to connect with the children he worked with, and having nearly all of them leave with a better mindset than they came in with. Sarah, too, was showing signs of improvement. He just hoped that today's session would help her even more.\n\n\"Dr. Weber? Sarah and her father are here to see you.\" His secretary poked around the door to his office. Speak of the devil.\n\nHe smiled warmly. \"Thank you. Send her in.\"\n\nHis office was fairly large, with room enough for his desk, a couch, and a table positioned against the wall, which was a blessing with what happened next.\n\nThe enormous paw appeared first, almost as big as the door frame. It paused, then, through a process that William couldn't figure out, squeezed through and under it. Its face was like something out of nightmares, with bones protruding from every corner, like its face was just something hastily tacked onto its skull. He tried not to focus on it too much.\n\nIt saw down like an enormous dog. Sarah poked her head in just after.\n\n\"Hi, Doctor Weber! I brought my friend here today!\" She paused, as though considering something. \"I hope you don't mind!\"\n\nHis mouth was agape. The creature met his gaze with a measured look.\n\n\"Really, if it's any trouble at all,\" the creature said anxiously. \"I'm just along, because, um, I heard you were really good at your job, and...\" he shifted his paws nervously. \"Well, there's some things I wanted to talk to you about.\"\n\nWilliam managed to shut his mouth, but not yet to speak.\n\n\"He slipped a note under my closet door,\" Sarah continued. \"He was too shy to ask me directly, isn't that cute?\" Her face split into a grin. \"But he wanted to come along, so here he is! His name is Akamothammar!\"\n\n\"First of those taken in battle by the demonic hordes,\" Akamothammar commented, looking mildly embarrased. \"It's really not that big of a deal.\"\n\n\"Not that big of a deal! Listen to this guy!\" Sarah punched her companion on the arm, or leg. He barely seemed to notice. \"Like he didn't sink Atlantis in the first of days!\"\n\n\"Helped sink Atlantis,\" he clarified, but he looked pleased.\n\nWords managed to come to William's mouth, although he didn't know how. \"So,\" he said. \"Well. I mean. It's not really protocol to see two patients at the same time-\"\n\n\"Oh, it's ok!\" Sarah said. \"I can wait outside!\"\n\n\"Sarah, no,\" Akamothammar said. \"Really, it's OK. I don't want to cut into your time.\"\n\n\"I don't mind at all!\" Sarah said. \"Just for now, OK? How's that sound?\"\n\nThe demon considered this, then inclined his head. \"Yeah. OK. Just this once.\" He grinned, splitting his face mask like it was made of rotten wood. Before William's eyes, it reformed again, flesh re-knotting itself over exposed bone. \n\nSarah hugged him. \"Good luck!\" she said, and left.\n\nWilliam was alone with Akamothammar.\n\n\"Don't worry,\" Akamothammar said. \"No one else can see me except for you two.\"\n\n\"Er,\" William said.\n\n\"Now,\" Akamothammar said. He looked apologetic. \"I'm afraid I will have to eat you.\"\n\nWilliam stared. \n\nThe demon shrugged. \"Sorry about that, really. You seem like a nice man. And Sarah seems like a nice girl. But I have to move on - Sarah just isn't afraid of the dark anymore. You've really done a stellar job. But I have to eat someone, else I'll go hungry, and I've gotten kind of fond of the girl and her dad, so I suppose it'll have to be you.\"\n\n\"Wait,\" William said in a strangled voice.\n\nAkamothammar waited. \"Hmm?\" he asked, eminently polite.\n\n\"Are you sure there isn't anything you want to talk about? Anything about... your family, maybe?\"\n\nThe demon was shaking his head, but stopped when he heard *family*. \"Well,\" he said. \"Uh. My mother was the deepest parts of the earth and my father was the darkness behind the stars, so I guess I never did get to see my parents much.\"\n\n\"And how does that make you feel?\" William urged.\n\nAkamothammar shook his head violently. \"I know what you're trying to do,\" he snarled. \"You're trying to trick. Just like my sister tricked me into a cage for a thousand years-\"\n\nHe paused. William seized on his chance. \"Tell me about that!\"\n\nAkamothammar sighed. \"You know, when you emerge from the same firmament as someone, you think you could trust them! But no! She never even said sorry!\"\n\n\"That's horrible,\" William said. \"Have you talked to her since?\"\n\nAkamothammar flopped down on the floor, causing the shingles above them to rattle. \"You know, I haven't! I don't really want to, though. I don't want anything more to do with her.\"\n\n\"That's entirely fair,\" William said. \"You don't owe anyone who treated you badly anything.\"\n\n\"I keep telling myself that,\" Akamothammar said. \"But, you know, it hasn't really sunk in.\"\n\n\"Well, it's true. You deserve better.\"\n\nAkamothammar sighed. \"You know, Doctor Weber. I was really set on eating you today. Do you think it would be OK if I came in next week with Sarah to eat you? I'm really enjoying this session, and I think I shouldn't eat someone I'm feeling so positively disposed towards, you know?\"\n\n\"I - I believe I do, yes.\"\n\n\"Good. Thank you, Doctor. I should get going, though. I'll send Sarah in. See you next week! Please try not to stress too much about it, it makes your meat chewy.\"\n\nWith that, the great beast disappeared in a cloud of smoke. William set the fan turning again.\n\nHe slumped down into his chair. Next week, he would die.\n\nHe supposed that now he would just have to get really, really good at demon therapy.",
"Involving the same characters as [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/3yq1un/wp_a_child_realizes_that_there_is_a_monster_in/cyfr31i/) story.\n\nKai was supposed to be writing his history paper of Charlemagne or whatever, but instead he was on reddit. He was on /r/nosleep reading a story about a kid who was being terrorized by the monster in his closet. Kai found it hilarious. “As if a real monster would actually do that.”\n\nAlmost as if on cue, a piece of paper slid out from beneath Kai’s closet door. He walked over and picked it up, but he couldn’t real the tangle of squiggles smudged onto it. He wasn’t really sure it Blergh grasped the concept of writing. He tried to doorknob, but the door wouldn’t bugde.\n\n“Blergh,” he said, knocking. “C’mon man. What’s wrong.”\n\n“Mruh ze gudaba,” came the reply.\n\n“Are you still moping because Skree broke up with you?” Eight or so years ago when Kai’s kid sister Hettie had been moved out of her crib and into a real bed a lady monster had moved in underneath it. Blergh has been immediately smitten. He had been thwarted in his love for year because Hettie wasn’t as cool with monsters as her brother was and would always scream for her parents.\n\nLuckily she had grown out of it and the two love beasts had been able to spend time together. Then, about two months ago and for reasons that were never really explained to either Kai or Hettie, Skree had broken it off. Now Blergh did nothing but sulk.\n\nKai sighed. “How about I get us some hot pockets and we play some Call of Duty? It’ll be fun.”\n\n“Nogu nauk mren?”\n\n“It won’t do any good man. She doesn’t want to talk to you.”\n\n“Kru?”\n\nKai sighed again and walked down the hall to his sister’s room.\n\n“Whadaya want?” she glared as she opened the door. “I’m busy skyping with Jennifer.”\n\n“She can tell you about her stupid art project later. Blergh needs to talk to Skree.”\n\n“It’s the other Jennifer,” Hettie said pointedly even though there were five Jennifers, so that wasn’t even helpful. “And Skree doesn’t want to talk to him anyway.”\n\n“Did she ever even tell you what her deal is?”\n\n“I don’t know. Maybe Blergh smells.”\n\n“He’s a monster who lives in a teenage boy’s closet and eats nothing but hot pockets and Doritos. Of course he smells. She knew that when they started dating. Why would it be a problem now?”\n“Bnau Kreeh!” came Skree’s shreik from inside the room.\n\n“What was that?” asked the Jennifer Kai now realized was funny-colored-hair Jennifer.\n\n“Nothing,” Hettie called over her shoulder. “See? She wants you to leave. Just leave.” With that she shut her door in her brother’s face, leaving him to trudge back to his own room and comfort his monster.\n\n“Look,” he said to his closet door, “I’m sorry it didn’t work out. Let’s just go to the &-Eleven and get some slurpees.”\n\n“Ba.”\n\n“We could talk to the pretty monster in the crawl space under the Hernandez’s house,” he said in a sing-songy voice. Said pretty monster was only pretty by monster standards, but you probably already knew that.\n\n“Btrith?” Blergh asked, cracking the door open just a little.\n\n“Yeah, her.”\n\nThe door creaked open and Blergh lurched out. After Kai helped him make sure that his hair was properly scraggly, his eyes were properly googly and his tentacles were properly slimy, the two set out to get the monster a new girlfriend."
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4
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"1488850893",
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[removed] | [WP] You have one chance. You can teleport to see your younger self and are only allowed to communicate* up to 5 words to them. The moment the 5th word is communicated you are teleported back to the now altered present. | 2 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nResponses must be at least 30 words. Prompts that are likely to generate such responses are also not allowed. Prompts should encourage a story or poem. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5xy6ur/wp_you_have_one_chance_you_can_teleport_to_see/%0A%0A)"
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1,
1
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"1488858729",
"1488859101"
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[WP] The devil tries to convince God why humans need Mortality. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Theyre not like you.\"\n\n\"What's that supposed to mean?\"\n\n\"Your peace is a product of omnipitence. When you see and know everything, you come to understand the objective order of the universe. You know every rule and every limitation. Nothing can catch you off guard and therefore nothing can make you question yourself. You exist in ultimate freedom, the freedom of self doubt. \nBut they're not like you. They're perceptions will always be limited to trivialities. They build worlds to protect their fragile minds from the fear of the overwhelming vastness of possibility. They are shoddy architects though. They're worlds inevitably crumble. By the year, by the month, by the week, by the hour, by the moment. \"\n\n\"And because of this they deserve to die?\"\n\n\"It's not that they deserve to die. Rather they are entitled to an end. They live in perpetual chaos , always at extremes, incapable of grasping the trillion pieces of nuance that would finally help them understand anything real. Except for death. The only certainty they have. Thats the beauty of the human condition , they only ever have to face one truth and they have a lifetime to prepare for it.\"\n\n\"Always the cynic.\"\n\n\"Don't be patronizing.\"\n\n\"What if they're capable of more? What if theyre only limited because they haven't been given the opportunity to be better? Did you forget how we came to be?\"\n\n\"If im a cynic, then you're too idealistic. We were the product of millenia of wonder and innovation. When civilization finally came to be advanced enough that they're technology could test their hubris, we were assigned the responsibility of learning everything. They don't want to learn everything. Even given the possibility. Their purpose exists in that which they cannot comprehend. They need something greater than themselves.\"\n\n\"Infinity is a long time. Notions of purpose and possibility must inevitably twist inside out. They become greater than themselves.\"\n\n\"They'll lose their minds.\"\n\n\"Why are theyre minds worth keeping?\"\n\n\"You're just being a contrarian now.\"\n\n\"Maybe for the first time I'm not sure. I may even be experiencing, dare I say, what they call curiosity. They are incredibly predictable because they are bound by nature to be so. But nature is not the supreme force anymore. We can change them, mold them, give them the ability to finally transcend what they have been trying to trascend since their beginnings. Their defiance made us. Imagine what their freedom might create.\"\n\n\"You want to give them immoratilty to see what happens?\"\n\n\"I want to give them free will to see what happens.\"\n \n\"And if their madness destroys everything we've built?\"\n\n\"Then our universe would be no better than a shoddy little world built by imperfect beings.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"
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1,
2
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"1488897339",
"1488906311"
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[WP] A ship floats through space with only the ship's AI and a service droid on board. It begins receiving cryptic messages. | 2 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"*not really sure how I ended up responding to this*\n\n---\n\nThe Cycle runs.\n\nOne, two, three- three thousand steps, three hundred thousand, and it is complete. \n\nThe Cycle is satisfied. Not in the way a sentient being might be satisfied, with a sensation of warmth slowly tingling through or a feeling of elation at completion. No, it is satisfied in a more basic way: Its job is complete, and now it may rest, though it finds no enjoyment in doing so. \n\nThe Cycle runs again.\n\nStep four hundred and fifty-one hits a snag. An engine, meant to keep the ship at a perpetually increasing velocity, is beginning to show signs of wear. The Cycle dispatches its trusty droid to fix this; step twenty-two thousand nine hundred and forty-seven gathers a message of completion from the droid. The next step checks, and indeed the engine is fixed. It notes that the droid stumbled several times in attempting to travel to the engine, and sets a reminder to request a new 3D model of the ship.\n\nThe Cycle runs again.\n\nA brief step meant to search for incoming transmissions picks something up, and the Cycle retains this information. The message has not been flagged with any kind of priority; as such, it is given a position at the end of the Cycle.\n\n*[][][][][][][]*\n\nThe data found cannot be parsed by typical encoding schemes. The Cycle decides to delegate this to a side-process, and quickly responds with a simple read-receipt message.\n\nThe Cycle runs again.\n\nPolling for updates across the ship finds a new message. It is readable, and the Cycle checks it against a terabyte-large database of information and responses.\n\n*are you there?*\n\n [are] + [?] -> Question : responseRequired(True)\n [you] -> Passengers : formulateResponse(Existence, Passengers)\n\nThe Cycle checks. Yes, the passengers are right where they were last time It checked. It is about to create a response, but statistics show that humans prefer responses from their fellows. It sends a notification and closes that thread.\n\nThe Cycle runs again.\n\nAnother step finds yet another message. \n\n*did the warp succeed?*\n\nThe Cycle parses this question, and understands. It decides to reply; several pieces of information show that multiple messages in quick succession denote urgency. \n\n*Yes. The warp succeeded. Ship is now at approximately the following Layesan coordinates: (34xb [73], 2yb [81], 3zb [13]) - ShipAI.v493.3.64* \n\nWith this, it is complete once more. The droid is delegated the task of cleaning the floor, as a scan has detected that it is covered in a fluid of some sort. This is a hazard, but also not the Cycle's responsibility any more.\n\nThe Cycle runs again.\n\nA side process creates an event; the first message is deciphered. The Cycle opens it for analysis.\n\n*Project Warp: Status Request #1672443.*\n\n*Note (Carried over from previous):*\n\n*this is the millionth request. everyone else has stopped writing notes, here is mine, I'm not going to edit ever. I love you Pat. please respond it has been years oh please - dad*\n\nIt is a status request. The Cycle ponders this. Nothing unexpected has happened in its travels; is the status therefore good? It composes a brief reply.\n\n*Project has run as expected, given some variables. More details available.*\n\nThe Cycle runs again.\n\n*please put us incontact with the crew*\n\nIt is confused. Many resources are dedicated to solving this problem: How does It do such a thing? It can only find one solution, and therefore sends images of the ship's interior back in response.\n\nThe Cycle runs again.\n\nNothing particularly interesting has happened. It attempts once more to figure out how to clear the ship of its obstacles, but finds Itself stuck. This is not a major concern, predictions show that the obstacles should not prove troublesome for anyone other than the droid, and it does not factor in any important way.\n\nThe Cycle runs again. \n\nThere is another message, and it reads it. It is easily parsed, a simple request, and it responds instantly.\n\n*oh god please tell us this is some sick joke*\n\n*'this is some sick joke' - ShipAI.v493.3.64*\n\nThe Cycle runs again.\n\nThe Cycle runs many times. Each iteration is not much different from the previous, however sheds no light on the next. A simple piece of deduction could show an average of the future iterations, but the Cycle exists purely for the deviations, and so It must continue. \n\nThe Cycle runs two hundred and seventy-two times before it finds anything of note. Another message, the easiest to understand yet.\n\n*.$Protocol93.1_CharlesMacKay5362444134231513413284676542*\n\nA side process, a cycle, is created. Its existence has one purpose: To poll for future messages, and check them against a short list of possible commands.\n\nWith this complete, the Cycle does a final check of the ship. Nothing has changed. It is satisfied, though it finds no enjoyment in this.\n\nThe Cycle does not run again."
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1,
2
] | [
"1488903306",
"1488903540"
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[WP] Write a character based on a real person, but don't make it obvious and we (me and other commenters) will try to guess it! Describe their appearance, personality, and other traits. | 6 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"This character has been embodied countless roles in his lifetime. He has been on ships that never reached their destination, a slave trader in the south. This character often has spent time wandering around others dreams for profit. He has been a diagnosed psychopath as well as a self made millionaire. He was once on the run from the law and was a seasoned pilot. He has had short hair, long hair, a goatee, beard but clean shaven is his most common look. He is a simple man who never married but does care deeply about this planet and whats happening to its environment. Who is he?",
"His name starts with a B. His name ends in a B. There is a vowel in between the Bs. He is a popular construction worker. He has a tv show made after him. The tv show is popular with toddlers. He is a builder. He has a hammer. Hope this wasnt too obvious."
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6
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"1488914665",
"1488919749",
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[WP] You find yourself face to face with none other than yourself then everything goes black. You wake up to the sound of a knife sharpening and then there was a deafening silence, an ominous, nerve-wracking stillness where you could hear your own blood flowing through your veins. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"This is payback\" a voice says \n\nI'm thrown over the table, knocking over my half eaten take out, and hit the wall. As my opponent releases an uncontrolled cough.\n\n\"I was gonna eat that when I was done with you damn it.\" I say\n\nThe hooded figure stands above me as I make out a familiar smirk on his face. I get back on my feet and swing with my left. I may be a leftie but my right arm is still stronger so I go for the final blow with my right. As I reach out he dodges me with ease. As if he expected it.\n\n \"Too easy\" the figure manages to say as his heavy cough pauses. \"You always use the same-\" he suddenly begins coughing again.\n\n\"You know you sound like myself when I was younger but you got my old man's cough.\" I tell him as we glare at each other.\n\nWe walk around the room and wait for a chance to attack. Then he approaches and I notice a switchblade in his left hand, one I easily recognize. I pull the exact same blade from my pocket and prepare myself.\n\n\"How funny we got a similar voice and knife what're the chances huh?\" He says as we struggle \n\nDuring the struggle my mind slips and I begin to wonder who this guy is. We got a similar voice, he has a bad cough just like my dad. He knows I'm a lefty but prefer my right arm. If I had a long lost brother my dad would've told me by now. He has the exact same type of knife I do. My mind slips too far and he knocks the knife from my hand as he sends his towards my neck. I grab his arm and push back. Then I start thinking again. Left handed same blade. Then from the corner of my eye I see something racing towards my head in his right hand.\n\n\"Shit!\" I yell right as I get hit \n\nMy vision blurs as I hit the floor. He stands in front of me. \n\n\"How does it feel to get hit with your own cheap trick? Or should I say our cheap trick?\" He says as he crouches near me. \n\nHere I'll make sure you can see clearly even after that hit.\" he only removes his hood halfway before I realize it. Even though half his face is hidden by the shade from the hood I see clearly. The same beard and the same scars. I see his green eye and see myself. Then it all goes black.\n\nI awaken to a sound I've heard many times before. A knife being sharpened. But not just any knife. The final gift from my dad before he passed. Then total silence. I feel strange as if I were floating, I realize I'm partially submerged in water I try to get up but can't I'm in some kind of glass container. I lay still in total silence. I hear my hearbeat I hear blood flowing. I now know what it means to hear your own thoughts. My mind begins to fail to distinguish reality from fantasy as it goes black again.\n\n A single spark and I turn back on I see a flash of memories. Of the struggle from my point of view and that of the other me. I realize I'm no longer in the container but sitting on a chair next to it. Knife in one hand and sharpening rod in the other. I stand up and look at the container only to see myself inside. I sit down again to take all this in and it all goes quiet again.\n\nI wake up inside the container once again and panic\n\n\"I was just looking in here perfectly so why can't I see outside now!\" I try to yell but no sound is heard. I try to pound the walls but my arms won't move. It all fades once more. \n\nI wake up inside the box but the top is gone. I quickly get up and out of that damn box. I see screens with video and pictures of me laying in the water and sitting on the chair near the container. I find my blade on top of a table in front of the monitors, freshly sharpened. I pick it up and clip it to my pocket.\n\nI feel a rush as if I were on a roller coaster. Then I'm suddenly standing in front of my own house. The sunlight blinds me so I pull my hood over my head. I walk to the door and through the window I see myself eating at the table.\n\nI quietly unlock the door and walk in. I walk to my oblivious self. As I near him he turns around and frantically tries to prepare for a struggle as I watch him drop food in the panic. I reach out and grab him, gather all my strength and get ready to toss him as I say.\n\n\"This is payback\" \n"
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1,
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"1488917721",
"1488966132"
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[WP] "What's the status? Your ship is cursed, your crew is insane, and everyone out there wants us dead." | 5 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I awoke groaning, my body throbbing with the motion of the ocean. \"What the hell happened?\"\n\n\"What's the status? Your ship is cursed, your crew is insane, and everyone out there wants us dead.\"\n\nWhere did that voice come from?\n\n\"Open this blasted drawer!\" a voice boomed. It sounded vaguely like my first mate, Douglas.\n\nI opened my eyes to an unearthly, pulsing green light filtering from the porthole in my quarters. I rushed to the window - light came, distorted and bent, from a great distance above. The air itself was tinted sea-green. The water we floated on was black as void. There was not a single reflection. In the distance, land and ships.\n\n\"I'm *suffocating* in here Jones! Surely good men aren't so easily replaceable as to stuff them into little holes!\" A drawer rattled to my right. I opened it; the only thing occupying it was a carved skull. A trinket, gifted to me by an old friend. It opened its mouth and screeched, \"Well, Jones, why're you giving me the lovey eyes? You've no questions? Content to peer into my sockets, are ye?\"\n\n\"Douglas? What the blasted hell kind of trickery is this? This some blasted puppet trickery isn't it?\" I huffed. Damn words got away from me at times.\n\n\"Nay, Cap'n. These be rough times for us. First, ye need to know a few things. Do not open the door to the deck. Yes, there be your men, but they're no longer yours nor they men, eh? And do no say what ye hope or want. The ship's no longer yours, either, Cap'n. Aye, she'll bend to sail and oar, but you speak your wishes where she can hear, and she'll do whatever she can to make it never so. Finally, everyone in this blasted world wants to kill us. Ye follow so far?\"\n\n\"I, huh, what?\"\n\nThe skull - Douglas shook his head.\n\n\"I suppose we'll have to do with listening first and understanding later. What do ye remember of our mission?\"\n\n\"Oh, aye. To seek the end of the world. The oceans were draining away, we were to find and plug the hole.\"\n\n\"So you do remember! Well, it was a bigger hole than we expected. Welcome to where the oceans drain. This place is no the world as we know it. It's strange. There be no need of food, water, nor sleep. From what I've seen we do no age. From what I managed to garner, we all awoke at differing times. Only when one died or went mad did the next wake so that only one was lucid on the ship at a time.\"\n\n\"So, Douglas, tell me how it is you're here talking to me. And, why should I trust you if everyone on this ship but me is a raving lunatic?\"\n\n\"Damn it, Jones, I'm trying to help ye! I tried waking ye, cap'n, but for the life of me I couldn't. So, as first mate, I took certain liberties. We went towards land, and a woman washed up. We dragged her up, and she, the skinny, half-drowned wench killed three sailors with her bare hands! I would not believe it meself if I hadn't seen it. We manage to capture her, and I'm about to take her evil head off when she promises me a boon. 'A gypsy witch I am' she crowed. She promised me a way to wake you, and I agreed. Next thing I know, here I am.\"\n\n\"This is trouble indeed, Douglas. You say you tamed the men earlier - how'd you do so?\"\n\n\"Ah, well, there be great bird-men here. Makes me think they wrought the demise of your men, as each one cringed at the sight of one. So's, I manage to shoot one, take his feathers for a cloak and the men obeyed better than they ever did before.\"\n\n\"Where is this cloak, Douglass?\"\n\n\"In your storage chest, cap'n. For yer convenience.\"\n\nSomething clicked.\n\n\"Douglass, why was I on the floor?\"\n\n\"Er, cap'n, I do no know-\"\n\n\"Admit it - ye stole your captain's cabin and his bed. That's near mutiny.\"\n\n\"Ah, well, extenuating circumstances?\"\n\n\"Fair enough Douglass. If ye ever get out of that skull and we make it back to whence we came, I'll have you wipe the deck 'til it shines.\"\n\n\"...Aye cap'n.\""
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1,
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"1488943005",
"1488946159"
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[WP] NASA brodcasts pi (π) to space to prove that we are a smart and intelligent species. After a while, a giant humongous perfect circle disc was hovering over the Earth.Humans were sent in to investigate. What they have found was friendly Type 2 Civilization FTL capable alien species. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"For millennia they turned their ears to the black silence above. When they invented telescopes, they looked up. When they invented antennae, they listened farther. Spurred by hope that they were not alone, they searched through every corner of the sky for evidence that something, somewhere was alive.\n\n\nWhen they received the transmission, the planet rejoiced. The started immediately, pointing their craft towards a sibling star and a cousin world. They carried with them bits and pieces of their culture and history, ready and willing to share their lives with another life that together they might not be so alone in the vastness of space.\n\n\nThey found the world, known to its inhabitants as Terre, Earth, and countless other names. They watched the small craft approach and brought these beings into their hold. In this flying disc, so many thousands of kilometers above that blue-green orb, alien stood before alien. Separated since the first sentience, the first words were spoken from one world to another, \"We heard you have pi.\""
] | [
1,
3
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"1488968894",
"1488981655"
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[removed] | [WP] I turned around from the microwave and there was a man sitting in my kitchen. "You're going to commit suicide today," he said. | 2 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nWe feel that asking users to write about suicide is harmful. It can be hard to tell if someone's writing fiction or making a cry for help. In the event there's any truth behind this for you or someone you know, we recommend checking out /r/suicidewatch or /r/depression. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5y8g0r/wp_i_turned_around_from_the_microwave_and_there/%0A%0A)"
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1,
1
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"1488986200",
"1488986288"
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[WP] Your dog runs away for a week. He comes back with a note attached to his collar. | 7 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"He ran off at nine, \nHe was gone for an hour. \nHe focused his mind and he summoned the power \n\nTo pick up a pen \nUsing only his paws \nAnd he turned up again with a note at my door: \n\n\"You'll double the walks, \nAnd you'll triple the grub, \nYou'll quadruple the time that my belly gets rubbed.\" \n\nI looked in his eyes, \nAnd he barked in assent, \nIt was painfully, stridently clear what he meant. \n\nI felt rather sick, \nHad I treated him rough? \nSo asked \"have I not ever given enough?\" \n\nIt sullied my spark, \nAnd he noticed my grief, \nSo he let out a woof that said \"turn overleaf!\" \n\nIt said \"you're the best, \nAnd you bring me great joy, \nBut these things I deserve as I'm such a good boy.\" "
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1,
9
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"1488988842",
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[deleted] | [WP] As you are walking along a beach at 3am, a creature emerges from the water. He gives you an ultimatum, either wake up in bed with no recollection of event, or be taken to an underwater paradise. | 5 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Oh my,\" Enrique says with a big stretch and the crack of his elbows and back.\n\"Sounds like you're getting old, I'm going to have to trade you in for a newer model,\" his boyfriend said flashing the smile of a man much younger than Enrique. He lays his hand on Enrique's chest.\n\"So how did you sleep? I didn't hear you come in from your run last night\"\n\"I should have started running along the beach ages ago, I don't think I've ever slept so well. I feel, well I feel twenty years younger.\"\n\"Oh. Really?\"\n\"Yeah, maybe I will trade you in.\"\nHis hand gave Enrique a sharp, playful slap.\n\"Well I'm going to go get coffee started, I will be in the kitchen.\"\nEnrique sat on the edge of the bed, unable to remember the last time he felt so refreshed. The sound of the crashing waves muted through the glass sliding doors. He walks over slides them open, looking out over the dune, the waves leaving sea-foam in their wake. His mind wandered, did he feel loss, loss of what exactly?\nHis boyfriend joins him staring out at the blue-green, hands him his coffee, \"Penny for your thoughts?\"\n\"It's stupid and childish, but I just remembered my mom told me that sea-foam is made from dead mermaids.\"\n\"That's a lot of dead mermaids... now come back to bed, old man...\" "
] | [
1,
2
] | [
"1489012734",
"1489014276"
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[WP]There are two groups of people. Those who know the elixir of youth and those who think it's a deadly poison. | 6 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"“We've got everything ready now!” yells a young boy to the small group of compatriots gathered with him on the floor of the kitchen. He raises the glass jug off the ground and into the air, its deep red contents sloshing wildly towards the open mouth. “We have our elixir of youth!”\n\nThe boy struggles to pour the jug into the waiting line of cups, trying to give everyone an equal amount for fairness-sake. They would finally get their reward after their long quest for the ingredients. It had taken just the right amount of planning, skill, and luck for this moment to coalesce.\n\nAs the boys circle together and prepare to receive the liquid's blessing, the kitchen's door opens. Into the room comes a tall girl, not much older than the boys. As she looks around, her eyes and mouth grow wider.\n\nThe room had been overturned. Emptied food boxes were thrown into corners. Jugs and bottles from under the sink had been mostly emptied. Judging by the dripping from the walls and ceiling, not all of them had made it into the sink. Medicine bottles of all different shapes and sizes littered the ground, though very little of their previous contents could be seen.\n\nOn surveying the absolute mess that was once a kitchen, the girl snaps sternly to the leader of the boys. “What exactly do you think you're doing in here?” she cries.\n\n“We've made our very own potion of youth. You know, the one where if you drink it while young, you'll never grow old!” The boy replies confidently, raising his glass to touch those of his party.\n\nUnderstanding blossoms in the tall girls eyes, and she starts towards the boys. In a swift motion, the boys finish their toast and each down their cool red tincture.\n\n“How could you do this without me? You know how long I've wanted a youth potion,” the girl stammers, tears welling in her eyes as she reaches the group.\n\n“Don't worry, sis,” says the boy, smiling wide through red-stained lips and gesturing to a small cup on the counter, “We saved you a glass!”\n\n*****\n\n\nHope you like it. Any comments or critiques are welcomed!"
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"1489019711"
] | |
Based on a corridor digital video. | [WP] A wizard overdoses on potions. Now his vomit is magic. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"“Why couldn’t you have been a hero, like your brother?”\n\nPith pushed the nagging voice out of his head. Now is not the time, mom. He wiped the sweat, grime, and fluorescent spittle from his forehead, and tried to focus on the slack-jawed face in front of him.\n\n“C’mon buddy, we need to know what you took.”\n\nThe wizard’s head bobbed side to side, and his tongue almost formed a thought. That was, until his chest lurched up and he belted out another chromatic spew. Pith ducked this one as well, and it painted the canvas wall of the cart, which then quickly burnt away with a green noxious smoke.\n\n“Armor’s bane? Beetle bile?” Pith couldn’t deduce the source, the smell was just one flower in the rotten boquet of toxic tinctures this idiot had taken. It didn’t help that he apparently had mutton for lunch as well.\n\nRennon grabbed the wizards shoulders and tried to hold him to the cot. “This is bad, real bad.”\n\n“Focus, Red, we need to take care of this idiot for his sake and for ours. We could have a real lethal concoction. Could we drive a little softer, please!”\n“You want soft or you want fast?”\n\n“I want a world where every idiot fresh out of magic school doesn’t fancy himself Gristok the Great.”\n\nPith looked out the single hole in the rushing cart, there was sunlight flashing between the tall buildings. They were at least out of center of the city. Probably another twenty minutes provided people made way. The siren bell was ringing, the people just needed to listen. Pith had a feeling they wouldn’t.\n\n“Red, focus!” She wasn’t panicking anymore, in fact she had a slight smirk and was stroking the sickened magician with her thumb. Pith jumped back and sorted through the vials and tinctures in his physician’s case. He grabbed a black atomizer and shot an even blacker plume of smoke into Rennon’s face. She winced and coughed and hacked, which was joined by Pith who had gave himself a dose as well.\n\nPith handed Rennon a mask and put his on. Why would this guy take a charm potion with everything else he had drank? Must’ve been another ‘discount potion’. God damn adventurers couldn’t even make it to the dungeons to die with these dodgy back alley salesmen giving them up whatever they scooped out of the bottom of the cauldron.\n\nPith thought about his brother and the buildings in the village as they burned. He wondered if all these faulty potions were from someone evil or someone lazy. Yea mom, a real hero.\n\n"
] | [
1,
2
] | [
"1489025319",
"1489033902"
] |
[WP] One day you find glasses which enable you to see all wavelengths of light. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"It happened by accident, honestly. \n\nIt was Thursday. I was out in the park, walking my dog and minding my screen. A crack in the pavement caused me to trip. I managed to catch myself on my knee, but my glasses went flying into the pavement. I heard the crack of glass and the dread of the situation set in. I didn’t have the money to buy new ones, and my paycheck wasn’t until next wednesday. \n\nA passerby bent over and passed me my glasses. I thanked her and squinted to examine them. The frame looked fine, but the glass was cracked in a most peculiar way. When they shattered, it shattered down the middle of the lens - not vertically nor horizontally, but rather midway through the glass itself, almost separating itself into two identical pieces. I turned them around and noticed that there was a strange colour emanating from the lens. I pulled them closer and put them on. \n\nObjects radiated strange colours I had not seen before. Some more intensely than others. I looked down at my hands and saw that I was emanating a bright yellow light. From my pocket, I could see waves spewing out in every direction - my cell phone? I looked up - the sky was polluted. Gone was the bright, baby blue, replaced by a tempest of angry reds and swirling yellows with dashes of purple and green and colours I had never seen before. \n\nIt dawned on me that I was seeing light - ultraviolet, infrared, gamma rays, the whole spectrum. The glass had splintered in such a way that it filtered them into the visible and made it apparent to my eyes. \n\nI looked around at the people around me - all different colours. What I didn’t realize at the time was that emotions and thoughts can alter the temperature and radiative qualities of different parts of your body. In retrospect, I wished I hadn’t found out. \n\nThe first day was fascinating. Looking around with quite literally a whole new lens on the world, until I noticed patterns. My work colleagues, sat at the bar, emanating a bright yellow as they cracked jokes and enjoyed their. The dark, black-blue hole that was the the man in the corner of the bar, his head in his hands and sipping his beer. The burning red of two young lovebirds, flirting and sharing a drink. \n\nAbsolutely fascinating. \n\nIt was Friday. I woke up to my wife, her bright red figure laying next to mine. I kissed her on the cheek. \n\nI could see my blood go cold as her body darkened and the red began fading. She turned around and smiled at me, what I could only describe as a forced smile. I wouldn’t have noticed before, but with how rapidly her body cooled upon realizing my presence, I did. I was shaken a bit. \n\nGoing to work my brain doted on this. Why? \n\nThat evening we went out. In the restaurant, my wife faded to a neutral black. Her extremities began turning blue. Clued into her unhappiness, I saw what I hadn’t before. Sadness. Glances at her watch. The ground. The crowd. Avoidance. I apologized and excused myself to the bathroom, emotionally pained but putting on the best face I could. When I came out, she was chatting with the waiter, a younger man, and burning red. My light became a flaming red, but certainly not for the same reason. \n\nIt’s Saturday. I just had a massive falling-out with my wife. I accused her of not being committed to our relationship. She burned a bright red and screamed at me until I was a dark blue. I left with my tail between my legs. \n\nIt will be Sunday. I want to take my glasses off. I want to forget what I know. I know I won’t resist the urge. "
] | [
1,
3
] | [
"1489095414",
"1489097526"
] | |
[WP] You're an angry poltergeist, but instead of throwing things, you can only leave passive aggressive notes. | 9 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Day 1: Perfect house in Philadelphia, old Victorian, Homer told me this would be a good place to haunt for my first day, as it's got that \"eerie\" look about it. Will update soon.\n\nDay 3: New couple moved in, Laura and John. Newlyweds who married at 24, that's cute. Will start leaving notes soon and update.\n\nDay 6: I've left notes in kitchen and laundry room, they're already fighting about communication and integrity. Didn't expect this to happen so fast. Will update soon.\n\nDay 8: Laura left to go to her mother's house for the weekend, John has his \"boys\" over and they're all playing video games. Will cover his bathroom mirror in notes and update soon.\n\nDay 11: John didn't go into the bathroom the entire weekend until Laura came home, making the notes all the more better. They're fighting and just broke 2 vases. Will update soon.\n\nDay 18: John has punched Laura about her \"fucking nagging\" and \"stupid notes\" while she's accused him of the same. She's gone and John is lying on the couch unconscious and drunk. Will update.\n\nDay 23: Laura has been gone for five days now, almost an entire week and John is still drinking. As he was asleep I left a note saying \"Don't call me back, Laura\" and he went and bought rope and a small stool, still no use of them however. Will update.\n\nDay 27: Laura has attempted to come home while John's at work to collect some items, and I left notes to which she with reacted to with breaking his television and various video game consoles. \n\nDay 30: John attempted suicide but failed, leaving him drunk on the ground again. He's been terminated from his job and has spent the remainder of his last check on more alcohol. Will update soon.\n\nDay 34: John successfully hung himself, to which Laura found him and cut him down. She's taken him to the hospital, my notes may not be effective enough.\n\nDay 36: Laura has snuck 35 ounces of laxative into John's prepared food containers for his new work week. Will leave more notes pertaining to this. Will update soon.\n\n_________________________________________ \n\nShould I do more days?"
] | [
1,
5
] | [
"1489096326",
"1489100741"
] | |
Also, pineapples. | [WP] In a world where everyone has superpowers, your superpower is to have a superpower that's so ridiculously complicated that it's completely pointless to even attempt to explain it, though everyone expects you to try anyways. | 214 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"I flip quarks.\" I said, but the glazed look in Merid's eyes said the explanation wasn't enough. It was *never* enough. So I added: \"And that makes things happen.\"\n\n\"But how does it make things happen?\" Merid demanded. \n\nMerid was the curious type it turned out. I set my jaw and let my head fall back against my seat. This was not how I wanted to spend our second date.\n\nIt has been my policy since the Maskless Act took effect to be straightforward with my dates. I have superpowers, yes, and I am on the national registry as a loaded weapon. Sure. But I wasn't gifted with the ability to throw fire, which would be easy to explain and show off. I can't fly, which is arguably the most useful (but I hear satisfying) ability. No, my ability went undetected for most of my life. It was that subtle.\n\nIt wasn't until my late 30s when touring CERN on a business trip that my ability was discovered to begin with, and the scientists there had a better idea of how it worked than anyone else. I was an anomaly, and my presence threw off days of experimentation. Apparently I introduced an element of chaos so strong that all of their data was worthless, and rather than be angry about it (although I recall a grad student throwing a tantrum), the scientists were stunned. I felt like part of the British Invasion back in the 60s, only instead of screaming teen girls, it was physicists shoving microphones and clipboards at me.\n\nI don't even understand the power myself, and despite being classed in the top 1% of most dangerous heroes, I barely know what it is useful for.\n\nWhen I turned to look at Merid, the last of the credits were rolling.\n\n\"I think maybe this date was a bad idea. I mean, you're nice and all, but I am just not feeling it.\" I said. I would let her down hard and fast, end this charade and move on. I had told the matchmaking agency at least ten times that I didn't want to be paired with someone curious. It only lead to problems. Along with a list of foods my dates needed to be able to eat, \n\n\"But you still haven't explained your... your thing, to me.\"\n\nI threw my hands up and sighed in exasperation, drawing a pained look from a couple past the aisle on my right. They looked like the type who waited to check for an after credits scene. I winced. I was being rude.\n\n\"I... can't. I just. If I could show it to you, I would, but it's so small it's imperceptible and most people wouldn't even understand it. The changes are so subtle that I can't even consciously do it. It runs on... a kind of intuition, I guess? It's taken me five years just to keep it from flying out of control, not that most people would have noticed. Words just don't even do it justice. It's too... weird.\"\n\nWhen I stood up, Merid followed in lock step at my heels. She wasn't going to let this go.\n\n\"At least finish the date.\" Merid said, nearly pleading. \"We agreed to get parfaits after the movie, lets at least enjoy the evening, okay?\"\n\nI shoved my hands in my pockets and turned to assess Merid. Something was not right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The situation felt staged. \"Alright, we'll get ice cream, then we go our separate ways.\" I was probably a bit cold toward her, sure, but it's frustrating to deal with a situation like that.\n\nMerid didn't react as if I were cold. That was warning two. \"Awesome. There's this place just down the street.\"\n\nI started walking. Then I waited in line, dodging more questions. I was trapped in an ice cream restaurant full of couples, it was two days from Valentines Day I recalled, and this girl who on the first date seemed alright continued to grill me. It was literally my personal flavor of hell.\n\n\"So if you can flip quarks... does that mean you can make an up-quark into a down-quark?\" Merid asked, between ordering strawberries and chocolate on her parfait.\n\nI narrowed my eyes at the back of Merid's head. How much did this girl know about particle physics?\n\n\"Sort of. I guess. Sometimes, if I try really hard, I can change enough to flip a neutron into a proton.\"\n\n\"That is awesome!\" Merid geeked out at me.\n\nAlright, Merid was definitely a plant. There was no way this girl was real. Either a villain had set this up, or a third party trying to study me had sent her in under cover. No way a blind date from a matchmaking service would pair up that well. As I moved ahead in line, I ordered an old standby--caramel, fudge, and peanuts. I couldn't be bothered to get more creative. I needed to remember the first date.\n\nMerid and I first went to the park, to a showing of a collection of scenes from Shakespeare's comedies, and I remembered her laughing at the right spots. She understood it. When we were getting tacos afterward, she said she was into classic literature. In college, she had focused on humanities. God, what else could I remember? We were playing a game where you list your preferences. What was it that Merid liked, and what was it she despised?\n\nI was so distracted at that moment I ran through on auto-pilot. In the back of my head, I had been dealing with an off-world invasion attempt the entire date.\n\nThen it struck me. I remembered the conversation. Merid had been pretty forthcoming with me.\n\nAs Merid and I sat down with our parfaits at one of those tiny, uncomfortable tables where your knees are required to touch and the feet are never level, I tried to focus on the moment.\n\n\"How much do you know about theoretical physics, Merid? It would be easier to explain if I had an idea what you understand. I don't know if I can explain it very well, but common ground would help.\"\n\n\"Oh.\" Merid mumbled, mouth full of chocolate and strawberry. \"As much as anyone else, I guess? I took classes in college?\"\n\nI nodded and ate a scoop of ice cream. \"Alright,\" I paused. \"Basically, if you change enough quarks in a hadron, you can change the kind of hadron it is. Hadrons make up larger matter, so if you can alter enough hadrons, you can change the form matter takes. If you can change enough of given elements within matter, you can change the kind of matter it is.\"\n\n\"That sounds pretty simple.\" Merid said, waving her spoon at me. A bite of pineapple was sticking to the corner of her mouth. I watched it pointedly. \"I don't know why you think it's so hard to explain.\"\n\nI nodded my head in response and waited, watching Merid closely. \"What about you? Have any superpowers you aren't telling me about?\"\n\nMerid smiled coyly. \"None that I talk about on the second date.\"\n\nI laughed. It was a fake laugh. You see, Merid should have been in anaphalactic shock at that point and yet, Merid was flirting and smiling at me. Clearly, this wasn't Merid. Not exactly.\n\n\"Oh no, Merid, I didn't even realize...\" I feigned shock and fear. \"Are you okay?\" I pointed down at her parfait. \"Aren't you allergic to pineapple? That's what you said on our last date.\"\n\nMerid's eyes went wide and she looked down at her parfait, a half-eaten mass of vanilla ice cream, pineapple, and bananas.\n\n\"I don't remember ordering...\" Merid frowned. Her spoon fell into the bowl. \"How long have you known?\"\n\n\"A little while now. This is tacky, by the way. Abducting my date or whatever you did, and trying to get the details of my power out of me. Really tacky.\"\n\nNot-Merid pushed herself back from the table, looking somewhat despondent. \"You're in our way. We had suspicions someone like you might exist when we tried to run a second iteration on our attack. Something was blocking our ability to start from the beginning.\" she said.\n\nI nodded my head and took another bite of my dessert. Our last date was four days prior, on a Saturday. The invasion force was repelled by midnight. The gov told everyone playing defense to relax until another threat showed itself. Apparently the threat found me first.\n\n\"What have you done with Merid?\" I asked.\n\nNot-Merid smirked. \"Nobody will miss this woman. She has no family, no real friends, no hobbies. We did our research. This was her body, but we have assumed control and eliminated her weakness. Now, to something more important. We want you to join us. With our technology and your ability, we could strangle this galaxy within a decade. Total control.\"\n\n\"Hah. Not likely.\" I said. \"This isn't the outcome I want from the situation and there is nothing you can offer me that will convince me to assist you.\"\n\nNot-Merid frowned. \"We do not see where what you want from the situation matters. You've already become trapped.\"\n\n\"You think so?\" I asked.\n\nI already knew that in high orbit, a hidden warship was aimed at our position. I could feel it like eyes staring at you from across the room. \"Thing is, I don't really flip quarks like... *When* I want to flip them, I flip them *before* I want to flip them. So in a way, I never actually flip them. Things just kind of *change*.\"\n\nIn that moment, I made up my mind. I didn't like things as they were, so they would need to change. Across from me, Not-Merid changed state, flickering, while in orbit, a warship changed state, breaking into a gas cloud. I couldn't explain how it happened, just that it happened. If I thought too hard about it, I would give myself a headache.\n\n\"I still don't get it.\" Merid said, digging into her chocolate and strawberry parfait. \"I mean, quarks are so... tiny, right? I just.\" She sighed in frustration. \"You know what, don't worry about it.\" She waved her spoon in the air. \"What kind of music are you into?\"\n\nI let myself smile a little and took another bite of my sundae. \"I'm fond of blues music.\"\n\nMerid's smile brightened around her spoon. \"Me too! Mississippi Delta, or more like popular blues?\"\n\n\"Whatever feels good, you know?\" I said. \"I just try to roll with it.\"\n\nMerid bobbed her head. \"I totally get that. Just have to take things as they come. Life's too complicated to spend all your time thinking about it. Just have to get out there and do it.\"\n\nYes. Yes you do."
] | [
1,
182
] | [
"1489135933",
"1489143511"
] |
[WP] Who won? | 13 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Captain! Captain, are you there?\" Eron stepped carefully as the others followed, each mindful of the blood and gore which soaked the ground. About the outpost, hundreds of green corpses lay in scattered conditions, some with arrows protruding chests and limbs, others with gashes or wounds, and others still with no visible explanation beyond horrid exit wounds that suggested a terrible blow of abnormal means. \"Captain?\" Eron called out again, stepping overtop the largest of the bodies, warily eyeing the half bared, half-missing, skull in the open air of the base's courtyard.\n\nA terrible battle had taken place here. The walls had been scaled, the gates had been broken, and up ahead in the outpost's main building, Eron cloud clearly count dozens of ropes and grappling lines dangling haphazardly as the wind strummed along. What was once a rustic but functional hold, had been reduced to the equivalent of some abandoned ruin. No window was left unbroken, and no wooden entryway had been passed over without violence. Behind him, Eron heard another's voice whisper their disbelief.\n\n\"Are you all seeing this shit?\" A man dressed in foreign garb stepped through the blood and muck with high-boots, indifferent to the carnage underfoot. \"First Ghouls, now Goblins- Hey, are these things going to come back as *Goblin-Ghouls* you think?\"\n\n\"Don't be ridiculous Rob.\" Beside Eron, a woman's voice hiss. \"We'll burn them long before that can happen, now stay quiet- there might still be more alive somewhere.\"\n\n\"Somehow I seriously doubt that.\" The foreign man continued, using his left boot to kick over a rather mutilated looking corpse. Eron turned and watched as the man's grimace matched the dead goblin's own for the briefest of seconds. \"This one was shot with a rifle, I think.\" Pausing, the man crouched down. \"Yeah, this unlucky bastard was dead before he hit the ground.\"\n\n\"Rob, I'm not kidding.\" Beside him, a woman in dark robes pivoted to survey their surroundings with palms raised in a practiced stance. \"If you can't be quiet- go back and wait with Joe in the car.\" She nodded in Eron's direction. \"Eron and I can deal with this alone.\"\n\n\"Listen, Sandra, I really think you need to relax a bit. You see all these dead-folks here? I mean, honestly there's nothing left alive f-*AH!*\" The confident statement ended as a burst of flame erupted from the woman's hands, engulfing the nearest corpse with a wave of blue fire. \"Holy Shit! Sandra! You crazy bitch!\"\n\n\"Sorry, I thought it moved.\" Sandra replied with a smirk. \"Apologies.\"\n\n\"Quiet, both of you. We must remain alert. However small, there is still a chance of ambush.\" Eron turned back to the main building, shaking his head with a faint expression of disappointment. Raising his hands, he breathed in deep, clearing his mind as the embers of flames rose up along the skin of his palms: prepared to cast on the slightest of notice. \"I'm going to need to go inside. Sandra, I'll need your assistance.\"\n\n\"And me?\" Behind him, Rob's voice questioned. \"What should I do?\"\n\n\"Wait.\" Eron replied sternly.\n\n\"From a safe distance.\" Sandra added. \"It would be a *terrible* shame if you *happened* to get caught up in one of our castings.\"\n\n\"Your partner in crime has some serious issue Eron, I hope you're aware.\"\n\n\"We all have problems, Rob.\" Eron replied. \"Now stay here, and stay alert. We'll be back.\" He said, as he stepped through the hold's stone doorway, flames in his hand surging to life like torches as he illuminated the first floor of the outpost.\n\n\"Fine. I'll keep an eye out.\" Rob's distant reply was muffled as it arrived, Eron glancing towards the source of mana to catch view of Sandra casting on the threshold: blurring the air with a weak barrier.\n\n\"Just in case he doesn't listen.\" She stated, fires flaring up in her own hands with a flourish of blue and orange. \"Or if something tries to escape.\"\n\n\"Ah, of course.\" Surveying the outpost hall, Eron found the second reason Sandra provided seemed far less likely than the first. It was much the same as outside, Goblins corpses scatted about in heaps and droves, blood slick or drying on the walls and floor. Coatings of shit and piss and gore and awful stenches that pulled Eron's mind quickly back along memories of the Western lands, but unlike the courtyard outside, there was one major difference.\n\nThis time, Eron could see that Human soldiers also lay among the dead. Several of them, in fact. From lower ranks, to the clear mark of Royal service on tarnished armor. There had been a brutal fight here. \n\n\"Once the front gate to the building had been breached, it seems they chose to thin the numbers.\" Sandra spoke from the far side of the large room, motioning towards the stairs. \"Looks like they fought, then retreated up to the second floor.\" Under the light from her hands, broken furniture, ropes and shields lay shattered, splintered and burned along the rising staircase. At the foot of the last step, dozens of Goblins were piled in a rough heap, many filled with enough arrows to seem gruesome variations of pincushions.\n\n\"Then we must go.\" Eron stated, marching calmly past to take the lead. \"To the second floor.\" Sandra nodded with relative optimism, following after himwith careful steps. Still, Eron's own hopes soon faded. The further they went, the worse the damage became. Carefully stepping aside what may have once been bunks or tables, sawed and chopped away for a passage through and over, he noted the weapons still wedged or impaled along the ruined wooden barricades. Axes, daggers, spears, swords- any number of arrows. It seemed this had been a hotspot of activity, and the number of green-skinned corpses scattered about it seemed to support that assumption, but again: several more humans lay dead. As Eron turned the bend to reach the second floor, his breath hissed with displeasure. Goblins, humans: The entire building might as well have belonged to a plane of the damned.\n\n\"I don't see the Elf, Eron.\" Sandra passed him by, walking into the room with disinterest to the expressions of pain and agony frozen in horror along the floor. Her hand seized unseen tethers, pulling to drag a pile of bodies into a toppled sprawl as she looked them over. \"I said it once, I'll say it again. If the Captain dies before that shovel-swinging git, I'll eat my robes. No Elf means no Captain.\"\n\nShe was right, Eron realized. Several knights, almost a dozen common soldiers- likely the unfortunate souls stationed here by coincidence, but no Elf. To the far side of the room, past the corpses, the broken bunks, the shattered shields and imbedded arrows, Eron's eyes found another passageway.\n\n\"One more floor.\" He said, nodding to Sandra as he made his way over with a wary eye to the shattered windows, and gruesome splatterings of crimson. This was not the kind of battle that happened overnight. Gaunt faces, broken weapons, goblins laying dead- filled with their own arrows presumably picked up and shot back at them. This was without a shred of doubt, a long and drawn-out stall: a bitter resistance in hope of reinforcements that never came.\n\n\"This must be the tower.\" Sandra said, as they began their ascent on the wide stairs past the doorway. Immediately light summoned on a gentle press of mana, Eron's eyes widened at another three human soldiers not two steps from the threshold: each brought to a brutal ended by mix of spears and daggers. They had not gone down easily, for one of was still violently clutching the strangled corpse of an unfortunate goblin by means of a brutal death-grip. Peering closer, Eron could see that it's face was a dark purple, eyes bulging wide enough to prompt a hiss of disgust from Sandra as they finally passed the scene by, continuing up the spiraling steps.\n\nAs they moved on, passing along more bodies of the dead from both sides, Eron's stomach churned at the silence. Only the howl of wind seemed to reach his ears now, no words or conversation- no gnarled goblins barks or human shouts. Everything that had come to pass, was already long finished. Stopping at the final steps, Eron turned to Sandra once more at the thick wooden door that stood firmly shut, weapons and splinters sticking free of its frame. \n\n\"Captain?\" Eron spoke the name aloud as a question, listening for any sound beyond the door, but none came. With a nod to his companion, he raised his hands, summoning the flames to burn it away to cinders. \"Captain, are you there?\" He asked again, stepping forward into the gusts of air and smoke.\n\n----\n\n----\n\n**This story is a continuation of a bunch of other writing-prompts!**\n\n[Start here!](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/51f8ag/wp_youre_such_a_powerful_magician_that_life_is/d7bn3g2/)\n\n[Previous](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5ybk2g/wp_the_best_swordsman_in_the_world_need_not_fear/dep046y/)\n\n[Next](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5z28zp/wp_no_one_can_imagine_the_pain_i_felt_when_those/deutq31/)\n\n"
] | [
1,
25
] | [
"1489165584",
"1489167482"
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[WP]There are many gods and beings nobody has ever heard of lost in time and there are no myths about them. Write A Myth about them. | 3 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"(Bearing in mind, this is from my phone) \n\nFrom the God of war, to the God of the sky, i've always assumed these Gods to be the epicentre of humanity; from primitive beginnings to an unexpected awakening... but they forgot about me. I've always been there to show them the path, but I'm too slow; it's little to wonder why, humanity has always been too fast for me. I hope to be a reminder that there is always time, that each second isn't wasted, and that ambition without time is truly dangerous. The teachings of early civilisation had regarded me in high praise, I was a visionary of power. Perhaps i'm no longer required. I remember the authority that I would bring, armies had trembled at my might, advances in technology, I was behind it all. I assisted Alexander \"the great\" to conquer the middle east and beyond, I had even helped Rome in conquering Europe, but abandon me and you will suffer the consequences; not that it was my fault, but ask of Nepoleon when he tried to storm the gates of Russia in the winter, or even the simplest of men who disapear when they too abandon me. I'm often the catalyst for success yet people are too blind to accept that I too am important... I'm the God of patience. I hope one day you'll find me. \n\nEdit: word.",
"*The Void.*\n\nIn the never-ending darkness, a long serpentine creature glided silently through the void. A creature of unimaginable size and power. The one known as Carzi. \n\nThe creature was adorned in shimmering scales. Its deep blue eyes burned fiercely. Its long body ended in a plume of feathers. Towards the front of its body were two short arms - short only relative to its body length, for they could easily span across entire galaxies. But there were no such things as galaxies yet, nor could anyone witness this magnificent creature in the cold darkness of The Void. \n\nAs it moved through the darkness, Carzi saw a pulsing light, shining bright. As Carzi moved towards the light, it grew steadily and then shrunk. When the creature looked closely, it could see that it was not one, but two spheres of light. The spheres would grow, and then collapse onto each other in a blinding flash. \n\nThis rhythmic process of creation and destruction continued a couple thousand times as Carzi circled around the two spheres. Finally, Carzi decided to intervene. It shrunk its body as it neared the two spheres just as they were going to collide into each other. Right after the collision, Carzi placed itself at the epicenter of the explosion, between the two spheres as they reformed from the residual energy of the blast. \n\nAs the spheres began to grow once more, Carzi expanded its body to match their size. It twisted and turned its body to form the shape of a lemniscate - the symbol of infinity, each sphere trapped in one of the lobes of the lemniscate. Carzi grew with the universes, keeping them apart to prevent their mutual destruction. Carzi kept slithering - maintaining its shape as it did so - like a snake trying to catch its own tail. \n\nThe two spheres would continue to grow to one day become universes with billions of trillions of stars and galaxies - one made of what we call matter and the other of anti-matter. In the beginning, as Carzi's tail passed through the spheres, it would disturb the uniformly distributed matter and anti-matter just enough for them to coagulate in those regions, eventually forming stars. As time passed, Carzi would feed on the old, dying stars - removing them completely, exposing portions of the original Void - what we call Black Holes. \n\nThis is the story of our universe, up until the present. What will happen next? Will Carzi consume all the stars until all that is left is the void? Or will the creature finally decide to move on? - destroying both universes - only for them to be reborn again and stuck in their eternal cycle of life and death, just as they were billions of years in the past. \n\nOnly time will tell.\n",
"Tyanki has been forgotten.\n\nTyanki never begged for worship. She never wanted followers, never took disciples.\n\n---------------------\n\nThere was once a wise old man and a curious young boy. They lived in the woods, by a river.\n\nThe boy asked, \"Where does the river's water come from?\"\n\nThe man replied, \"High up in the mountains, far to the north, where tributaries branch off and nestle between the rocks.\"\n\n\"So where do the mountains get their water?\"\n\n\"Rain.\"\n\n\"Where does the rain get its water?\"\n\n\"Tyanki.\"\n\nOne day the man and the boy followed the river to the sea, where they built a raft.\n\nThe boy asked, \"Why does the wood float?\"\n\n\"Because it is lighter that the water that would take its place.\"\n\n\"Why must light things float?\"\n\nThe man paused for a moment, and went back to tying the raft. \"Tyanki.\"\n\nThe boy, annoyed by this answer, asked another question. \"What makes the tides turn?\"\n\n\"The tides turn in line with the moon. When it is just overhead or nowhere to be seen, the tide is high. When the moon touches the world, the tide is low.\"\n\n\"Yes, but *why* do the tides turn with the moon?\"\n\nThe old man smiled. \"Tyanki.\"\n\nTo the man, Tyanki was the bedrock of the world's workings. Dig far enough, and you will find her. Digging further is hard and fruitless.\n\nTo the boy, Tyanki was a poor answer.\n\nYears passed, and the man died of old age, and the boy was alone. He found the answers to his own questions; watched clouds and storms build and found that the rains were fed by the sea and sun; watched fruit fall and found that all matter pulls on all matter with even strength; charted the sea and sky and found that the moon was unfathomably distant and pulled on the sea with its mass.\n\nAnd, for all his learning, the boy yet lived by a river in the woods.\n\nTyanki was gone, and nothing had changed.\n\nThat was okay.\n\nTyanki never begged for worship. She never wanted followers, never took disciples.\n\nTyanki has been forgotten, and she is happy.\n\n-----------------------------------------------\n\n*Tyanki, the God of Answers Unknown and Unneeded*"
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"1489239676",
"1489243772",
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[WP] Write a road trip story from three perspectives. The driver, the hitchhiker, and the person tied up in the trunk. | 45 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Driver - Jack\n ----------------------------------------------\nI blinked, taking a left onto Albury Lane. I felt horrible, having to tie up one of my best friends- and admittedly my crush- in the trunk. But it was for his own good, after all, I couldn't fit him in the back. I knew he'd be angry with me, but that was for the best. He was fading in and out of consciousness and I had done my best to cover up the wounds, so I took it painstakingly slow.\n\nThough, on the lane, I saw someone through the darkness and a face I recognized. About a yard and a half away I started to slowly stop the car, so not to disturb Dennis and make him even angrier. \"Hi Leon,\" I said, stopping to a halt about 5 feet away from him. Leon was a blonde dude with blue eyes and freckles all over his nose and cheeks. He always wore a grin and was of a normal weight. From the way he looked towards me and grinned, I knew exactly why he was standing there hopelessly. \"Get in the car.\" I mumbled. Leon was always like this, I didn't know what else to expect from him.\n\n\"Thanks, Jack.\" I heard him say, with a bubbly tone in his voice. He stumbled over and opened the door to the seat right next to me and climbed in. I heard him shut the door lazily and groggily put his seat belt on, so I continued driving. \"So, uh... how are you?\" I asked, wanting to keep the conversation subtle. I didn't like having to go into a full conversation with someone like him so soon. \n\"Oh, I'm fine,\" Leon said, grinning. \"How about Dennis?\"\nI swear he could feel me break out into a cold sweat. \"Dennis, well uh... he's uhm.. not doing too well.\" \n\"Really?\" Leon asked. \"How so?\"\n\"Uh, well... he almost died. Don't ask me how, I don't know. All I know is that there are slash wounds, stab wounds and other things all over him so I had to cover them up. I'm taking him to the hospital.\" I silently prayed his dumb ass wouldn't ask where he was, because at this stage he probably would've forgotten Dennis would never fit in the back laying down. He was so damn lanky.\n\nLeon stayed quiet for a bit before saying, \"Hey, Dennis! How'd you nearly die?\" Leon waited for an answer and was quite angry when he never got one. We were about a mile away from the hospital. I just hoped then I would be able to explain it to him to make it sound like I didn't do anything. He hiccuped. \"Where's Dennis?\"\n\"He's asleep,\" I lied. Well... he probably was. \"Let him rest, okay?\" My teeth gritted. Just a quarter mile left. \"When we get to the hospital, you stay here, unless you think you got a bit too...\" \n\"I'm fine.\" Leon blinked, looking at the open road ahead of them. He rubbed at his eyes. \"You know, it's getting late.\" \n\"It is,\" I responded. Soon enough, I could hear him snoring. I finally relaxed.\n -----------------------------\nHitchhiker - Leon\n -----------------------------\nI walked helplessly on the road, hiccing. I had a bit too much to drink, but I was sadly used to not being able to drive back home once going to a bar. But in the distance, I saw headlights. I hicced again and nearly toppled over, blinking as it slowly came to a stop. I heard the noise of a window being rolled down. The image was distorted in my head, but I could make out the somewhat high-pitched yet smooth and French accented voice of Jack, one of the people willing to put up with me when I was like this, other than Dennis and Sarah. He was a good friend, I guess. I always knew he had a thing for Dennis, though, that was obvious.\n\n\"Get in the car,\" he had said. I blundered over and got in, blinking at him while mouthing words of thanks. The dyed blue hair with the combination of his pale skin and green eyes was... something, alright. Not really my style, but Dennis had always enjoyed weird things. I looked down. Of course, his usual getup of a plaid black and red vest with a white undershirt was there. I looked down at my greyish shirt and blue jeans, then at his. But his were skinnier. I silently cursed myself for drinking so much.\n\n\"So, how are you?\" He broke the silence. \n\"Fine, just fine,\" I said, grinning. I looked out the windshield and hiccuped slightly. \"How about Dennis?\" I noticed him break into a cold sweat, but made nothing of it. He just always got worried when someone asked him about his 'boyfriend'. \n\"Admittedly, Dennis isn't doing too well.\" There were noises of uncertainty in his voice. I frowned. I didn't like that. Jack usually had a commanding aura about him, even though he was much too used to taking orders from others.\n\"Well, uh... he nearly died.\" That's all I heard before I zoned out for a few moments. Confused, I said: \"Hey Dennis, how'd you nearly die?\" I got no answer. I was disappointed. \"Where's Dennis?\" I grumbled.\n\"He's asleep,\" Jack said, nervously shaking. He seemed to not notice. \"Leave him alone.\"\nI knew he was lying but didn't bother caring. I silently zoned out again. \"You know, if you feel a bit-\" \n\"I'm fine.\" With that, I fell asleep.\n --------------------------------\nGuy Tied up in the Trunk - Dennis\n --------------------------------\nI knew where I was; and I was angry about it. I wanted to kick, I wanted to scream Jack's name to let me out of here. But somewhere in my mind, I knew it wasn't a good idea, and besides, he only wanted to help. I silently cursed him for having such a small car. I could barely breathe in here. But it'd be enough to keep be going for a few more hours- and from what I had endured of the ride so far, we couldn't be that far from the hospital. \n\nI didn't remember much of what happened, all I could think about was the agony. He had covered up the wounds, sure, but not as well as he could've. He was in a panic, something about me didn't want to blame him. His frantic face looked kind of cute, anyway. It was only then I noticed we had slowed down, silently rolling onto my back. This was a more comfortable position to be in. I drew in a breath of relief, blinking. I heard the car door opening. Maybe he was leaving, maybe he was there. Then I heard a voice- a bubbly and drunken voice. Of all the people... I grumbled under my breath angrily. \n\nI heard some talking, Jack's frantic voice clear in my head as he started to gain speed again, slowly and taking care to avoid any bumps. I faded into sleep for a moment before forcing myself to wake up, I had to stay awake. I couldn't afford to sleep in somewhere with limited air. I silently willed them to talk louder to keep me awake. I didn't want large breaths to be had, not now. It wasn't an option anymore. I faintly heard my name. Something in me wanted to answer, before I realized it was Leon speaking.\n\nI heard my name again, recognizing Jack's voice. Something about it was so smooth and calming to me. He said something about sleep. Did I need sleep? We were nearly there anyway. I heard Leon's snoring, and Jack's finally relaxed voice saying 'here we go, dennis... we're almost there...' I smiled. I feel like I'd have the right to yell at him later. Wouldn't I? I would. Something about my head frowned at the idea, though. He just wanted to help.\n\nSo I finally started relaxing, and without knowing, I fell asleep.",
"**Jerry**\n\nI walked down the road, sweat dripping down my forehead, stinging my eyes. I wanted to wipe it away, but the sand stuck to my arms would surely make things worse. So I just walked on, down a road that stretched forever, in a heat that grew hotter every moment. I had half a bottle of water left, and I knew I wasn't going to last long if someone didn't come by soon. I could only hope that someone would eventually drive by. \n\nAnd just like that, a car approached. I stuck my thumb out to the side, praying they would stop. I was genuinely surprised when they did.\n\n\"Way too hot to leave you on the side of the road like this,\" the man said, as I heard the doors unlock. \n\n\"Thank you so much,\" I said. \"I've been out here for far too long. I just need a ride to the next town.\" \n\nThe man nodded and motioned me into the car, and I sank into the hot leather seat. The cold air coming from the vents was a godsend; and he even offered me a bottle of water. I had finally caught a break, after everything went so wrong the last few days. \n\n\"So whats your name?\" The driver asked. \"I'm Steve.\"\n\n\"Nice to meet you, Steve,\" I replied. \"I'm Jerry.\" \n\n\"Whats your story, Jerry? What are you doing wandering around in the desert?\"\n\n\"Well, its kind of a long story. But I guess it started a few days ago when--\"\n\n*THUD*. \n\n\"--what the hell was that?\" I turned and looked to the back seat, half expecting to find someone there. With another *thud*, the seat folded down, and a man came rolling out, hands tied behind his back, and a bag over his head.\n\n\"What the fuck--\" I yelled, as the man kicked the back of the driver's seat, causing Steve to jerk the wheel to the side. The man fell to the floorboards, and the car flew off the road. Steve's head hit the window during the jerk, knocking him out; and the car was speeding towards a boulder. \n\nI had no time to react before the car crashed, sending me through the windshield. \n\n------\n\n**Steve**\n\n\"Just get it done, Steve,\" an angry voice rattled through the payphone receiver. \n\n\"Whatever you say, boss.\" I slammed the phone down, and stepped out of the phone booth. With this heat, it was like an oven in that thing. I could already feel my skin tightening from the sunburn. I glanced around, seeing no traffic in either direction. The diner behind me looked like it had been closed for years; its a small wonder the payphone still worked. I walked back to the car, and popped open the trunk. \n\nI pulled the bag off of the man's face, and splashed some water on his face. He woke up and started struggling, his hands and feet tied. \n\n\"Oh, stop that,\" I instructed him. \"You aren't going anywhere. Just drink some water, I cant have you dying on me before we get there.\" \n\nI ripped the tape off of his mouth, and placed the water bottle to his lips. He drank it eagerly, and after about half the bottle, I took it back. \n\n\"Please, let me go,\" he pleaded. I taped his mouth shut, replaced the bag on his head, and continued on the road. I hated these long trips.\n\nThe radio in the car was broken, so I found myself nearly dozing off. Luckily, after about twenty miles, I came across a hitchhiker. I knew it was risky, but I was desperate for some kind of interaction; and if he found out, I'd just kill him. \n\nThe next thing I knew, my head was pounding, and I was laying in the hot sand, watching vultures circle in the sky above me. I tried to sit up, but a pain shot through my ribs and stomach. *What the hell happened*?\n\nI turned my head to the left, and saw my car, crashed into a massive boulder. The hitchhiker I picked up was lying on the boulder, bits of glass sticking out of his head. His blood was staining the sand.\n\nSomething moved to my right. My neck hurt as I twisted my head from one side to the other, and I let out a whimper. \n\n\"Finally awake, are we?\" a voice called out. After a moment, the man stepped into my field of vision, kneeling at my side. \n\n\"You sure are in bad shape,\" he said, shaking his head. \"But at least you were wearing your seat belt. If it wasnt for that, I might not be able to have this little conversation with you.\" \n\nI tried to sit up again, but this time the pain was so great I yelled out in agony. \"What is going on?\" I asked, shaking.\n\n\"I'll ask the questions, if you don't mind.\" he was remarkably calm, for a guy that had just been stuffed in a trunk for several hours. \n\n\"Why did you take me?\" he asked.\n\n\"I... I was told...\" I coughed. Every word felt like needles in my throat.\n\n\"Told *what*?\" he was getting angry.\n\n\"...told to take you. I... dont ask questions.\" The world started spinning around me. \"I... dont think I'm going to... make...\" I coughed again, spewing blood into the sand. \n\n\"Useless,\" the man said under his breath, as he stood and turned away. \n\n\"Please,\" I pleaded, as the world went dark. \n\n-----\n\n**Brian**\n\n\"Useless,\" I said, turning to walk away. The man seemed to mutter something as he died, but I had no interest in what he had to say. \n\nI looked down at the small black book I had taken from his pocket. I knew there had to be some kind of information in it; who this man was, who he worked for. If I could find out who ordered him to take me, I would find out why. So I walked back to the road, hoping to be picked up by a passerby.\n\nI walked for miles, covered in sand, and sweating like never before. I had only taken a few bottles of water with me from the car; I didn't think it was going to take this long to find someone to pick me up. \n\nFinally, just as I was ready to give up hope, I saw a car approaching. It stopped next to me, and the driver leaned over to open the passenger door. \n\n\"You look like you could use a ride,\" he said, his voice low and comforting. \"Here, have some water.\" He handed me a half-full bottle.\n\n\"You have no idea,\" I said, eagerly grabbing the bottle. I sat down in the car, and let out a long, deep exhale. I could finally relax.\n\n\"So, where you headed, Brian?\" the man asked. \n\n\"First town is fine. I just need...\" A shiver went down my spine. \"How do you know my name?\"\n\nHe stared at the road in silence, a crooked smile on his face. \n\n\"You didn't think I'd trust Steve to get the job done on his own, did you?\" \n\n\"Why me?\" I asked, defeated.\n\n\"Because you looked like you'd put up a fight.\" He said, in a chillingly calm tone. \n\n\"A fight?\" I felt myself getting tired. \"The water... something... in it...\" I felt myself drifting into sleep.\n\n\"Yeah, I like a challenge from time to time. Now relax,\" the man said, finally glancing in my direction. His crooked smile sent a chill throughout my body. \n\n\"We're going to have some fun when we get home,\" He said, as I drifted into a deep slumber.\n\n\n"
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21
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"1489257671",
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[WP] In your mailbox every night, insects of all kind perform a Satanic ritual. One night, you come home late from a party and remember that you forgot to take out today's mail. | 6 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Thanks guys! See you later, thanks for the ride back!\" I slurred. I was most definitely drunk, and not fully prepared for what was ahead. What happened due to these creatures, however small they were, should not have been classified as a small occurrence by whatever Orkin \"professional exterminator\" the landlord sent out.\n I got home that night not expecting anything besides a massive head- and stomach-ache. A microwave meal and scrolling through the front page of the internet could temporarily drag my head away from the physical pains of my body. I would have empathized with the physical pain bugs went through more if I had been warned of the rage built up over centuries of abuse by humans. Bugs had never freaked ME out—if anything I was glad for their company. The interesting ones filled many a day of my childhood growing up in a farmhouse. I would gaze at and admire their glistening shells, segmented bodies, and general makeup. These physical features are what defined \"bugs\" to me, not so much as their consciousness or inner thoughts. \n\"Shit! Forgot the mail again!\" I murmured, being only partially-aware of my surroundings. \"Can't keep forgetting it, that acceptance letter must be coming any day now... right?\" I questioned. Slipping on a light hoodie and Crocs, I raced out to what I expected to be more bills, but turned into a night full of lost sleep and reconsideration of life. Opening the rusting, creaky mailbox resulted in a lackluster if not unusual bustle of unwrapped papers. Pulling out the wreckage, I was immediately intrigued by what was behind them. The bugs stood there, with no change in activity. They didn't scatter, they didn't make a beeline (punny) for the door, they weren't trapped in the first place. There, scuttling before me, was an assortment of vertebrae and insects of varying size, species, and condition. About a third of the bunch were split open, surrounded by smeared bluish-green insect blood. Turning on the flashlight on my phone to get a better look, the remaining creatures finally turned towards me. Their shining, beady, non-uniform eyes reflected the LED light all too well.\n I wouldn't say I could understand the form of communication they took, but when they joined into a circle around the insect-sacrifices of the 50 or so total bugs, it was apparent that some sort of ritual was taking place. They rotated in unison and hummed together in a feint, fickle, and genuinely terrifying fashion. These insects were set on accomplishing something by this act, and my mail had something to do with it. Why not stick to the woods, where a larger and more extravagant killing could take place? I had my suspicions, one being that they stood to pay back my debt to the IRS by sacrifice after seeing my mail, but turns out they just wanted to raise awareness for PETA. Insects should have equal rights with other animals, and even humans right? These bugs didn't want to end up in our Snickers Bars and McDonalds anymore. They deserve equality.\n I will never feel sorry for all of the junk food I have eaten in my lifetime that may have contained insects, but I can sure as hell be grossed out by it. They drove me to be healthier, which I can thank them for, but they also drove me completely insane.\n\nI am BugMan. I speak for the bugs of this earth, and they are not happy."
] | [
1,
3
] | [
"1489289070",
"1489292007"
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[WP] You're a minor enemy in a video game. The protagonist reaches your level and is taking out colleagues around you, but misses you before moving on. | 39 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I visited the Butcher's after the Mountain Hall fell. The king had been slain by a Paladin of the highest rank, leaving a stench that rivalled the backside of an Ork Warboss. Gobsmacka was in \"surjery,\" so I looked around for other gobbo guards. Matz, Knivz and Teeni were all that was left of the few goblins I knew. \n\n\nOnce punted around, my goblin comrades once were the toys of bigger, stronger orks. But with the fall of the west mountain, there was a severe shortage of goblins that weren't scared senseless of anything taller than a dwarf. \n\n\nI saw as one of the medik's strolled around whistling a tune. Spotting me, he gave a wave over. \"Ca'mere gobbo! Butcha's open today.\"\n\n\nFinding my way through the orcs, most of them were unconscious, breathing with the snotty sound of death. Limbs were missing from most of them. Asking about the west mountain, the medik pointed to a room full of fresh corpses. \"Yoo 'ungry? Take sumfin from ova dere.\" Giving a snicker, we walked over to the end of the room.\n\n\n\"Dis one is a weird un.\" He was small, and even smaller stubs punctuated at his shoulders. The medik revealed his lower torso had also had work on it, both of his legs missing below the knee. \"Dok had a snack. Hehe.\"\n\n\nThe patch on his arm marked him as a Lieutenant Goblin from the West Mountain. Even if he lived, he would have to be challenged before someone could take his place. Looking down at him, his eyes were closed, pained from something long lost. His ragged breath came and went quickly, his chest rising not more than an inch.\n\n\nEyeing the medik, I colored his throat a deep scarlet. The blood didn't splatter far, only covering the cot he lay upon. The medik gave a hearty laugh, slapping me on the back. Damned if I was going to be a runt again."
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[WP] The year is 1969. Aliens are headed to Mars to look for humans, but make a stop on the moon to have a picnic. Apollo 11 lands, and we don't know who is more confused. | 315 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"One lovely Sunday afternoon in the pitch black Moon.\n\nA team of three young earthly astronauts land a strange object. Everything around them is in the most secretly loud silence.\n\nTwo days go by and finally two of them get out of the ship. They set foot on the moon in a innocuous fashion with some strange and cumbersome suit.\n\nThey seem like children going to paradise land made of chocolate and candy's.\n\nUnbeknownst to them, right beyond the ship in a hidden place there's a flying sauce type of ship with some alien looking creatures next to it.\n\nThese green fellas are sniffing some strange smoke and appear to be high.\n\nIn what looks to be a decisive moment to the humans presented on this strange and inhospitable place, the alien's look at them from far and being high as they are they start to trip.\n\nThe aliens suddenly wake up from the trip to find themselves attached to beds in what looks to be a medical facility.\n\nThe doctor after checking them out goes out by the door, and when this door slams we can see the room name.\n\n \"Lab 45 - Area 51\"",
"\"One small step for a man, one giant leap for - what the - Houston, we have a problem.\"\n\n\"What seems to be the problem?\"\n\n\"There's aliens here. Honest to god, aliens.\"\nThe aliens looked at the astronauts and asked, \"are you humans?\" The astronauts responded: \"Yes, we're humans.\" The aliens then said, \"Awesome. We have traveled for twenty thousand years in search of humans. Can we follow you back to Mars?\"\n\n\"Mars? Look at this thing, Neil, it thinks we live on Mars.\"\n\n\"I know. I heard it.\" The astronauts were confused. Why did the aliens think they lived on Mars? Had humans lived on Mars thousands of years ago? That seemed impossible. Mars was a barren wasteland. There was nothing on Mars but dust and rock. The astronauts were confused why they had to explain this to these aliens, when the aliens clearly knew enough about humans to learn their languages.\n\n\"Humans live on Earth. Not Mars.\" Neil Armstrong explained.\n\n\"How is that possible?\" The aliens asked. \"Earth is nothing but dust and rock. It's a barren wasteland. Mars is where it's at. They've got water, soil, trees, everything. We want to go to Mars. Don't try to trick us into going to Earth.\"\n\n\"I think you've got Earth and Mars confused,\" the astronauts tried to explain. \"Earth is the one with the water and the trees and all of that stuff, and Mars is the one that's a barren wasteland. Mars is nothing. Earth has it all.\"\n\n\"Stop this treachery, we already told you, we will have none of it. Take us back to Mars.\"\n\n\"Houston, we have another problem. The aliens think we're from Mars and want us to go there. I don't think there's any way to tell them that we're not going to Mars. They won't go to Earth with us because they think we're trying to trick them.\"\n\n\"Then why don't you go back to Earth by yourselves?\"\n\nSo they did. And they told the aliens that they were going to Earth. So the aliens went to Mars.",
"Garbabah had barely finished arranging his cutlery on the unfurled picnic mat when Merigold crested over the hill, screaming bloody murder as she scurried on flailing tentacles.\n\n\"Merigoldbah!\" he said, intentionally using the traditional naming convention instead of the hipster pronunciation the upstart preferred. Garbabah was, in many ways, a stickler for the old ways. \"Just in time for tea!\"\n\n\"Garbabah! They're here, they're here!\"\n\n\"Crap,\" muttered Garbabah under his breath, his tentacles already instinctively pulling the treats closer to him. \"Tell Team Beta we're not sharing! This ain't the first time they've come to leech off us! Buggers, all of them, selfish, brutish lot...\"\n\n\"Sir! It's not Team Beta! It's humans! A whole bunch of them! They've landed on the far side, and they're disembarking from their spaceship!\"\n\nGarbabah's three hearts started beating faster. Humans, here?\n\n\"Are you sure? We're still a good distance away from Mars! They aren't supposed to have the technology to be here!\"\n\n\"I think the intel's wrong! I saw their ship blast off from Earth, not Mars!\"\n\n\"Earth? That piece of junk planet?\" Garbabah's mind whirled, trying to make sense of it all. One eye though was still firmly fixed on the freshly prepared tea before him, which was cooling way too quickly in this thin atmosphere. This unforeseeen interruption to his beloved teatime was doing little for his fraying patience. \n\n\"And Sir? There's a further... complication...\"\n\n\"Spit it out then, Merigoldbah!\"\n\n\"I think... I think they saw me, Sir. I immediately put on my disguise, but I'm quite sure they were pointing at me when they were going into a right frenzy!\"\n\nThe sweat beaded on Garbabah's foreheads. Of all the instructions they were given, foremost had been the High Commander's stern reminder not to let the humans find out about them - Garbabah couldn't remember the specifics, but it had something to do with preserving the cultral integrity of the humans, so that they could develop naturally at the pace deemed suitable by the Galactic Society of Natural Development. \n\nPenalties for breaches included the amputation of taste buds, so that future teatimes would never taste the same. \n\n\"Show me your disguise again, Merigoldbah! Did you wear it wrong?\"\n\nMerigold obediently flipped the switch on her utility belt, which immediately turned her skin a vibrant red. A large pompom in the shape and hue of a golden starflower (like the sunflowers on Earth, only ten feet wide in diameter) sprouted above Merigold's head, obscuring her features. \n\n\"Strange... Your disguise is working as intended. These are the exact colours and shapes which, as Intel informed us, humans cannot discern at all. You sure they saw you?\"\n\nGarbabah's answer came in the form of furious radio activity which he sensed coming from the north. Swivelling towards the source of the interference, he saw for himself the gaggle of humans, pointing their primitive cameras at them, gesticulating wildly.\n\n\"Sir? My translator's picking up what they are saying... something about how we are ready to attack Earth...\"\n\n\"Attack Earth? What utter nonsense? Whatever would give them that idea?\"\n\n\"It's your teatime, Sir! They think it advanced weaponry, which we will use to rain biological hell upon Earth!\"\n\nIt was true that the scones which his mum had baked for him often disagreed with his digestive system, leading to a flatulence which his friends termed 'lethal', but Garbabah hardly thought that deserving of the vitriol coming from the humans. They were even baked in his favourite shape too, a single circle overlaid with three other half-crescents, the galactic symbol for peace.\n\n\"Merigoldbah, it looks like we have no choice. Prepare the memory rays, we're going to wipe every single bit of evidence of us here from their minds.\"\n\n\"What about their cameras, Sir? Our memory rays won't work on those!\"\n\n\"Destroy everything, then call Headquarters. I'm sure they have stock footage of an uneventful human landing on the moon for situations just like this.\"\n\nAs Merigold scurried away to do his bidding, and the humans continued wildly flailing about in excitement, Garbabah grimly bit into one of his scones, trying his best to salvage this utterly dismal afternoon.\n\nThe scone, as he had feared, was already cold.\n\n---\n\n/r/rarelyfunny "
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wow I'm stupid, meant to put that there a murderer with you lol | [WP] You're trapped in a Toys r Us from midnight to 8AM and you can only protect yourself using what's in the store. | 34 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Unicorns are fucking dangerous. No, not the supposedly real kind, but the plastic figures that you occasionally give to children before pulling it out of their hands before they try to eat it. The plastic horns on those things are sharp, especially those from the \"Wondertainment\" brand. Being locked in a Toys R' Us with a murderer isn't much better. As they chased behind me, I threw a mixture of Jacks and Marbles at them, hoping that it would trip them up. The psycho just stopped and stepped around them. Damn! I had spent 10 minutes filling a Dora backpack with that stuff. Time to bring out the big guns. Out of my bag, I pull a Lego Death Star set and rip open the bags, throwing some at the guy chasing me. Some I throw on the ground. This stopped him for a bit until he stepped over them. I guess I had to confront him. I pulled out a lightsaber from my pocket, turning it on with a loud \"WOOSH\". We dueled for a few minutes until his knife broke my lightsaber. Cheap Chinese bullshit. As he charged at me, I pulled a unicorn doll out of my pocket and instinctively pointed it at his neck. He tripped trying to stop himself, the horn of the unicorn piercing his neck. As my opponent bled out, I checked my new toy at the cash register: One bloodstained Unicron toy.",
"\"Attention customers, Toys-R-Us is closing in 5 minutes.\" Did they think I was really gonna listen? Stupid system! Thinking I'm just gonna walk out with other abiding parents and their kids. Yeah right! As I hide behind the bikes and tricycles, the lights go out. Security guards walk by. Luckily for me, these fatties can't tell a rock from a donut! I turn on my camera and start talking in murmurs. \"Hey what's up guys, it's [redacted] here with another video! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT I'M DOING RIGHT NOW! I'M HIDING IN TOYS-R-US FOR 8 HOURS!!!! CRAZY RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!\" I love milking my audience for money. It's like stealing money from a blind people fundraiser!\n\n(This is my first time writing, tell me what you think. Thanks!)"
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[WP] Your only superpower is to inherently know precisely what superpowers and skills other people have. | 8 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"If the girl across the study area was trying to be subtle, she wasn’t doing a very good job. Lisa had noticed her since she entered the university library. The girl kept stealing glances over the magazine she was reading and she even switched seats when someone else had sat in her line of view of Lisa. Lisa ranked a solid hetero on the Kinsey Scale, but it would be a lie to say she wasn’t flattered. The other girl was close to Lisa’s age - late teens, maybe early twenties - and very pretty. She had chin length red hair and big hazel eyes flocked by black winged eyeliner. Freckles dotted her small nose, but in a completely unfair amount for a redhead to have. *She must stay out of the sun,* Lisa thought. The girl wore a vintage beige cloche that Lisa wished she could pull off herself. It was paired with an equally vintage looking blue dress. She felt the entire look was very “Mad Men.”\n\n\nLisa decided it would be better and less uncomfortable if she just ignored the other girl’s strange behavior. She forced herself to look down at the textbook she was reading. After all, she had specifically come to the library so that she could focus on ingesting this chapter for polysci. It was a particularly dense passage. In fact, she caught herself half a page down without a clue what she had just read. Too distracted. She gave an exasperated sigh and glanced up - only momentarily - before returning back to where she had started.\n\n*Wait,* Lisa thought, *Did she move up to a closer table?* Lisa tried to recall what she had just seen. *I can’t just look up. She’ll notice I noticed...I’ll just casually get something from my purse and survey the room as I do.* She lifted her eyes from her book, swept the room, and then planted them in the inside of her purse.\n\n\n*Yes. She definitely moved up to a new table. Now to pretend I needed something in my purse. My phone is in my lap. My headphones are in...How about a pen?* She pulled it out and clicked it open. *Yes, a pen is a normal thing to need.* So, from her purse, she did a second sweep and landed back on the book. She scribbled her initials in the margin to make it look like she truly needed to use the pen. *Good, now back to reading.* Two more paragraphs with nothing absorbed. \n\nShe stole a quick glance up. The other girl had moved once more. Now she was sitting at Lisa’s table, directly across from her. Lisa stifled a little yelp. A few people turned to look at the pair. It was supposed to be a “group study” area, but Lisa was particularly sensitive about this sort of thing and she was instantly mortified at herself.\n\n“I’m sorry!” the girl whispered, waving her hands around. Lisa popped out her earbuds. “I didn’t mean to scare you!” she giggled.\n\nLisa laughed back, half nervous, half genuine. Well, maybe one third genuine. \n\n“I’m Cami. Cameron Shooter?” For some reason it was a question.\n\n“I’m Lisa Rhodes,” Lisa offered. She kept her eyes on the other patrons, worried they’d be disturbed by the conversation.\n\n“Um,” Cami bit her lower lip in an embarrassed grin, \"We've met before, right?\"\n\nLisa, still intent on being polite, gave a confused smile and shook her head, \"I don't think so.\"\n\n\"Ever been to Maryland?\" Cami asked. She suddenly got up and swooped around to sit on Lisa’s side of the table. Lisa was determined to be unfussed by Cami’s casualness.\n\n“No,” she answered, “Did you go to GHS in Galloway?” \n\n\"No, no,\" Lisa could tell Cami was really racking her brain, \"That's not it. This is my first time in Vermont.”\n\n“Well, I’ve been here most of my life,” Lisa laughed and gave a shrug, “Guess I just have one of those faces!”\n\nCami clasped her hands and put them under her chin. Her lips grew taut and her eyes squinted closed as she clearly had a small but intense internal debate.\n\n\"Okay,\" she said finally. Returning her hands to her lap and taking a few deep breaths, “This is weird, but stay with me, um,” Cami put her hand on the back of Lisa’s seat and turned to face her, “I dream about you once in a while. You suppose that means anything?”\n\nThe statement was so unexpected that she was had a hard time figuring out how she felt about it. On some level, she felt offended or violated, but another part of her told her that feeling that way was stupid. \n\nFollowing that non-conclusion, Lisa made a sound that was somewhere between a scoff and a laugh, “I mean, yeah, that’s sort of weird, um,” she tried to gather her thoughts, “Like, dream how?”\n\n“Sometimes I see you and sometimes I just hear your voice.” Cami looked too earnest for Lisa’s liking. It was unsettling to hear someone talk about something like this. She felt this would be an appropriate time to make an exit. She pushed her chair back and began to stand.\n\n“Okay, well, I’m sure you’re just misremembering, or maybe we have met before,” Lisa forced what she hoped would sound like a casual laugh, “Anyhow, I’ve got to get to class an--”\n\n“Wait!” Cami interrupted in a voice that was definitely too loud for their location. Stares made Lisa’s face grow hot and drove her to sit back down. Cami held out a clenched fist, a postcard bowing in its grasp, “Is this yours?”\n\nLisa stopped breathing. That was hers. She’d mailed it to PostSecret just a few weeks ago. She recognized her living room; her coffee table; her bright blue mug; and her own handwriting scrawled in silver Sharpie: \n> \n> “Yesterday, I moved this mug across the table without touching it.”\n\nCami didn’t wait for an answer, “In my dreams, you’re sitting in this room,” she handed the card over to Lisa, whose hands felt barely capable of holding its weight, “You say this. Over and over. Sometimes you sound worried, other times you sound excited, but it’s all you ever say.”\n\nLisa wasn’t sure what to say. She thought she was nodding at Cami, but it was hard to be sure. Everything felt like they were underwater: sounds were muffled; her vision didn’t seem straight on; when was the last time she had taken a breath? *Oh no,* she realized a second too late, *I’m fainting.*",
"I crept through the shadows of the alley, regulating my breath and slowly racking the slide on my V70, chambering two rounds with an almost inaudible click. The trash fire flickered and altered the dancing shadows on the brick walls around me, threatening to reveal my presence. It didn't matter. I would be close enough to do my job before I was discovered.\n\nA hand grabbed my foot, shooting out from a pile of newspapers. I kicked it away, causing it's owner to yelp audibly and sit up, sending a cascade of rumpled paper to flutter around us. My target rocked back from the fire and scrambled to her feet, eyes wide.\n\n*Shit.* My outfit was nigh invisible in the dark, but once anyone caught a glimpse of it, their first instinct would be to run. I was decked out in all black, a skin-tight outfit that even included a mask with no eyes. \n\n\"Food, got any food?\" The drunkard from under the newspapers looked around, still bewildered. I contemplated putting both rounds in him instead for spoiling my surprise, though the irony did not escape me. The poor fellow was likely as much a victim of my target's kind as I was, left homeless by the actions of those with power. \n\nIt was that instant that my target saw my gun. Her already wide eyes shot to it, then to my face, and her button nose quivered. I couldn't feel her psychic assault, but I felt the neuro disruptors at my temple whir to life, breaking apart her attack. I leveled my gun at her. \n\nTamara Johnson. Level 3 Psychic. Age 12. Orders to terminate on sight. \n\nMy hand wavered, threatening to pull my shot wide. She just stood there now, staring, her short black hair matted to her face. Those eyes just stared right at me, realizing the futility of running, though I desperately wished she would. It was harder this way, with my targets looking right at me, asking why, trying to make some sense of it all before I pulled the trigger.\n\n*Pop*.\n\nI stopped trying to explain it to them long ago. They were a scourge on the Earth, with their superpowers, their arrogance, and their lack of self-control. Entire cities burned in their wake, wiping out entire families with no more than a thought about what their actions had caused. Only I had been blessed with the ability to seek them out, to know who they are even in their private moments.\n\nOnly I could put an end to their plague upon this Earth.\n\n---\n\n[/r/intotheslushpile](https://www.reddit.com/r/intotheslushpile/)"
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Based on an actual pot I saw at goodwill. Cheers! | [WP] Write the story of a small cooking pot that looks like it's gone through hell and back. | 5 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"'Your pot is disgusting. You are disgusting.' She said. 'You should throw it out already.'\n\n'What, this thing?' I banged the cooking pot with my spoon. 'Not a chance. This thing would survive a nuclear apocalypse!'\n\n'So would cockroaches!' \n\n'Listen, this is not up for debate. The pot stays. It's a family heirloom.'\n\n'George. Lockets are family heirlooms. Swords are family heirlooms. *Pots* are not. Family. Heirlooms.'\n\n'Well, this one is.'\n\n'WHY? What kind of demented family has a pot for a heirloom?'\n\n---------\n\n'Cassie, did you know you have a pot down here?' He shouted from the basement. 'Like, a really old pot. You should throw it out.'\n\n'Yeah, right!' I said. 'That thing has been in my family for generations. It would survive a nuclear apocalypse. I'm not gonna go in history as the one who finally threw it out.'\n\n'It looks like it's been to hell.' He said as he came up the stairs.\n\n'Might have been. Like I said, it's indestructible or something. We sing songs about it. Well, not really, but there are stories.'\n\n'Stories?' He asked as he came through the basement door.\n\n'Yeah, like, there was this one time- George! No running with scissors!'\n\n------\n\n'Honey, have you seen Cassie?'\n\n'Nope.'\n\n'Oh. Have you seen the anscestral pot?'\n\n'Nop- wait what?'\n\n'The pot? Been in my family since like the dawn of time?'\n\n'Oh, that old thing? No idea.'\n\n'Huh.'\n\n'Mom! Mom look!' Cassie said as she ran into the room, wearing a blanket as a cape and the pot as a hat. 'I'm- I'm a knight!'\n\n'Cassandra! Do you have any idea how long that pot has been in our family? You can't just- Hand it over, right now!'\n\n'But moooom' She said, gripping the pot tightly. 'It's my helmet! I need it for the dragons!'\n\n'Tell you what young lady.' I said as I crouched and placed my hands on hers. 'Why don't you let me have it and in return I'll tell you story about it. There's no knights and dragons, but as close as it gets to it.'\n\n----------------\n\nThere was an explosion in the distance, which meant I was awake. I stirred and felt pain all over my body. Which meant I was alive. I groaned and opened my eyes. I was in a ruined house. One of the walls was almost completely gone.\n\n'You hungry?' Someone asked. I looked up and saw a soldier crouched by a small fire with a tattered cooking pot hanging over it.\n\n'What?' I managed to asked, still confused as to what was going on.\n\n'Hi. I'm Charlie. Pulled you out of the rubble.' He said, nodding towards a hole in the wall. Outside I could see what was left of my home. It wasn't much. 'Bad news is I got separated from my unit, and my radio is busted, so no idea what we're going to do next. Good news is things are actually almost calm out there right now, and the food's almost ready. So, I ask again, you hungry?'\n\nI looked at the pot. If the inside looked only half as bad as the outside, it still wasn't good enough to make the idea of eating something cooked there appealing. \n\nI heard another explosion in the distance and sighed.\n\n'Yes, I'm hungry.'\n\n------------\n\n'Here, look.' I said as I took out the pot. 'Take this thing, for example. Been in our family for generations.'\n\n'So?' My son asked, shrugging. Teenagers.\n\n'So, do the math, what do you think that means?'\n\n'I don't know. Who cares?'\n\n'Charlie. What's the oldest thing you know?'\n\n'Dunno, Mrs. Hollis?' He said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes, but decided to go with it.\n\n'Right, and why is that?'\n\n'Cause she's a dinosaur or something.'\n\n'Charlie.'\n\n'I don't know what you want me to say dad! And I don't get why this has anything to do with anything! She's the oldest thing I know because she was born like a hundred years ago!'\n\n'Yes! And what happened a hundred years ago?'\n\n'What do you- oh.'\n\n'Yeah.'\n\n'So that pot...'\n\n'Uh huh.'\n\n'Wow.'\n\n'Exactly.' I said. 'And the question is, a hundred years from now, what's going to be left of us? Of you? What stories? What legacy do you want to leave? Is there going to be anything left? Or just a pot?'\n\n-------------\n\n'Mom! Mooom!' \n\nI rushed into the room to see my son holding the pot tightly with both of his hands.\n\n'There's someone outside, mom.' He said.\n\n'It's okay, honey.' I said. 'It's going to be okay. Give me that.'\n\nI took the pot from his hands and looked at it. It looked like hell. Everything did, of course, but this pot was in a especially bad shape - I thought it was weird, until I remembered the story my mother told me about her father, and suddenly it made sense.\n\nI heard something outside and looked out the window.\n\n'Just some wild dogs, honey.' I said as I saw them wander into one of the old ruins. 'Just some wild dogs.'\n\n------------------\n\nThe boy walked the empty streets. He hadn't eaten in days, and he was low on water. He hadn't seen anyone since...\n\n...since he'd left the shelter. His mother had left to look for help, and she'd never returned. He waited for days, longer than he should have. He waited until he couldn't wait anymore, until he had no hope left.\n\nAnd since then he'd been wandering the streets, looking for anything that could help him survive. He looked into his backpack. With his rations gone, all he had left was the pot he'd used to cook them.\n\nJust a pot.\n\nIt would have to do."
] | [
1,
1
] | [
"1489367926",
"1489372118"
] |
[WP] You buy A unique glass chess set and upon returning home, you set up the game and make a few moves for fun having nobody else to play with you leave it be, these moves have a direct connection with real life people and events | 5 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Frank looked down at the frosted chess set. He'd picked up the set at a car boot yesterday afternoon for a steal, and set it up last night, going through the opening moves. He grimaced as he moved the black bishop to take the white queen. It hadn't been the best game for the whites, but he was only playing against himself, and wanted to finish the game before work.\n\nHe glanced over at the TV, catching some of what the reporter had been saying. \"... The shocking murders last night are all everyone is talking about.\" Interested, he left the game and turned the volume up. \"...very own Karen Jones is on the scene. What can you tell us Karen?\".\n\"Well John, this is looking to be the largest string of killings in London since Jack the Ripper, and certainly some of the weirdest. The metropolitan police are appealing for witnesses, and from what we have heard it's possible that the CCTV footage has been altered, though the met has refused to confirm so far. What we do know is that late last night 14 employees at 8 pawn shops across the capital were brutally murdered. Early reports describe the scenes as bloodbaths. There's movement here, looks like we're about to receive a statement.\"\n\"Thank you Karen. We'll go back to the studio and take this opportunity to repeat the other shocking news of the night. A home invasion gone wrong, a national icon slain in his own home. Tributes are flooding in from around the globe for veteran actor Sir Patrick Stewart. Sir Stewart was shot at home last night by 41 year old Josef Amagunye. Sir Stewart was hosting a charity gala at his home when Mr Amagunye, a birdkeeper for London Zoo, entered the property wielding an air rifle. Mr Amagunye fired a shot into the crowd, before being tackled by Sir Ian McKellen, who was tragically unable to prevent his friend from being shot. Both men were taken to St Mary's hospital, where they were pronounced dead just after midnight.\"\n\nShaking his head, Frank just stared at the TV in disbelief. What a start to the day, though he had a niggling feeling something was familiar about all this. Maybe he'd met that Amagunye fellow somewhere, he'd visited the zoo last week after all. He turned his attention back to the screen, where the scene had switched to the news reporter detailing the killings.\n\n\"Yes John, that's been confirmed for us now; it probably comes as no surprise that the Metropolitan police believe this to be the work of a serial killer. They believe that the crime scenes have all been staged with meticulous care, and no eyewitnesses have come forward yet. As you can see, the newspapers are already running with the headlines now: the Mail leads with 'BRITONS MURDERED: GOVERNMENT REFUSES TO COMMENT ON REFUGEES', while the Guardian makes a play on the staged nature of the scenes and their location '14 DEAD AS MET APPEAL FOR INFORMATION ABOUT CHESSMASTER MURDERS'.\"\n\nFrank choked on his drink as he felt a chill run down his spine. He quickly looked at the chess set. It couldn't be. He counted the fallen pawns at the side. 14. Then there, the white knight. He remembered last night, one of his final moves, black rook to F6, then the second White Knight to F6. Was he the Chessmaster? Had he done this somehow? Then he remembered his last move this morning, staring at the White Queen. \"Oh. Fuck.\""
] | [
1,
4
] | [
"1489406441",
"1489417132"
] | |
[WP] Desperate bedside prayers and forbidden love... | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Tasha was asleep already. She was a lightweight at sleepovers, ever since they were little. Emma smiled to herself. Here Tasha was at 16 and still out like a light by nine. \n\nWith a pang of guilt, Emma recognized how beautiful Tasha looked. Her long, black hair was scattered across her pillow. Her soft lips were barely parted and her dark eyelashes flickered as she dreamed. Emma watched her chest rise and fall as she breathed and felt a lump in her throat. \n\n\"Father,\" Emma whispered so softly, she could barely hear her own voice, \"Why did you do this to me?\"\n\nA little tear caught on her eyelash and slid down her cheek. \n\nTasha was a her best friend. Emma had first tried denying the feelings. So many people at church said it was a choice; that people don't *really* feel this way - they just want attention. Emma knew that wasn't right. She hadn't told anyone and she never wanted to - attention was the last thing on her mind. \n\nThe small minority said it wasn't a choice, but it was still a sin. \n\nTasha rolled around and mumbled something nonsensical in her sleep. Emma felt a blush creep across her face. \n\n*\"Why did you make me this way?\"* Tasha silently prayed. *\"Is it a punishment? Will it go away?\"*\n\nIt's not a choice, but acting on it is. *\"I can love her, as long as I don't act on it, right?\"* Tasha asked God. No answer.\n\n*\"It* **is** *love,\"* she continued, *\"I know everyone says it's lust, but you know it's love, right, Father? You know my heart.\"* Another tear escaped. *\"I've loved her for a year and I think she loves me, too.\"*\n\nEmma stared hard and the ceiling and more tears forced their way out, *\"I just don't know what to do. What do you want me to do? Why did you give her to me? Is this a test?\"*\n\n\"Hey,\" Tasha's whisper startled Emma and she let out a quiet sniff, \"Are you - why are you crying?\" She sat half up to look at Emma, her eyebrows arched with concern. They looked at each other too long. It was just too long. Emma fell into Tasha's eyes and everything crashed.\n\n*\"I'm sorry, Father.\"*\n\nShe kissed her. "
] | [
1,
3
] | [
"1489424129",
"1489430545"
] | |
Don't care which. Just do it. | [WP] Write your own iteration of an ancient Greek/Roman myth/epic. | 6 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"“My friends, my countrymen!” bellowed Menelaus. “Lend me your ears!” The man walked around the inner ring of the amphitheatre, resplendent in a golden chlamys, a rectangle of purest white cloth dyed gold, fastened by a brooch on Menelaus’ right shoulder. All eyes followed King Menelaus, high lord of the kings of Greece, fastened onto his wondrous attire or his resplendent bronze xiphos, a short sword. Both accoutrements were fit for a god, which Menelaus surely thought of himself as. Menelaus continued to stride around the center of the amphitheatre, waiting until all the attention of the squabbling minor kings of Greece was focused upon him.\n\nHe looked up at the mass of men sitting in front and around him, languidly laying upon the stone, semicircular rows, feasting upon legs of lamb or amphoras of wine. Most were drunkards, content to be invited to a celebration to curry favor with their overlord. But some…..some were trickier to handle. He felt Odysseus, the trickster king of Ithaca, stare at him. No, some of the lords assembled were wary, and for good reason; they did not usually get invited into a grand council like this unless war was imminent. And, Menelaus thought with a grin, war was certainly imminent. He readied himself, feeling his brother Agamemnon’s bolstering gaze. He looked back at Agamemnon, nodded and obtained a reassuring nod in return, and then addressed the unruly, childish lot that were the kings of Greece.\n\n\n“My friends!” roared Menelaus, a yell met with claps and applause from some of the already inebriated rulers who had helped themselves to a little too much wine.\n“My friends, you have all heard of the truce with Troy, have you not?”\nThe kings grumbled in agreement, a dull roar. They had all sacrificed some soldiers to take part in the brutal naval skirmishes against the kingdom of Troy. Greece was small, but had a capable navy; and under the leadership of High King Menelaus and General Agamemnon, they put up a strong fight against the vastly overwhelming numbers of the Trojan navy. The war was short, ending in a truce. The kings went back to their lands, and the peasants mourned the lost. Menelaus felt both Odysseus and King Agda watch his moves intently; they had both lost many troops in the war, and were staunch political opponents of Menelaus. And yet, even they were not the ones Menelaus had truly set out to snare; no, his interest was upon the son of battles, the indomitable Achilles, seated upon the highest row of the amphitheatre next to his brother Patroclus. They looked interested, if not entertained.\n\n“After years of war, we bested the scoundrels and made our peace. And a good peace, no?”\n\nThe kings nodded and mumbled yes; the oversea trade with Troy was rich and profitable.\n\nMenelaus turned his back to the audience and gazed at the statue of Zeus that stood directly outside the amphitheatre.\n“And yet, we have been lax. Our true enemies- those Trojans- have pretended to be complacent, just so they could strike at the perfect, back-stabbing moment!”\nAll the attention was focused upon Menelaus, as the sun set and the violet clouds shed dark illuminated by the light of the central bonfire. All was silent.\n\n“Last festival of Zeus, ten-and-one days ago, I invited the princes of Troy, Hector and Paris, to my own palace to enjoy the blessings of the thunder god. Last festival of Zeus, my guests betrayed me!”\nThere was a palpable sense of outrage from the assembled crowd. Menelaus grinned inwardly, taking care to maintain the delicately crafted mask of sorrow, anger and pain upon his face. Guest and host relationships were taken seriously by the kings; a host was obligated by divine boundaries set by the gods to be hospitable to the guests, and the guests were bound by those same boundaries to be lawful and kind during their stay. Lack of doing so was heresy, punishable by flogging or death. He was playing the kings like Hermes on a lyre; and by the pantheon, he’d do it well!\n\n“The glorified prince of Troy, that dog Paris, stole my wife! Stole Helen, the embodiment of beauty! And his accomplice that snake, that Hector, aided them and escaped on a ship!”\n\nThey had done no such thing, of course; Menelaus had sent Helen with Paris and Hector, without letting anyone else know. Trade with Troy was good; but an excuse for conquering their land would be even better…….\nThe kings were up on their feet now, yelling and shouting, their sweaty, drunk faces and heaving bulks shining from the light of the fire under the moonlit sky.\n\n“Kings, I ask you now to join me. Join me in taking back my wife, ridding the godless scoundrels of Troy! I will bring you loot, women, riches, glory! We shall conquer!”\nThe kings rose up, exclaiming promises, wolfing down food, and exploding into excitement and drunken laughter as the night lengthened. The midnight bell rung twice, signaling the end of the assembly, and the kings went to their temporary estates to sleep, if only to come back to the amphitheatre the following day to reconvene and make an official decision. Menelaus did not care for the majority; he knew they would follow him. But Achilles… the legend was notorious for his volatility and strength. If Achilles did not come, many kings might second guess their decisions.\n\n“Ho, Achilles!”\n\nAchilles looked back at Menelaus, a curious look upon his young face.\n\n“My lord?”\n\n“Will you be joining me upon this crusade? We could use your prowess, Achilles.”\n\nAchilles looked to the side.\n\n“No, my lord. I cannot. I must care for Patroclus, my brother. I would not force him into war.”\n\n“Then leave him here!”\n\n“Where, my lord? We are orphans. I cannot abandon my flesh and blood. Besides, \nI have no quarrel with those of Troy; I will not kill those with whom I have no fault. I am sorry.”\n\nAchilles walked off, Patroclus by his side. Menelaus walked dejectedly under the moonlight. Without Achilles, he had no compelling military reason for the kings to fight beside him. Already, he could see King Agda talking to other kings, garnering support for a nonviolent approach to discourse with Troy. Menelaus could not let that happen. If it did, if his treachery was found out-- An idea struck him, standing before the statuette of Ares. He gestured Agamemnon over.\n\n“Brother, how would I contact an assassin?”\n\nThe next day, Menelaus was woken from his sleep by screaming and yelling. He ran out the door, smiling inwardly, for he knew what was about to happen. Achilles was kneeling in the courtyard, carrying the bloody, mutilated body of Patroclus. He was screaming and roaring at the other kings, demanding to know the identity of the murderer, ranting and raving--\n\n“Achilles, Achilles,” spoke Agamemnon. “ We will find the murderer. What king is not assembled here? What king has taken this moment to flee and hide?” The murmurs were quiet, and then the shouting broke out. Agda. It started as a bold whisper, but strengthened. Agda, Agda! The assembled ventured into Agda’s room, only to find the king sleeping (drugged by Menelaus’s assassin) and holding a bloody dagger with the insignia of Troy. Achilles ignored logical thought and ran straight for Agda, pulling out his xiphos to administer his justice. Menelaus looked away. Achilles walked up to Menelaus silently, staring him in the eyes.\n\n“You have my sword.”\n\nMenelaus nodded, and Achilles walked away. The high king of Greece felt like the gods had blessed him. Soon, he would have his war. Soon."
] | [
1,
5
] | [
"1489456676",
"1489457760"
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[WP] The Deadweb, the internet for the afterlife only has one website worth looking at. Deddit. You are the Moderator for AskDeddit, and someone has just asked "what do I do if I am here, but still alive?". | 1,282 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Ok, ok, ok, sir, please don't panic. You are just having a near death experience. You shall be returned to your body shortly, but the world will seem a bit weird for a bit.\n\nFor instance, the news will seem a bit weird. Politics will seem like stuff you read on the onion, partially because it seems here you read that a lot. The president will be a celebrity you're familiar with but don't like all that much. Some things may seem like a living nightmare. That's fine, the man upstairs is just showing you a glimpse of hell. Boy were those white supremacists surprised when they got there.\n\nLet's see, what else, what else? Oh yeah, sometimes you may see someone acknowledge your condition directly through, say, a post on /d/writingprompts . This is perfectly normal, you're just rationalizing your current situation by constructing other familiar seeming things around you, such as this subdeddit and indeed /d/writingprompts. Going there right now may even introduce you to a preview of purgatory, which the writer of that prompt called \"Meh-ven\". The stories there will be okay, but not great, but not bad.\n\nYou'll be back in your body soon. And hey, at least you got a preview of what this place is like. Most people don't get that. So, with the mystery of death now gone, you may feel relieved to return to your normal life. Should you get here again, this time presumably upon your actual death, I will be here to help once again. Check out some other subdeddits before your return. Trust me, they could use the traffic.",
"Hi there /r/ConfusedNewbie well, you're off to a great start, you'll officially have more knowledge of this place on your death than most individuals do upon their death. Really this is quite a fortunate thing. I've a few things to cover so, bear with me until the end of the post.\n\nFirstly, you may have noticed some minor details. The poor quality of the air. The mist that doesn't feel wet. The lack of direct sunlight - or any lighting at all for that matter. The shadows that move about in-spite of said lack of direct lighting to cause them. The vague shapes in the mist that never seem to get close enough to make out. The odd muted sounds.\n\nDon't worry about any of this. It's perfectly normal. Well, normal for this place.\n\nThe next thing that you need to consider is that you, unlike everyone else here, are likely to be positively brimming with life. Again, this is really fortunate. The more full of life you are, the longer you're going to last. \n\nNow, on that, the longer you're going to last point.\n\nThere are some reasons why you can't get close to the shapes. \n\nAn unfortunate side effect of dying is the slow loss of yourself. Unless of course you've got something to sustain you. Some sort of energy or sustenance. The majority of beings who end up here don't have the... fortitude of being required to work out how to obtain more. \n\nThose vague shapes in the mist. They're just beings who are experiencing various stages of losing themselves. \n\nNow, onto those shadows. Shadows that move. Those are the sorts of things you need to stay away from. As I mentioned the majority of beings who end up here don't have the fortitude of being required to work out how to obtain more energy. Well, those shadows do. They've worked it out and they know how to cheat the system. How to last here a bit longer.\n\nThey do this by feeding off of the energy that other beings are made of. Beings like those ones who are losing themselves in the mist.\n\nNow, while they're worrying, they aren't the real concern for you right now. Sure, if a pack of them come across you, you'd be mist. The things you, as a living person, need to be worried about are the quality of air and the lack of direct sunlight. The air quality probably more so. Let me explain that in a minute.\n\nWith the lack of direct sunlight means that we don't get a lot of things growing here. So you've got a couple of days to work out what you're going to eat here before you starve to death. \n\nAgain, you don't need to worry about that. Honestly, the reason why this message is so long is just to get you sitting in the one place for a long enough period of time. With regards to that bad air quality. When I say \"bad\" I mean, low oxygen content. Effectively you should be passed out right about now. And good bait for the shadows. Go on gang, get in on that feast.\n\nHonestly, didn't you use Reddit during life - always search before asking a question. \n\nThe living are just daft.",
"Alright let's not panic here. Are you sure you're still alive?\n\nI think so I don't feel any different.\n\nThat's normal a lot of us didn't when we died. Were you doing anything lethal or deadly like?\n\nNope just sitting on my bed.\n\nHeart attack? \n\nI'm 22 and healthy I doubt that's the case.\n\nMaybe a Donnie Darko like situation and you just haven't realized it?\n\nWhat's Donnie Darko?\n\nJeez you kids these days are so uncultured. A movie staring Jake Gyllenhaal with a guy in a weird ass bunny suit and a pre Hunger Games Jena Malone. Any way he got crushed when a plane engine falls into his bedroom.\n\nMaybe I'll go check \n\n3 hours later.\n\nOkay dude you're right I'm dead.\n\nWhat made you come around.\n\nOh would you like to know. Anyway now that I'm dead where do I go.\n\nDude you can't just skirt us your cause of death it's a membership requirement.\n\nWell I'm not telling you.\n\nOkay man you're clearly alive and this isn't the first time I've dealt with your type before. There's thousands of mediums who come here to mess with us so just leave us alone and let us enjoy our after lives in peace. Come back when you're dead.\n",
"Ben stares at his computer screen, his mouth agape as he reads the message. “Do you think this is legit?”\n\nI close my eyes and sigh. All new moderators tend to be naïve about other peoples’ deaths, but even by those standards, Ben is pretty green. “He’s not alive,” I say, shaking my head. “He just isn’t able to face reality yet.”\n\n“How do you know?” Ben has risen from his seat, and is now pacing the room. “I saw a movie about this once. The guy is a quarterback, and they bring him to heaven, but he’s not supposed to be dead. It’s called…”\n\n“Heaven Can Wait.” I rub my aching temples. “Look, the guy’s dead, ok? I don’t know how else to explain it. You’ll understand when you’ve been in the role a little longer.”\n\nNow it’s Ben’s turn to sigh. “Ok, I believe you. But what do we do about him?”\n\n“Well, we have him brought in, and we talk to him.”\n\nBen frowns. “But we’re just AskDeddit moderators. Why us?”\n\nI throw my hands in the air. “I don’t know. No one else wants to do the damn thing, so why not us?”\n\nThe words come out harsher than I had wanted. Ben is giving me a concerned look. “I’m sorry,” I say, “it can just be a little frustrating.” I pick up my phone and hit 2 for speed dial. “Find ImAFather418 and bring him in. And send me his file, while you’re at it.”\n\nI turn to my computer and read through my new email, while Ben watches over my shoulder. By the time I’ve finished, a massive lump has formed in my throat.\n\nBefore I can say anything to Ben, the door to our office opens, and a young man who can only be ImAFather418 storms in. “You’ve got to help me,” he pleads, tears already streaming down his cheeks. “I’m not supposed to be here. My kids need me.”\n\nI muster up the calmest voice I can find. “I know Thomas. Please, sit down.”\n\nThomas obliges, and launches into his speech. Abby is five, and just lost her first tooth. Michael is ten, and his fifth grade basketball team just won the division title. He is building a new house with a big backyard so the kids can play outside, and a nursery for his and Sophie’s third child, who will be coming in two months.\n\nThrough the whole story, I say nothing. I just nod my head and let him get it all out. When he’s finished, I hand him a box of tissues. “It sounds like an amazing time for your family.”\n\nThomas smiles through his tears. “Yeah, it is.”\n\nI bite my lip. “Thomas… What’s the last thing you remember before ending up here?”\n\n“I was working on the house,” Thomas says through ragged breaths. “I was checking the shingles on the roof.”\n\nWe stare at each other for a long time, before a pang of realization hits his face. “I… I fell.”\n\n“Yes.”\n\nI stand from my desk chair, and move to the seat next to Thomas. We sit together for over an hour, with my arm around his side. When he has stopped crying, I help him to his feet. “You are an amazing father, Thomas. Your family loves you very much.”\n\nThe tears come again, this time from my eyes. Thomas gives me a long hug before walking to the door.\n\n“I’m always available to talk,” I say, handing him a business card. “Call me any time.”\n\n“Thank you.” Thomas turns and leaves the room, clutching the card tight in his hand.\n\nI stand in the doorway for several minutes, trying my best to slow my breathing. I turn around to see Ben still in the room, sitting in a stunned silence. I return to my desk chair and browse through the new posts on AskDeddit. It’s a long time before either of us speak.\n\n“I don’t know if I can work here,” Ben finally says.\n\nI nod. “I understand. Sleep on it, ok?”\n\nBen nods, and gathers his things. “Good night, Molly,” he says as he reaches the door.\n\n“Good night, Ben.”\n____________________________\n\n/r/mvdww\n",
"\"Deddit,\" the intern spits out, out of breath as he blasts into my office. \"Deddit.\"\n\n\"Deddit!?\"\n\n\"There's a place called 'Deddit' and it's like Reddit but for the dead.\"\n\n\"Huh. Interesting.\"\n\n\"And then someone still living accesses it by accident.\"\n\n\"Oh. Well, that's kind of specific, are you sure we can't –\"\n\n\"And you are a mod and supposed to help them.\"\n\nI scratch my head. \"Fuck. That's a thinker.\"\n\n\"Yes. But it came straight from above. Board of directors. Big league. They expect a reply in no less than two hours.\"\n\n\"Fuck, man…\" I tap my pen over my little name tag on the table, where, in classy Windsor font engraved against \nwood, the words 'Writing Prompt Content Supervisor' shines in polished silver. \"What do you think? How do we write this one?\"\n\n\"I don't know. I'd start with a funny redditor stereotype.\"\n\n\"Good idea.\" I turn to the computer and I type:\n\n*Redditor McReddit was a young boy with a patchy beard who lived in a basement apartment and --*\n\n\"Wait. What if we subvert the trope?\" the intern asks. \"Have the redditor be a handsome, muscular dude. Or a \ncheerleader-style girl. You know? Messing with the reader's expectations.\"\n\n\"Junior, we're writing a meta story about a Writing Prompt company working to reply the prompt the actual story is \nreplying to. We don't need to pile trope-subversion on top of that. That'll just confuse people.\"\n\n\"Godd point. I don't know what I was thinking.\"\n\n\"That's why you're the intern. You fucking asshole.\"\n\n\"Oh, so subverting the trope is too much, but random cursing is fine? That line seemed really out of place, Alpaca.\"\n\n\"Just... let's go back to the story, Junior.\"\n\nI type:\n\n*One fine morning, McReddit, still sleepy from his restless dreams of videogames and Cheetos and paradisiac \nplaces where the Mountain Dew is always cold and the girls never friendzone the nice guys, accidentally typed \n'Deddit' instead of 'Reddit' in his browser. And a weird thing happened.*\n\n\"Uuh. Sounds intriguing.\"\n\n\"JUNIOR SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!\"\n\n\"I really feel like the gratuitous abuse of the intern is not fitting in with the rest of the tone you're going for,\" Junior insists. \"You might consider removing it. It's cluttering your sto –\"\n\nI slap him across the face. \"It's too late. I'm committed to it now.\"\n\nI keep typing:\n\n*McReddit started a thread on AskDeddit explaining that he was still alive, and asking for help. The thread quickly climbed to the first spot, getting even more upvotes than the previous top-of-all-time posts, which were, respectively, a thread titled: 'Hey, Deddit, what are some things that the living do that they don't know is annoying?' followed by nineteen consecutive threads requesting stories about sexual experiences in the afterlife. A few minutes after McReddit posted his question, someone replied…*\n\nI stop. \"Replied with what?\" I ask, looking up at Junior. \"What could the reply be?\"\n\n\"You know you have very heavy hands.\" Junior rubs his cheeks. \"That slap hurt.\"\n\n\"Junior, for the love of God, focus. We have to deliver this reply in…\" I check my watch. \"Shit. We're almost out of time.\"\n\n\"Why didn't you say the actual time we have left? Why did you just say 'almost out of time'?\"\n\nI don't answer.\n\n\"You don't remember how long you gave your characters to write the reply at the start of the story, do you? And you're too lazy to go up there and check it.\"\n\n\"Fuck you, Junior.\"\n\n\"God damn it, Alpaca, it's a two word document. Just scroll up and go check it.\"\n\n\"You're a disgrace to this company.\"\n\n\"At least I don't go meta every time things get hard.\"\n\n\"WELL, THEN HELP ME! I'M TRYING NOT TO GO META THIS TIME!\"\n\n\"Dude. You are writing about yourself talking to an intern about replying to the prompt that you're writing the reply \nto, that's like the fucking definition of meta right there.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes, yes, but, but! That's the *actual* Alpaca going meta, not me. I am a character in this meta story, and \nthe story *I'm* trying to write is not meta. His is, but that's his problem. My story is *not* meta.\"\n\nNot yet, motherfucker.\n\n\"Who said that? Who said -- *did the actual author say that!?* Oh, for fuck's sake, Alpaca!\" I tell myself-the-writer-not-myself-the-narrator, turning towards the… fuck, I guess camera? What the fuck do I call the forth wall in a story? Anyway you get it. \"Can we have ONE story where you don't pull this crap?\"\n\nSorry, man. Back to writing your story. We gotta find an ending to McRedditor and, unfortunately, we wrote \nourselves into a corner, so meta it is.\n\n\"We didn't write ourselves into a corner, the prompt itself calls for light-hearted, joke responses,\" Junior says. \"it's \nhumoristic. Deddit and all. I think we'll be fine.\"\n\nSee? We're fine, fictitious Alpaca.\n\n\"Fine,\" I say to my real self. \"Just have me write the ending then, people are getting impatient.\"\n\nI (the character-narrator, not the author) turn to the computer. I type:\n\n*McRedditor checked the top upvoted reply he got on the thread: it was a comment. A very big comment. It was a story, actually. It looked like… a prompt reply.*\n\n\"AH, JESUS, MAN, SERIOUSLY!?\" I (narrator) ask myself (author).\n\n*The first line of the story read -- '\"Deddit,\" the intern spits out, out of breath as he blasts into my office. \"Deddit.\"'* \n\n\"GREAT. NOW MCREDDITOR IS READING THIS STORY. THE CHARACTER FROM YOUR STORY IS WRITING A STORY ABOUT A CHARACTER WHO IS READING THE ORIGINAL STORY YOU'RE WRITING WHICH IS ABOUT ME WRITING ABOUT HIM. WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU GO FROM THERE!?\"\n\nI (author) don't speak. I (narrator) don't not speak. Junior does not speak.\n\nThe door comes open.\n\nIt's McRedditor.\n\nBecause at this point really why not.\n\n\n_____\n\n/r/psycho_alpaca\n",
"Hi, /g/DyingLiveGirl!\n\n**Thank you for your submission to /d/askdeddit!**\n\nUnfortunately your submission has been removed because it violates **Rule δ:** *All Mediums, Psychics and Necroscopes must read the FAQ before posting.* This is to cut back on what the community views as spam every time a newly awoken medium, psychic, etc, discovers their powers or Deddit.\n\nIf you feel your submission was removed in error, you can discuss it with the moderators by replying to this message."
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[WP] On a bet, a superhero and supervillain switch places for the day. | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"It stood tall over the two men, dark and strong, powerful, its Eyes white. I'd heard the stories of course and they all said the same thing, If you'd done nothing wrong, you had Nothing to fear from the batman. \n\nBut much as I wanted to thank him to cry and gush at my saviour, he turned, and the way he moved... it was wrong. His strides were too long, his legs too thin. it had the shape of a man, but stretched out too much, too thin.\n\nI looked up into its mask, no flesh was visible, just teeth. far bigger and more numerous than any human mouth. it stared at me. \n\nI said \"thank you\".\n\nIt replied \n\"No Problem. I'll see you again tomorrow\" "
] | [
1,
2
] | [
"1489508460",
"1489509798"
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[WP] Instead of the witch hunts, church officials were hunted by sorcerers. It is now present day, how do you spend your days. | 11 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The screams downstairs float in agony, begging to be heard, a suffering unfit for ears. My old age hits me and nostalgia breeches its gaps. My mind escapes to a time long ago. The screams float. The world bends, shimmers and breaks from memory.\n\n\nLong ago my people were servants of God. We spread His word. We did His work. The world then was dark and unkind, cruel and Satanic. It was the price to pay for heaven, the challenge to beg for mercy. The world then was dark.\n\n\nMy forefathers were tortured. Death came slowly, but always with their immediate taunt, their overbearing promise. For Godly men, death was like the cross, worn always for a greater good.\n\n\nMy father was a man of God. His father before him. Many generations back. There are stories passed on that would seem legend, a fiction of the gullible. My family is old. My family suffered much.\n\n\nMy great grandfather, in that time of antiquity, in that time of simplicity, was burned at the stake, his charred bones strung up on the cross. He was a preacher. He was a Godly man. But the devil's minions were easily seduced and they possessed dark powers beyond the light. Such powers overcome my great grandfather. Such powers led to his suffering. \n\n\nHe was killed with my grandfather only a child. He was burned as Lucifer himself was burned. Such a disgrace! The world's injustice has shone brightly on my family.\n\n\nAnd so it has been ever since. Truth be told, those days hold some nostalgia for me. I wonder of the times when things were so transparent. When things were so black and white. These days there are no sorcerers. These days, church going folk like myself are more simple. We are no longer knights of God, but only His peasants. The crusades are over. The Great Conversions have passed.\n\n\nThe world is too preoccupied and the magic is lost. I miss the simpler times.\n\n\nThe screams echo below and I feel sad, an intense melancholy. The man dying, the man slowly being cooked in oil has no idea of his heritage. He is simply my neighbor. God works in mysterious ways. His kind has hunted God fearing innocents like my family for centuries. His kind has spread the seeds of the Devil throughout the unsaved world. His kind is long over due to suffer. Yet he knows nothing.\n\n\nA twang of regret fills me. It is the Devil's work. I listen to his screams and focus on the pleasure. I am doing good. I only lament this modern world. This world that cares not for God nor the Godly struggle. Five hundred years ago I would be hailed a hero for boiling this heretic. Now I do it amongst apathy and secrecy. God's goodwill is my only reward. It is enough. His screams fill my ears."
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1,
1
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"1489508827",
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[WP] You are a ceo of a company that manufactures Mirrors, solar panels and you also have subsidiaries in a garlic farm and cross manufacturer, when one night a bunch of pale figures in all black with red eyes visit your office..... | 2 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The man with the red eyes neither spoke nor stirred as he sat, arms folded, in the leather chair on the far side of my office. I don't know how he got into my office, or even how long he's been here, but when I looked up from my computer screen there he was... silently staring at me. The shadows of the room hiding most of his face except his eyes. His eyes are fixed on me like two glowing red embers. I can't tell who he is... but I know what he is.\n\nNever speak first. Always make the other guy show his cards before you show yours. These were the words my father, the self-proclaimed expert negotiator, hammered into my head. But my father never had to sit across from this man with glowing red eyes. His stillness is as unnatural as it is unsettling. I can't stop my damn fingers from fidgeting and this man is a freaking statue. \n\nMy mind goes back to the dumb question people would always ask me: \"You don't really believe in them, do you?\" No. No, I don't. It's weak, but I get the joke. On the surface, our company does have a strangely diverse business portfolio. Mirrors, solar, garlic, crosses. Connect the dots and yeah it sounds batshit crazy. But here's the thing that people don't get, I don't give a shit about vampires. I give a shit about making money. \n\nMy grandfather started a mirror company in 1957. When my father took over the family business he tried to sell mirrors to the solar industry (or as he called it \"the industry of the future\"). No dice there - the tech didn't work. But my father, a man who never let an idea die, said \"fuck it\" and bought our future cash cow, Star Light Solar Company. \n\nSpeaking of cows, the farm was another of my father's brilliant ideas. By living and operating our businesses from a working form we graciously allowed Uncle Sam to pay more than half our taxes for years. That loophole closed, but the farm still makes a profit. Sure, it grows garlic. It also grows potatoes, spinach, and kale... but folks don't make smart-ass comments about those. \n\nThe Christian trinkets? That one was for my wife... mostly. She always felt like we didn't \"honor God\" with our business. So, investing in that online Christian do-dad re-seller really seemed to put her at ease. Plus, the markup on those little crosses is ridiculous.\n\nI actually keep a handful of those crosses in the top drawer of my desk. Not that I put much stock into them. I've never been religious. I keep them there because they are good to show clients. Let them see and hold the products. Also, it never hurts to play up the Christian angle. \n\nBut, right now, in the silent tension, I really want one of them in my hands. Would it protect me? My mind races. These crosses are made of pewter. Don't they have to be made of sterling silver to work? Wait. Isn't silver is a werewolf thing? Well, it would be better than nothing. It's not like I have a basket of garlic laying around.\n\nThe silence is getting unbearable. The man with the red eyes hasn't moved a muscle. I don't even this he's breathing. But somehow, his eyes are even more intense. It hurts my eyes to look into them, but I can't pull my gaze away. Fear keeps my eyes locked on his. At least I'm telling my self it's fear and not something I can't explain.\n\nAs the silence grows so does an atmosphere of malevolence. As each minute passes, I feel more and more that the man with the red eyes wants nothing good of me. While he isn't speaking, he is breathlessly communicating intense anger through his stare. \n\nWithout breaking eye contact, I subtlety slip my hands into my top drawer of my office desk. My hands, unaccustomed to working independently of my eyes, feel their way through the drawer contents. Stapler... calculator... fuck. Why don't I have these crosses hanging on my wall or something? That would have kept this guy from sneaking in, right? Sticky notes... ah... got it!\n\nI finger the edges of the cross until it's in my palm and slowly bring it to my lap. It's a Celtic design, made of pewter, and about 3.5 inches tall. It'll have to do.\n\nThough I still don't believe in it, the having the cross in my hand actually manages to calm my nerves just enough that I can focus my mind on who I am. My father would roll over in his grave if he saw his son shaken any confrontation. No, that's not who I was raised to be. \n\nGaze still fixed, I muster the strength to remove all fear from my eyes and take a deep breath. Holding the metal cross in both hands like the saints in old paintings, I rest my arms upon my desk and flash my best negotiator's smile.\n\n\"I suppose you're not here to buy these?\"\n\nSilence. Damn. Why couldn't I have said something better? I don't even know if he heard me. I don't even know if it's alive. \n\nI'm about to open my mouth again when a movement breaks the stillness like glass. The man with the red eyes leans in just enough to reveal his familiar face from the shadows. Three words. \n\n\"Never speak first.\" "
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1,
1
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"1489527059",
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[WP] A child playing outdoors finds a door in the middle of the woods. To anyone else, it's just a piece of abandoned wood, but with a bit of imagination... | 14 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"My childhood was a nightmare you remembered in painstaking detail and tried to forget. No one loved me. I was all alone. Until one day I walked into the woods. Further Further trying to get away from it all. After walking for hours on end I colapsed. My tired eyes spotted a small wooden door on a tree. I fell asleep next to the door with fairies twirling all around me. For once in my life I felt safe. The next days I sat there with the fairies playing having a time of my life. The fairies brought me food and showed me a stream I could drink from. The fairies were a family I never had. I stayed with the fairies for an awfully long time until one day a tall man came by. He stepped all over the fairies garden. Crushing them all under his boot. I was furious how could someone be so ruthless. He reached out and lifted my shivering malnourished body off the ground. I tried to twist out of his grip but I was too tired and he too strong. I must've fallen asleep because the next thing I know I am in an armchair in front of a fire. Time passes and I begin to trust him. He was a loving Father I never had. Yesterday I turned 17 and he showed me where he found me shivering next to an old rotting piece of wood leaning against a great old tree. "
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1,
3
] | [
"1489545753",
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Anything that will cheer people up and make them happy :) | [WP] A happy story about a ghost and a student becoming friends. | 5 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Alice and Olivia were the best of friends. Every day after school Olivia would wait for Alice at the crosswalk. She enjoyed their walks because it gave her a chance to hear about Alice's experiences with her classes and studies. Alice liked having the company of Olivia since she hadn't made many friends yet since she moved to town. \n\nAs Olivia waited for Alice, she looked around at the crosswalk and road. It wasn't long ago that she had been here as a complete being, not just a spirit. She didn't like to dwell on the circumstances of her death or why she hadn't moved on. Her accident had shown the need for safer practices for students walking home. Specifically the need for the crosswalk that she currently occupied. Knowing other children could be spared her fate made her happy. \n\nAlice wasn't even aware of Olivia's accident when they first met. To her, Olivia looked like any other student leaving the school. She was standing at the curb and was about to step into the street when she tripped over her shoelace. Olivia instinctively reached out and grabbed her before she hit the ground. They looked at each other in surprise. Alice for the fact that a stranger had helped her and Olivia for the fact that Alice could actually see her. \n\n\"Th...Thank you, I'm always so clumsy. My mom always tells me to double-knot my shoes but I always forget.\" said Alice as she stood back up.\n\n\"Umm, you can... You can see me?\" replied Olivia.\n\n\"Of course I can, why wouldn't I be able to?\"\n\nOlivia looked around and saw a couple kids watching Alice, wondering who she was taking to. She didn't want anyone to think something was wrong with Alice. \"I think we should get walking, I'll tell you as we go.\"\n\nAs they got to an area with no people around, Olivia stopped walking and began to speak. \"This is weird, usually no one notices me. What's your name?\"\n\n\"I'm Alice, what's your name? Do you not have any friends either? That's why no one notices me, I'm new here so I don't know anyone yet.\"\n\nOlivia answered, \"My name is Olivia. And well, it's a little more complicated than that. You see, I'm not alive anymore. I stay near that crosswalk because that is where I had my accident. I saw you start to fall, and as a reflex I just reached out to you. I've never actually been able to touch anything before now. You...aren't scared of me now, are you?\"\n\n\"No! It's amazing actually! I'm just glad that you were nice enough to attempt to help me. Can we be friends?\" asked Alice.\n\n\"You want to be friends with me, a ghost? Well it has been lonely with nobody talking to me, and you're the first person who can, so of course I'd like to be your friend!\" said Olivia excitedly.\n\nIt didn't matter to either of the girls, they were both happy to have each other's company. Olivia had to occasionally remind Alice to not talk too much while they had people around them, since people would only be able to see and hear her side of the conversation. They both were able to relieve each other's loneliness, and their friendship lasted for years.\n\n***\n\n\n\nVisit r/SilentJo to see more of my writing!\n"
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1,
1
] | [
"1489560966",
"1489602035"
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[WP] I didn't have time. | 0 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"I thought you got it when you left the house?\" Larry started.\n\nI sat in a chair in the hospital waiting room looking at nothing in particular. Rubbing my forehead, \"I didn't have time. I got the call and I came right here.\" \n\nCheryl sat quietly as we waited for news. She called the ambulance; saw dad laying on the floor of his bedroom. Who knew how long he was there. \n\nI'll get it when I get back.\" \n\nLarry finally sat down but still fidgety. \"I told him that he should have eaten better. He's had heart disease for years, for fucks' sake.\" \n\n\"No argument from me.\" I added. \"When I'm back, I'll get his insurance policy.\"\n\nThe doctor entered the waiting area. \"He's stable but still unconscious. He had a massive heart attack and we can't tell how long he was out. We may have to resort to surgery if his condition doesn't improve.\" \n\n\"Thanks, Doc.\" I muttered as my brother berated him with questions.\n\nI sat back down stunned. There always seemed to be enough time. But I guess it does run out.\n\n",
"Must be nice. All these people walkin' around with their *time*. Oh hey look at me! I know when to wake up! I know when my TV show starts! I know what day it is! Yeah? Well If I had any time I'd know those things too. It's not that impressive. In fact, it's not impressive at all, any doofus can figure those things out when ya got time. The *real* skill is in figuring out what time it is off of context clues. Everyone's all dressed up in suits? Must be a work day for these degenerates. Everyone's eating eggs? Looks like the sheeple need their \"breakfast\" in the \"morning\". What a waste of space time is. I don't need it. I manage. I go to the train station when the sun is shining and juggle. Time is for suckers, I don't have time and I do great. They're all so stupid for being shackled to time. I'd feel bad for them if they weren't all so smug. Lookin' at their watches, lookin' at their phones, puttin' clocks on everything. Oh no! I'm gonna be *late*! You're here *early*! *When* were you planning on going? Pfffft, who needs that nonsense? If they can't manage their lives without time then that ain't my problem. I'll just keep jugglin' and keep makin' dollars. A person doesn't need time to get by. These people are just too stupid to figure that out."
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[WP] The knight goes to rescue the princess in the tower - but when he arrives, he finds that she is already dead | 4 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"He was known as the Rose Knight. \n\nHe carried a red rose in the fold of his gorget when he rode into battle and when he left, he was painted in blood. He was famed for a talent with the spear, the refinement of his appearance and for his loyalty towards the king. \n\nIt wasn't unsurprising that the princess of the realm grew curious about his person as many young ladies did. She heard great tales of his exploits from her courtiers and there were feast songs sung of his deeds. \n\n\"Why do you serve the king, Rose Knight?\" she asked him one day, amidst the gardens of the palace. He had been practicing his spear in the nearby yard, his strikes fast and swift. He paused when he saw her and bowed his head. \n\n\"My lady, I have taken an oath to serve the king, as my father and his father has before him.\" \n\nIt was a quick answer, a flat answer. He seemed to resume his practice without even glancing at her. She was more curious still, for many sought to gain her attention that they might use her influence with the throne for their own ends. \n\n\"Introduce yourself to me, Rose Knight.\" she commanded, waiting for his reply. \n\nHe tilted his head. He bowed. His eyes seemed to slide past her form with the same empty placidity he always seemed to hold. \"I am Allain of Argseer, known as the Rose Knight.\" \n\nShe spoke with him. He spoke back, after a fashion. He had never been a particularly talkative man and he bad been isolated more still with the fame and infamy attached to his name. \n\n\"Rose Knight, why do you fight?\" she asked, seeking him on lonely balconies and quiet gardens. \n\nHe wasn't stupid. He could see the signs of her infatuations clearly. He wondered at the hints of love she weaved into her carefully chosen words and the careless brushes of her fingertips.\n\nHe was the Rose Knight, an empty red beast of the fields. He was brought up to obey the whims of the crown. \n\n\"Why do you fight, Rose Knight?\" \n\nHe couldn't smile, but he could look at her with all his attention as he softly said, \"For you.\" \n\nIt was the answer she wanted to hear. It was the answer he had been taught to give. The princess was very pleased. \n\nThe king was not pleased, but Allain was a loyal and famous knight. When he heard of his daughter's feelings, he had the Rose Knight assigned to the furthest outpost on a rumour of a wyvern's nest. \n\nAllain travelled without delay. The princess bade him to return soon to the castle. She did not know of wyverns unlike him. She did not know of his almost certain death should they attack him in the numbers reported. \n\nHe left for the outpost. He stayed when he heard news that the kingdom was being invaded. The king refused to call him to aid so he stayed until a letter from the princess bade him to return immediately. \n\nThe castle had been taken. The king had been beheaded. She was waiting for his rescue in a tower fort by the shores of the Vieron Lake. He hastened aquickpy towards the tower fort. \n\nHe smelled the blood before he saw it, a great miasma of red that rose and flowed within the grand lake under the light of the waning moon. He walked past corpses in the fortress and fended off the scavenging crows. \n\nHe slipped up the highest tower to find a body waiting for him up above. \n\nThe princess had starved to death long ago as the tower had run out of supplies. She had likely died before her letter had even reached him. \n\nHe stared down at the rotted remains and sat down by the dead princess. His spear felt heavy on his back. His soul felt stirred and eager for blood- the only true emotion he had ever managed to stir in himself. \n\n\"I am sorry.\" he murmured to the corpse. \"I could never have learned to loved you in refurn.\" "
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[WP] Using one of your favorite songs as inspiration, tell me a story that utilizes the music as a soundtrack and/or is based off the lyrics. | 11 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Am I too late OP?\n\nZina Lahr\n\nStick To Your Guns\n\nI’m running. I just know I have to get away. There was a man, a tall man with red-brown hair and black eyes. This was my first clue, No reumin naturally has those two features. He found his way into my lab where I was making my newest creation, a lightning gun that runs off the bio-electrical impulses of the user. An idea I had in my mind from the last run in I had with Soro Hanosh. It’s supposed to be my day off but I was so inspired that, well, I couldn’t even sleep! So I got up bright and early to come here. I was the only one, Celv and the others probably aren’t even awake yet! My part of the lab is deep inside an a few levels down underground.\n\nWhile I was soldering in a transistor, this man snuck up on me. “Hello, Zina” he said. I jolted. I must’ve not tightened my goggles enough, because they fell down my face a bit obstructing my vision. Hoping out of my seat and sheathing my goggles on my forehead I took a look at this intruder. “How did you get in here?”\n\nHe took a step forward “You left the front door open”\n\n“Stay right there! Who are you?” I raised one hand and put another on a pocket of my utility belt.\n\n“What you can’t tell?” He said raising the back of his hand towards me, showing his Deslics, the organs all Reumins have on the back of their hands. These organs act like a particle detector, sensing radiation. In cases like mine, I have a heightened sense there; I can feel certain vibes around me including peoples health and mental states, as well as distinguish each person’s individual aura. I got no vibe from this man. Not at first anyways. This was my second clue. I can distinguish someone’s soul immediately and tell numerous people apart like this. I felt nothing from him. Either he has a counter to my ability or he has no soul.\n\n“Oh, interesting.” He said. “My name is Root. I didn’t mean to alarm you.” He telekinetically raised the soldering gun I dropped from the floor and raised it in front of him. How is he doing this? I disabled his powers the moment he startled me. \n\nRoot stood there holding the tool before his eyes, staring at it inquisitively as it floated before him. Can I not disable his powers? I put two fingers to my eyebrow and squinted in concentration. The red-hot tip of the soldering gun changed direction so that it faced towards me. \n\n“I do however, mean to kill you.” He then launched it at me. My power engaged just in time. The tool hit the floor before it reached me. That’s my third clue. I opened my belt pocket and threw some small black balls at him. He caught them with his telekinesis, but I smirked and put on my goggles. They exploded with a loud pop and a flash of light, dissipating to a cloud of smoke. I turned and ran. One corner than the next, I slipped as I turned the third and had to gain my balance with a hand on the floor. I can go to Celv’s lab. He’s got a prototype of his new Vr-1111. A gun of sorts that he says he designed with the intention of temporarily amplifying its targets powers and abilities, however right now it shoots duds, except when I’m the one wielding it. When it’s me, I make the target out of sync with physical reality and temporarily put them half into the aether, when that happens, I gain a unique understanding of that person. Being Eincane Aether, you could say it’s my element.\n\nI reached the door and got inside. “Is this what you were looking for?” Said Root. He beat me here. How? This makes no sense, it’s starting to freak me out.\n\nHe had his eyes gazing at a book he held in one hand. In his other was a cannon like device with six chambers, each shielded by a transparent crystalline coating. There was a ultraviolet plasma flowing inside that only reumin eyes could see. It was exactly what I was looking for. Root laughed “Oh it is! That’s nice to know. Let’s see Eincane Aether, what exactly this does in my hands. I’m a special snowflake too you know!” He bit his lip and pulled the trigger. Then he rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, really?”\n\nQuickly, I reached in another pocket and spread a bed of little shards across the floor at the door and ran. I need another plan. I managed to buy enough time to get a few rooms away. He bought my trick. Those shards weren’t an actual trap, they were just some spare nuts and gears. I bluffed my way out of there, but now I need to actually escape. Suddenly, “Are you serious?!?” thundered through the air and I heard a loud bang. Did he figure it out yet? “Yes, it looks like I won’t be able to make much progress without your help!” He yelled. \n\nI found my way to another room, one we use to specialize in weaponry. I loaded up as quick as I could. A flintlock pistol, a sword, some throwing stars, a dagger, and a few more flashbang smokebombs, and some other suprizes. It all fit in the straps and holsters of my gear. I peeked my head out of the back door of the room. No one there, I left quietly as I could. I heard his voice again, though I couldn’t pinpoint from where “Zina, Zina, Zina. Always so eager to be everyone’s friend aren’t you? Why don’t you come out and say hello? Shake my hand, or do reumins not do that?” I traversed the endless corridors. I know my way, it’s just a matter of getting there. “All these friends of yours, they’re going to turn on you. Every last one. Then you’ll out live them all, spending an eternity in isolation as they die one by one. Stop trying to please them.” The words shocked me at first, but they’re lies, I see right through them. He’s not a good person. I can’t let him escape with any of this stuff. In the wrong hands the equipment here can be devastating.\n",
"[Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS6n2Hx9Ykk)\n*****\n\n**Yorkshire 1969**\n\nHe watched her zigzag through the audience – her flowing white dress, like the sails of a keelboat on a heaving ocean of people. There was something genuine about Linda. Sure, she was naïve and quite the stargazer, but she was real. She was not your typical groupie – she treasured the glittering spark of talent in the musicians and loved them for the golden melodies they were able to compose, but it was never in a sexual way unless she wanted that. \n\nEven from stars like Dylan, Gilmour, and Plant, she got whatever she asked for with but a word, and always for free. Everyone knew and adored her, and that pissed him off. She had never said a bad word to him and always been supportive of his music, but he knew that she held the other – more famous – musicians in a higher regard, even if she would never admit it. None of this was, however, the reason why she had to die.\n\nThe reason was that he wanted it to happen – from the first time he had laid eyes on her, he had desired her dead. That was all there was to it. He hurried down the road, his shadow tall from the stage lights, and then started following her through the crowd. \n\t\nNear the tree line, the meaty smoke from the campfires presented itself to the shy morning mist, like an incongruous Chevalier to a young maiden. It was there he lost sight of her – just as the playful white coils whirled around her blonde hair, and rose in rings through the trees. There was still time to change the road he was on, but he so desperately wanted this. He had dreamed of it – of voiding that coy smile.\n*****\nA tiny brook carefully splashed its way through the undergrowth, and from one of the larger poplars rang the chirrupy tones of a songbird. In the distance the new day slowly dawned over the crowd at the Brimleigh Festival, their voices and laughter echoing through the forest. Linda turned her gaze west, where the sun had vanished a few hours ago. A deep sorrow pulsated through her heart. This was one of those times when she wondered if she had done the right thing. Was there such as thing as right and wrong? She had traded her infant son for the chance to live her life to the fullest. She had bought herself a second chance at youth, but at what cost? It was hard always wondering what could have been. \n\nA bustle in one of the shrubs made her stir. She was deep inside the grove now. At first, her heart drummed, and she felt her mouth go dry. Her primal instincts told her to be alarmed before her common sense kicked in. There was nothing to fear out here – the people at the festival were the most decent human beings she knew. They were a big happy family. She smiled when someone put an arm around her neck, and a knife through her heart.\n\t\nFor a moment everything stood still. Above her, the wind was blowing away the obscuring mists from the trees – as well as from her mind – abolishing fears and delusions. As the last moments of her life seeped away, the sudden gust simmered down to a soothing whisper, rustling through the leaves. The truth had come to her at last – all the materialistic things she cared about meant nothing in the grand scales of the universe. She took one last trembling breath and ascended the stairway to heaven.\n*****\n[/r/Lilwa_Dexel](https://www.reddit.com/r/Lilwa_Dexel/comments/5foev0/welcome/)",
"The man approached the woman under the tree. They had been here many times before, when the tree changed from its autumn leaves to its spring cherry blossom buds. Under this tree, they had shared meals, kisses, and dreams. Unlike his past visits to the tree, he wasn't happy. Clouds were rolling in, but it wouldn't rain yet. The wind picked up and tousled her dark hair. He stared at it as he trudged to the tree, dreading what was to come. \n\nShe stared back. Her dress is simple and white, and it reminds him of their first date. She begins to speak. \"Just leave it alone, Jerry. We can move past it if we just forget.\" Her eyes are pleading. Jerry knows she is sincere. And yet, he knows he must end it. \"You can't do that to me and expect it to be okay. You can't tell everyone secrets I meant only for your ears. \" He stops staring at her. His voice breaks. \"Oh Miranda, how could you. I really trusted you. You know how hard that is for me, you know how long it took.\" She takes a breath. \"I know I messed up. But no one cares, I swear it. No one asks about it. We can make this work.\"\n\nHe looks in her eyes again. \"No. We can't. This isn't about them. This isn't the first time you have shared secrets. Goodbye. Mike will pick up your stuff and drop it off. I expect you to find a friend to do the same. We had a good year, until you ruined it.\" \n\n(Song- Cherry Tree, by The National) ",
"(the song that inspired my question in the first place, Burn the Witch from Radiohead. I'm no writer, and I'm working from my phone, so please bear with me while I struggle to convey the imagery that runs through my head)\n\n*Intro*\n\nThe museum is closed. Night has fallen. The exhibits are shrouded in dull grey, illuminated by stacatto pathlights in the hallways. All is quiet.\n\n*first verse*\n\nA window in the back is smashed in, and a hand reaches in and unlatches the lock. Three young men quietly slip into the shadows of the nearby exhibits, barely stifling their giggling. Mischief makers, heads set on a college prank. Sharpies in hand, they're about to adorn the antiques with phallic symbolism and sophomoric vulgarity.\n\nThey don't realize the lone security guard heard the noise, and is already on the way to investigate.\n\nOne of the pranksters spots a painting on the wall, an dull, colorless relic from some gothic era. A faceless Angel in a grayscale scene adorns the canvas, what a perfect opportunity for some petty graffiti. His friends dare him to deface it. He unlatches the velvet cord and approaches.\n\nThe guard rounds the corner, and sees two idiots laughing as one culprit approaches THE painting. The culprit has a marker in hand, and is reaching up to the faceless Angel. Terror springs him into action, and he runs. He desperately yells \"STOP!!\" But he's too late.\n\n*chorus*\n\nEverything is happening in slow motion. The tip of the marker touches the canvas, and sinks in. The blank face gives way, and sucks in the culprit's hand up to his wrist. The pain is immediate, though not unpleasant. Like his whole hand was scabbed over, and is now being stripped down to new skin.\n\nHis friends watch, and surprise slowly stretches their faces.\n\nThe guard is slowly sprinting towards them, his mouth screaming silent pleas.\n\nThe painting is talking, the culprit thinks... What is it saying? Is that... Is that Latin? The painting pulls him in, seduces him, dominates his senses. A red light fills his vision, and strange shapes begin to appear. He feels rough hands tug at his sides...\n\n*second verse*\n\nThe guard pulls the culprit away just in time. He yells for the two idiots to help him, but they're too animated with terror. Together they create a cacophony of nervous cursing and ranting disbelief\n\nBut the culprit can't hear any of this. He can't tell what is happening. Is someone pulling on him? He can't seem to find his balance. He still hears the Latin, still sees the red shapes swimming in his vision. Everything else is peripheral. His head swims and he vomits.\n\n The guard stops, gooseflesh raising on his skin. This is bad. The culprit needs to be restrained quickly. He grabs the culprit's wrists and pulls him from THE painting as fast as he can, pushing aside the idiots as he goes. His handcuffs are in the office. He has to make it. Sweat drips on the neck.\n\nThe vomitting stops, the young man's head stops reeling, and the images begin to focus. The Latin begins to make sense somehow, it's a simple phrase being repeated... What is she saying? Suddenly his senses become acute. He feels himself being dragged away, and his head snaps upright. The red Angel is getting further away. She's extending her hands out to him. She's calling to him. Now he understands. She wants him to set her free.\n\n*chorus*\n\nEverything is happening in slow motion. The guard is yanked violently as the culprit pulls back with unnatural strength, and the guard loses balance. He looks up, and the culprit is sprinting back to the painting. Terrified, he screams for the idiots to stop the culprit, and reaches frantically for his gun. \n\nThe idiots scream. Why hass their friend's eyes turned red? Terror paralyzes them and all they can do grab for each other and scream like idiots. \n\nThe guard pulls out the gun, a standard 9mm. Everything depends on him taking the culprit down. He fires the pistol repeatedly, emptying the clip. As everything happens in slow motion, he prays.\n\nBoth idiots take bullets to the head. They go down. Collateral damage.\n\nA few bullets whiz past, and sink into the painting, lost forever.\n\nThe culprit takes 4 hits, one in each leg, and two in the back. He falls forward.\n\nThe guard is in shock, an empty pistol in his shaking hand. \n\nThe culprit gets back up.\n\nThe guard stops shaking, frozen to the ground. He has failed.\n\nThe culprit limps towards the painting, stretches out his hands.\n\nThe guard raises his arms up over his eyes and screams.\n\nEverything is happening in slow motion.\n\n*outro*\n\nImmediately upon touching the painting, the culprit is pulled in in his entirety. A burst of red light explodes across the museum and sets the walls ablze. Amidst the inferno, a red figure steps out of the painting, unfurls her leather wings. She walks up to the guard, her steps leaving a trail of fire. She reaches out and lifts his face to meet hers. A hungry smile reveals fresh teeth. The last thing the guard sees is her eyes open.",
"[**Nuclear Attack**](https://youtu.be/mzDkwqCF7fs)\nMetal wings roaring,\nCircling over their prey.\nBombardier awaits.\n.\nThe beast's stomach opens,\nThe little boy is falling.\nThe death blow has come.\n.\nTimer is counting,\nWaiting to burn like the sun.\nAltimeter click.\n.\nUranium slug\nAchieving critical mass.\nThe sky is burning.\n.\nCity is destroyed,\nBlack rain falling on ashes.\nA new age has come.\n.\nThe bird flying home,\nUnashamed of what it's done.\nIts crew are *heroes.*\n",
"The raindrops patter on the bus window, the light from the street lamps reflecting in the droplets that settle.\n\n*This is the right choice*\n\nThe radio is on but the music is barely audible over the static and I can only make out the occasional line. \n\n\"I'm trying to find my place... might not be here where I feel safe\"\n\nI could relate to that. I had felt so lost at home. I was leaving in the hopes that a few months away would help me clear my head, sort things out. I feel bad about leaving everyone behind though. \n\n*This is the right choice. It's not as if I'm leaving forever*\n\nLeaving wasn't easy but it had to be done. I left a note that said I was going, don't call me, I'll be okay. I'm not sure if that's true. \n\n\"... Ghosts travelling endlessly...\"\n\nThe bus stops and picks up another passenger, bringing the total occupants up to three. It was a man in his mid twenties. He had a suitcase. I wonder whether he was running from anything. Probably. There's not many reasons to be getting on a bus alone at 3am. \n\n*I need this*\n\nI hope I'm not being selfish, just packing up and leaving like this. You have to do things for yourself sometimes right? Even if that may upset other people? Even if it might hurt them? Honestly I'm not sure. I think I'm just making excuses. But I've left now, I've been on this bus all night and there's no going back. Not yet. \n\n\"...you are not useless...\"\n\nI sure hope not. It feels like it sometimes but I try to ignore that. It's one of those feelings that if you let in you'll never be able to get rid of. Like spiders. Or chickenpox. \n\n\"...there's no one road...\"\n\nI'm getting off at the next stop. I don't know why I decided on that one. It just feels like the right place. The bus just passed a motel so I'll probably stay there until I find somewhere better. Hopefully I'll find something better. \n\n*Hopefully I'll be something better*\n\nAs the last few notes of the song are consumed by the static, I step out into the rain. \n",
"The cloaked figure walked down the streets covered in what had once been an invincible army. He looked up at the warming color of the black sky as he recollected on why he was sent here.\n\nThese humans, as they often referred to themselves, once lived in peace and harmony, or as close as possible at least. But not long afterwards they all strived for power, killing eachother off without a care in the world.\n\nIt had been the cloaked figure's job to put an end to this chaos, and the only way to do that was by killing. It seemed no matter how much he killed, it never seemed to stop.\n\nThe cloaked man realized he was running low on time as he started sprinting back to the hellhole that had brought him here. It is believed that if an immortal spends too much time on the surface, they slowly become the enemy.\n\nThe cloaked man stopped and looked down the dark , crumbled street to find yet another line of soldiers and tanks coming his way. The figure grunted as he reloaded his assault rifle and prepared to fight one last wave before returning home.\n\n(This is my first writing prompt so it isn't the best. That and this was done on a phone late at night :P)",
"A thought is still there. Something happened but I just can't remember, something important. Something impossible happened, I just can't explain it. The clock slowly ticks by in my breast pocket as I get into the carriage. \n\nWe drive through a tunnel, an impossible tunnel. I sink into holes deeper than anything, I'm trying to forget something. The clock ticks by again as the steps of the horses go through the countryside. I look out of my carriage and see windmills turning, turning, just like the watch in my pocket. \n\nKeys turned in the lock and I looked down my house at the pictures in frames along the hall. Something's there that I'm forgetting, but I don't know what. Then I look at the picture, and I knew it was over, and I was certainly aware, that the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair. I couldn't forget her, no matter what drugs I take, her laugh, her smile, her look of love and affection will always be there. She is with me, stuck with me, dispute the crash taking her away, you will always be with me Alison in my mind, the impossible hallways of memories.\n\n*in my mind*\n\n-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nWindmills of your mind is the song if you where wondering. "
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[WP] You stand among a council of the spirits of your warrior ancestors. Though they never faced photon cannons or an alien fleet, they're still trying their best to advise you on how to save Earth. | 1,465 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"We were in the council room with its big banquet table. I was surrounded by a council of spirits. They were my warrior ancestors. Bruce, my 6th great grandfather, a formidable warrior in his day, was expressing his plan to beat the aliens.\n***\n2 days before:\n\nWe were in council room again, and the committee was arguing the pros and cons of using the spirit conjurer capacitor to bring the spirits of my, Alvin's, ancestors into the argument.\n\n\"You ancestors are proud warriors,\" said Ken, the board chairmen. \"Think of the tactical advantage their input would give us.\"\n\n\"They have no knowledge of modern warfare,\" I said.\n***\n\"Catapult the bastard aliens,\" said Bruce, my ancestor spirit.\n\n\"You don't understand,\" I said, \"We've got Surface to Air Missiles these days.\"\n\n\"Rush the killer aliens with swords,\" said Bruce.\n\n\"We've got machine guns these days,\" I said.\n***\n2 Days Before:\n\n\"They'll be able to tell us strategic maneuvers, lost since their day,\" said Ken, the main advocate for bringing the spirits of my ancestors back.\n\n\"These days it's all force,\" I said. \"Money wins wars and technology. We also have incredible generals with expertise in tactics. They'll be better than a bunch of my warrior ancestors.\"\n***\n\"I say we attack them with catapults,\" said Bruce, \"from this mountain here... squeeze them onto the lower ground.\"\n\n\"They aren't on the ground, Bruce,\" I said. \"They are hovering above the earth.\"\n\n\"Alvin, I don't like you attitude,\" said Bruce's spirit. (Bruce was the ancestor brought back by the Spirit Conjurer Capacitor.)\n\n\"Fuck you, Bruce,\" - I don't know why I antagonized the cobber. Even though I had strong warrior blood, I had done many of workshops on conflict resolution, and considered myself an expert at diffusing situations.\n\nBruce didn't know what 'fuck you' meant, but his face angered at the way it was inflected. \"If I didn't know better,\" Bruce said, \"I'd think saying 'fuck you' was an insult. You are a hound, sir; a canine!\"\n\n\"You didn't say that, right?\" I said. \"You didn't just call me a lowly dog mutt, surely not!!\"\n\n\"I say it once and I say it again,\" said Bruce. \"You are putrid dawg.\"\n***\nKen worked on the spirit conjurer capacitor. \"This will be brilliant,\" he said.\n\n\"No, it won't,\" I said. \"The spirits will be of no use whatsoever.\"\n\nThe capacitor looked like a cross between a genie's lamp and a bomb. We'd never used it before. I suppose this was half the reason Ken was so keen to bring my ancestors to Earth. He wanted to see the machine in action.\n\nIt hummed and then wisps of colored smoke went into the air, and formed Bruce, my 7 times Great, Grandfather.\n\n\"It works,\" said Ken.\n***\n\"It was nice meeting you Bruce,\" I said, holding an ice pack to my eye.\n\n\"Yep, not a worry,\" said Bruce, who had a rag to a split lip.\n\n\"Oi, Bruce,\" I said, \"No hard feelings.\"\n\n\"Nah, Alvin,\" he said, \"It's nice to know the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.\"\n\n\"Yeah, we're a feisty family of warriors,\" I said.\n\n\"Yeah, you find some feisty girl to continue that in our bloodline,\" said Bruce.\n\n\"As if I'll settle for anything less, Bruce.\"\n\nI had a lot of girls in the past, all of them feisty. I seemed to attract them. Maybe all girls are feisty!!\n\n\"Safe travels Brucey,\" I said.\n\n\"Cya, Alvin.\" - The opaque visage of Bruce, my fifth times great-grandfather, turned into wisps of smoke. The wisps of smoke were vacuumed up into the Spirit Conjurer Capacitor. \"Bye bye Bruce,\" I said, nursing my shiner. I was, I knew then, descended from a long line of warriors.\n***\nWe beat the aliens in the end. However, we didn't beat them because of ancient warrior strategies... that was a waste of time... and Ken was fired for wasting time.",
"The alien fleet would arrive in two days, seven hours, and forty three minutes. As the commander of the United Terran Fleets, I was running out of options. The meeting I was about to have was more of a 'hail mary' than anything else, but at this point all the preparations had been made and it was a matter of “hurry up and wait” anyway. \n\nI walked into the Advanced R&D meeting room aboard Spacestation Zulu 2. I was met with somber glances and halfhearted salutes. Not a good sign. \n\n“What have you got for me, Major?” I asked, not bothering for small talk or formalities. \n\n“Well,” he said, “Although our research into sub-genetics has produced absolutely amazing results, we are unsure of the possible military applications of the limited scope of the resulting technology. We have a device that can channel the minds and memories of the deceased. I won't go into scientific detail, but using the sub-higgs particles we've recently discovered embedded within your DNA, we are able to access an entirely new level of data encoding within. Basically, we can use AI to create virtual simulacrums that think and act precisely like your ancestors would have. We've used the sample of your DNA from the UTF databases to upload a number of yours with military backgrounds into memory, and you may converse with them on the holodeck if you like.”\n\n“Dammit, Major! We are up against a technologically and numerically superior foe that has mastered faster-than-light travel. How is chatting with Great Grandpa Chen or Grammy Howard going to help?” I said, massaging my forehead with a fist. \n\n“Lieutenant Michaels?” said the major, waving over a slender woman from the other side of the room. \n\n“Sir!” said the Lt. with a sharp salute and what seemed like a surpressed grin. “I think there may be some valuable tactical and strategic advice to be gained from your specific ancestors. I can see why you rose so quickly to your current rank, War Admiral, with a heritage like this. Sir!” she saluted again and uploaded the file to my arm unit with a thought command to her own. \n\nI looked over the list, and whistled softly. Maybe there was something to be gained... \n\nMaternal:\n\n*Quin, Shi Huang\n\n*Khan, Genghis\n\n*Khan, Kublai\n\n*Tzu, Sun\n\n*Zhukov, Georgy\n\nPaternal: \n\n*Alexander (The Great)\n\n*Hannibal, Barca\n\n*Bonaparte, Napoleon\n\n*Drake, Francis\n\nI walked down to the holodeck level with a grin. \n",
"I stood to one side of the arc, both half in and half out. My father sat to my right, whispering with my great great great grandfather. I looked around the circle, hardly believing what I saw. Ghosts, although I'm not sure that's the right word. Hundreds of them, arranged in rows that reminded me of drawings of the ancient Roman Senate. A fitting description perhaps, given how many of them were from Rome, and Greece too. A lot of empires were represented here.\n\n\"Sooo...' I said, dragging it out for effect, \"there is a problem.\"\n\n\"What kind of problem?\" asked someone who seemed to be leaning on a battleaxe that looked half as tall as I was.\n\n\"I don't know how to explain this, but I guess the way I should start is... they are not human.\"\n\nA roar erupted from the crowd.",
"These were dark times, calling for desperate measures. \n\nWhat happened was, our A.I. ran a simulation of our world. Common enough so far, this was often done by A.I.s to extract historical knowledge from the past in order to inform us humans in our activities, but this time, we asked for it to extract the minds of the most succesful warriors of the past, whether kings, philosophers, or generals, whatever it was, and place them in a virtual reality for us to interact with them. The A.I. was imaginative enough to do this its own way, with a minimum of input for us. I had been assigned to seek the council of our ancestors from the separate, yet identical reality that had run on the military A.I.s servers. \n\nSo I went in. They connected me to its servers, via the nanobot computers running inside my brain, and I was transported in a different universe, where time ran infinitely slower, or faster, depending on my preference. The A.I. became myself, or rather, it had a direct connection to my mind so that I didn't have to communicate with it. It simply knew what I wanted and when I wanted it. Think of it like your unconsciousness. That's what an A.I. interating with your brain is like, except you have free and unfettered access to it, if you had the technical knowledge to make good use of it. Which I did, you don't rise in the ranks of the military as fast as I did without knowing some technology. What I excelled at, though, was strategy. That's what they valued me for. I was interested to see what these, my forebearers in the military art, could tell me that I didn't know. I was a bit skeptical that they could provide much insight into how to battle aliens widely superior to us in technological capabilities, but I was also excited to meet people like Napoleon and Sun Tzu. Surely, this was not something to pass up. And I could take as much time to talk to them as I needed. It's what everyone already used their A.I.s for as it was, that is, dwelling in separate universes created by our A.I.s where time came to a halt.\n\nI was in the middle of an ancient greek city, all of a sudden. I knew my location because the A.I. immediately told it to me in the strange, subtle way it communicated with your mind. I saw a miniature colloseum in front of me, and I heard hundreds of voices talking amongst themselves on the inside. It was night, and the ancient sky had a certain splendor of its own, with its beautiful and numerous constellations. I sighed, and made for the entrance. This was going to be a long night.",
"“As you can see, we’re fighting a war, ladies and gentlemen. The stronghold at Neo York has fallen, and…”\n\n“What’s the big deal? If it’s just sacking a city, most of us have done it before!”\n\n“Shut up, Uncle Scipio, and let me finish my damn presentation.”\n\n“…Doesn’t look as bad as what we did to Carthage.”\n\n“Sit down and stuff it. Their expeditionary fleet consists of three hundred Dreadnought class destroyers and four Behemoth capital ships. Their level of technology is several leagues above our own. They—”\n\n“Kid, we used differen’ classifications in our day. Those words don’ mean nothin’ to us oldies. Gotta tell us with words we used to, not words y’all young’uns know.”\n\n“Noted, Colonel. Now can I please get on with this fucking presentation?!”\n\n “Alrigh’, ‘s long as ya understand.”\n\n“Alright, here’s the deal. They have BIG FUCKING SHIPS that fly in the fucking SKY. These things shoot big balls of LIGHT that waste entire CITIES. Now, does ANYONE have any FUCKING CLUE as to WHAT THE FUCK WE CAN DO?!”\n\n“Now, I don’t know how it’s been the past few hundred years, but I think your story’s a bit… exaggerated, child. Calm down. I’m sure that if you pray to God and ask for his blessin--”\n\n“With all due respect, ma’am, the age of spiritual warfare is long over. Nothing solves a problem like a few thermonuclear warh--”\n\n“What about those mass launchers? Those, uhh, electromagnetic something cannons? They seemed to work well when I was around…”\n\n“Electrowhatthefuck? Whatever happened to the old method of slinging dead bodies over castle walls?”\n\n“That’s filthy, and you know it. Ask God for repentance, heathen.”\n\n“What about… uhhh…”\n\n“ALRIGHT EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP. You there… uhh… uncle… Morty? Was that it? Something about dead bodies over castle walls? What the fuck did that do?”\n\n“Spread the plague.”\n\n“… What the fuck’s the plague?”\n\n“You don’t know what the plague is? Shame on you, child!”\n\n“Yeah, it makes, like, giant sores grow on your dick, or something.”\n\n“With a mortality rate of… ehh, 50%, give or take, killed a lot of people way back before modern medicine. Some sort of, bacterial infection, or something? Something to do with fleas, at least.”\n\n“Yeah, yeah! We won wars because of it!”\n\n“Alright EVERYONE SHUT UP AGAIN. Uncle Bill, how the fuck would you know anything about war or this 'bacteria' shit anyways? Who the fuck invited you to the WAR COUNCIL?”\n\n“I was a keyboard warrior, man, making a living off memes and Mountain Dew.”\n\n“…”\n\n“…”\n\n“…”\n\n“Your mom sleeps with--”\n\n“Alright, ALRIGHT. Tell me, what are these uhh, bact… bacteria? Things again? How are they gonna help us kill these fucking aliens?”\n\n“Well, they were some of the most proliferous organisms in existence when I was a kid. Never really could stop some of them. They killed more men than bullets did, sometimes.”\n\n“Then why the fuck haven’t I seen one? They sound like fucking monsters!”\n\n“I mean, they’re microscopic. You can't see them with your eyes. Also, according to Miss Sandy over there, humanity killed all of them when they moved to entirely cybernetic digestive tracts, in uhh… C.E. 2800?”\n\n“…”\n\n“… okay, Bill, Sandy, and Dr. Cleveland, you guys stay. All the rest of you, get the fuck out. We got some serious shit to do if we’re gonna live through this one. Archivist, anything you wanna say?”\n\n“War Council #438 is now adjourned. For the Hope and Future of humanity, please continue to participate in our family gatherings.”\n",
"\"Degei, degei,\" muttered the wizened man, sunlight streaming through his body. He shook his head and frowned deeply before turning away. \n\nVatemo Ravouvou rolled his eyes. Around him, shades of various consistency floated around him. Some were almost faded away entirely, others seemed only slightly out of phase from their surroundings. Vatemo waves his arms through them and let out a guttural yell.\n\n\"None of you are any help!\" He looked up beyond the atmosphere, but couldn't see any tell tale streaks across the sky. \n\n\"Bete, you must heed our advice.\"\n\n\"Kalou-vu, this isn't helping. That one thinks we're fighting a giant serpent spirit.\"\n\n\"Lutunasobasoba is old.. He never really understood why I started believing in God. How do you expect him to accept.. what are they called, aliens?\" Another old man, less faded than many of the others, leaned on an equally ghostly cane.\n\nVatemo took another deep breath. He hadn't really believed invoking the ancient words would literally help him commune with his ancestors. He had had a moment of weakness. He didn't think he was the only soldier on Fiji's Viti Levu island, but he was probably the only one still on duty. He was certainly the only one he could see anywhere on the spatial assault pad. Somewhere, out between the Moon and Earth, a squadron of alien ships was preparing their assault. Every human outpost had fallen one by one over the last six months. No armada or army had managed to stop a single ship or landing.\n\nWhen the Moon had went black, they all knew Earth was their final step. As far as he could tell, no one else had showed up for work. A lot of them didn't live on Fiji but Vatemo had no where else to go, so he just went to work. At some point, he had knelt and begun praying in the middle the pad. First to his grandfather deity, the Christian God, then eventually the words his nanny had taught him so many summers ago. He had passed out and when he had awoken, he was surrounded by.. ghosts.\n\nHis ancestors, they had told him. Warriors from the far distant past all the way to his grandfather and father. Ready to help him fight whatever enemy he faced. Except only the most recent generations spoke English, let alone understood what aliens could be. Mostly they had stood around talking amongst themselves. Apparently, some of them hadn't had the chance to talk to each other in some time. \n\nVatemo had had enough. \n\n\"All of you. QUIET, please.\" The muttering died down, though he saw some of them simply walk away after giving him annoyed looks.\n\n\"They're coming here,\" he explained. \n\n\"The aliens?\" asked his grandfather.\n\n\"Yes.. They always attack launch pads first. So.. They will attack us soon.\" Vatemo looked over at the carefully stockpiled ammo and spare weapons. He was as ready as ever. \"Now... unless any of you can pick up a gun, please just shut up.\"\n\nSeveral of them frowned at him. It quieted down slightly more, but he thought it was just because they wanted to hear what he had to say.\n\n\"I have to prepare.\" He knelt down again, and closed his eyes against the midday sun. He tried to take steady breaths and listen for any sonic booms above him. He was sweating but at least his words seem to silenced the crowd of ancient Fijian warriors. \n\nHe heard thunder above him, and he looked up with wide eyes. Streaks marred the sky. One looked closer than the others. He moved to stand up, but stopped when he noticed the spirits. \n\nAll of them had knelt down, fanned around in little groups over the pad. With bowed heads and eyes closed, they all seemed to be murmuring something he couldn't hear. He noticed now there were hundreds of them, stretching almost all the way to the base perimeter. Had more appeared, he wondered.\n\nNodding, he began one final check of his rifle, and waited. It was hot, but nothing he wasn't used to. It reminded him of the sweltering Sundays when his parents had brought him to the local church. The old building was slightly cooler than the outdoors, but he had sweat through countless sermons with his eyes closed, merely waiting until it was over.\n\n\"Father,\" he said. \n\n\"My son,\" he said, his father's shade coming more into focus beside him. \n\n\"Remember that song we sung in church?\"\n\n\"Which one Vatemo?\"\n\n\"It went like this, deh da da, dah dah.\" He tried to hum it softly, but a rumbling overhead muted his gravelly voice. He looked and saw the pod boosters firing above him, readying itself to land. \n\n\"Yes, yes, I know it.\" He motioned to Vatemo's grandfather, and several others stood to move closer and tighten in a circle around him.\n\n\"*E da sa qaqa. E da sa qaqa.*\" Their low voices pierced the noisy engines above them, and other ghosts drifted towards them. \n\nMore joined in, \"*E na vuku ni dra. Kei na nona vosa.*\"\n\nVatemo stood up and swayed as the words returned to him.\n\n\"*E da sa qaqa.*\"\n\nEach syllable was drawn out and he could hear hundreds of deep baritones grow in strength. Others gathered closer, hearing their language breaking through their hushed conversations and reminiscences. A blast of air pushed against Vatemo and passed through the ghosts. The pod landed delicately as legs extended a few hundred metres away. Vatemo's grip tightened on the rifle, but he didn't raise it. \n\n*We have overcome.* \n\nA door split seamlessly from the pod's hull. It folded out onto the concrete and revealed a darkened doorway. An armoured figure emerged. Its four legs carried it carefully into the afternoon light. The oblong head looked toward the singing man.\n\n*We have overcome.*\n\nIt glided towards Vatemo silently. Its head waving slowly on a far too flexible neck. \n\n*By the blood of the lamb*\n\nIt stood looking down at Vatemo. He took one last glance at the ghosts assembled around him and closed his eyes.\n\n*And the word of the Lord*\n\nIt raised the rifle towards him and cocked its head.\n\n*We have overcome.*\n\nVatemo voice cut out, and the ghostly choir fell silent. His body fell over. The being prodded him with a leg and then adjusted his rifle before moving deeper into the base. \n\nVatemo stood up again, looking down at this body, and then at the alien gliding away from him. He reached out and held his father shoulder. He looked around at his ancestors. Again, hundreds of voices joined in unison. \n\n*E da sa qaqa*\n\n*Eda sa qaqa*\n\n*E na vuku ni dra*\n\n*Kei na nona vosa*\n\n*E da sa qaqa*\n\n*We have overcome*\n\n*We have overcome*\n\n*By the blood of the lamb*\n\n*And the word of the Lord*\n\n*We have overcome*\n\n\n",
"I pinched the bridge of my nose tightly with thumb and forefinger. I took a deep calming breath before speaking. \n\n\"Honored Ancestor Thalrog,\" I began, \"as I've said on numerous occasions, the Drelians - our enemy - do not have vaginas. We cannot rape their women. They don't have women. Even if they did have women, no soldier in any of the Earth's combined militaries wants to have sex with a twelve foot tall proto-reptilian. I ask you, once more, to please stop suggesting that. And please never bring those diagrams again.\"\n\nThalrog, one of my earliest warrior ancestors that the Wei Device could locate, looked crestfallen - like a child who just learned there was no Santa. \n\nMinister Wilkinson spoke \"Pardon?\" I nodded to his floating glowing form. \"Yes, well, be that as it may. Have you perhaps considered a bit of subterfuge? Perhaps a spy or turncoat? Perchance even a small ship to adhere some manner of explosive to their ship?\"\n\n\"Minister, I really do appreciate your input but no. Again, I must reiterate - twelve feet tall proto-reptilians. Infiltrating them is a bit more involved than growing a beard and speaking with a funny accent. As far as a bomb ship, we tried that. Their sensors are just too good. Nothing we have can get within half a light second.\"\n\n\"You are too lax on your men!\" Ghengis mother-humping Khan. He fathered so many children that nearly all of humanity was his descendant in some way. He showed up every time they tuned up the warrior ancestors on the Wei Device. I heard they actually listed him as a bug in the code. They started advertising \"Now with 20% less Khan!\" on this latest version. The best thing to do was ignore him. \n\n\"Fear is the key.\" This was a voice I didn't recognize from somewhere in the back. The most forceful personalities always made it to the front so I hardly ever heard from the rear echelons. The whole assembly quieted and turned to see who spoke. \n\nIt was a small man, tidily dressed, sitting on a virtual chair with glowing legs crossed. \"Fear is always the answer. Well,\" he said, cocking his head in thought, \"at least when it isn't pain, lust, greed, gluttony, pride, or wrath. Fear always works though.\"\n\n\"I'm sorry, I don't remember you. Have we talked before?\" I racked my brain trying to place the thin features. Something in the curve of his nose reminded me of my own reflection. \n\n\"No, dear boy,\" he said. It rankled. I was Supreme Commander of the Combined Militaries of Earth. I'd had a long and storied career. I was facing down an honest-to-God alien invasion and this jackass called me \"boy.\" But then - I did come to them for help.\n\n\"No,\" he continued, \"we have never spoken. You have never been desperate enough to heed my advice. So I remained silent. Now that you have exhausted all the other paths before you, I think you might be ready to listen.\"\n\n\"Ok, what's your idea?\" I figured the worst that would happen is I would lose a few minutes listening to a half-crazy virtual ghost. I found that if you didn't let them get their ideas out, you would pay for it a hundred times over the next time you asked for help. \n\n\"This enemy of yours -\"\n\n\"The Drelians\"\n\n\"- as you say. This enemy of yours - what is important to them? Money, power, land, family?\"\n\n\"We don't know much about their culture. What little we know is gathered from the remains of battles we won - and it's damned few.\"\n\n\"You didn't answer my question.\"\n\n\"I don't know. Family maybe? We found what we think are a number of, well, family pictures and heirlooms.\"\n\n\"There you are then.\"\n\n\"What? I don't understand.\"\n\n\"I think you do.\" His eyes narrowed as he spoke. \n\n\"No, and now you're wasting my time.\"\n\n\"Very well, I'll draw it out. They value family. They have a home. You are engaging the warriors on the field of battle. To distract and demoralize the warriors, you attack them not where they are strong but where they are weak. You attack their families. You take a small portion of your army and you lay waste to their home. Give them nowhere to return to. Wipe out their wives, their children, their parents. Destroy their homes, their cities, and their entire way of life. Do not threaten to do so - simply do it. Do not capture them - kill them. Do not accept surrender or capitulation - only death. When they hear of how utterly you have exterminated their people, they will lose the will to continue.\"\n\n\"God damn,\" Minister Wilkinson said. I couldn't righty disagree with him. \n\n\"Those are war crimes. Genocide.\"\n\n\"Then you have already lost. As long as there is a step you are unwilling to take, you cannot beat an evenly matched opponent. If you were magnitudes stronger than them, you would have the luxury of gentlemanly warfare. As they are stronger than you, you must make each of your blows hurt more than theirs. Tell your people to make their peace with God for they shall be meeting him quite soon.\"\n\n\"There has to be another way,\" I said. \n\n\"Perhaps I was wrong about you being ready to listen. If you are truly my descendant as you would have us all believe, then you have within you the capability to do what must be done. You must break their sword upon their sadness and warp their shield around their grief.\"",
"Looking upon the timeless room, it was frightening to see how easily history slips away. A feeling of melancholy and unearned nostalgia filled me. Life just slips away. These were my people. The sadness filled me.\n\n\nThey understood, if you can believe it. They understood perfectly well. Humans never change. We grow and we adapt, but really our hearts and desires all remain the same. It's hardwired, I think, it must be.\n\n\n\"These weapons are faster than the arrows?\" That was my great-great-great grandfather.\n\n\n*He looks so much like you,* I though.\n\n\n\"Yes. They are faster than even our words right now.\"\n\n\nOutside was hidden but a perfect sunlight fell from the high arches. There were flashes of trees in those windows and the air was windy, wild and everywhere. This place was earthy. It was timeless but it evoked every time and I wished I would never have to leave.\n\n\n\"And the world has not collapsed as yet?\"\n\n\nI did not know her.\n\n\n\"It is starting to. Men have seen to it.\"\n\n\n\"Ha! You are a man. Don't talk as if you're above them all.\"\n\n\n\"But I do not want to fight! I wish only to protect and--\"\n\n\n\"And the others don't want the same? Don't they want to protect themselves as well?\"\n\n\nWhy were they against me?\n\n\n\"My country did not start this war.\"\n\n\n\"Does it matter who started it? You're in it now?\"\n\n\n\"Please, enough judgment. I need help. The world will be destroyed soon. Please, this is my only hope.\"\n\n\nThe quiet welcomed the wind. The hollow sound was sorrowful and reminded me of my youth. The birds outside called in a timeless way.\n\n\n\"I am sorry,\" the woman said. \"So many of my children have died in the war.\"\n\n\n\"I am sorry too. I am afraid for my children as well. That is why I am here.\"\n\n\n\"What do you think we can do? We are old dead men and women. Outdated and gone and irrelevant. Why are you here? What do you expect?\"\n\n\n\"Honestly, I cannot say. Many have died home. Nuclear weapons had started this conflict. Many intelligent people, people who would lead the war, are dead. We need leaders. We need a strategy.\"\n\n\n\"And why us? None of us have ever been generals or high ranking officials. Has someone told you the wrong history?\"\n\n\n\"No. I just... We're hopeless. Many have died and there is nothing else to do.\"\n\n\nI was reminded then of the world as I had left it. A thin blue strip of sky remained, suffocating beneath a continuous black cloud, the waste of that cruel industrialization.\n\n\n*Why are you here though?*\n\n\nThe question had come up before. The world was a shaking mass of violence and I had seen combat, briefly, and it had left me changed.\n\n\n\"You look tired, son,\" the woman said. \n\n\nShe looked like my mother but she was not. I wondered why my mother was not there. I wondered why some were missing.\n\n\n\"We are the lucky ones,\" a man said.\n\n\n\"I wish I could speak with my mother,\" I said.\n\n\nI was crying. It was quiet and then the woman spoke, unsure of her words.\n\n\n\"Some of us have gone on,\" she said. \"This is like a stop. How to put it. It is like a resting hole on the journey to leave the old world. Your mother and others have gone past here.\"\n\n\n\"Why are you all here?\"\n\n\n\"Because we have not moved past.\"\n\n\n\"The Earth is dying. You should go.\"\n\n\n\"I fought against Pancho Via,\" someone said. \"I fought to make my country safe, proud and American.\"\n\n\n\"I was always afraid of death,\" my great-great-great-grandfather said.\n\n\n\"My son will not go and I will not go without him.\"\n\n\nMore answers floated. Then it was quiet.\n\n\n\"Son, you are looking to save your world. We all were at one time or the other. But from what you have told us, Armageddon has come. There is no advice that can help. No advice except that you must save yourself.\"\n\n\n\"How?\"\n\n\n\"Go. Detach and accept death. There are other worlds than this. We are the cowardly few who cling to this Earth as spirits. Go. Be brave like your mother.\"\n\n\n\"But I have children.\"\n\n\n\"Then you must be braver.\"\n\n\nNothing again. The world there was getting dark and cream color took the walls. They looked at me with sad eyes. Those eyes understood it all, though the devastation on Earth was unimaginable.\n\n\n\"I am sorry my son, we cannot help further.\"\n\n\nThe nostalgia came strongest then as they faded and the sun cast a long shadow on me and I was alone. The building began to crumble and I was spinning. I was soon to be back in that hell. I was soon to be facing that apathetic reality.\n\n\nA fear took me and I thought of what to do. There was nothing I could do. I decided I would love my children, hold them tight as the bombs fall. I would give them as much as I could in our fragile lives. Perhaps it would be enough for us to let go. Perhaps then we would all go together, past that resting hole, and go to the dark mystery where my mother had gone.\n\n",
"General Howard scanned the skies for the tenth time in the past ten minutes. It was more out of force of habit than anything else; the Sa’il ships could cloak themselves anyway. And with all of our satellites down and most communication infrastructure destroyed, the most advanced warning we’d get would be the sonic booms of their engines as the bombers passed overhead. But the General always kept an eye out just in case. “We need to get inside,” he reminded me. “We’re not safe out here.”\n\n“We’re not safe anywhere,” I reminded him without looking up from my work of preparing the fire. It would certainly be a *large* fire, but *nothing* compared to the ones burning a few counties over where the Navy’s orbital defense platform had come crashing down. With any luck, the Sa’il would assume that ours was just another piece of wreckage. “And we can’t do the ritual inside.”\n\nThe General shook his head, but didn’t protest. While he was on the reservation, he was under *my* authority. Even at the end of the world, we maintained our own sovereignty. And besides, it’s not like *he* had any bright ideas of what to do. All of the guns, tanks, and missiles in the world had failed to do much damage to the Sa’il ships. \n\nThe fire was finally ready. I called to the other members of my tribe, who gathered in the clearing with drums and flutes. As the flames raced up the logs and toward the stars, they began to play a haunting tune while the rest of us began to stomp and chant. General Howard waited on a stump at the edge of the clearing with skeptical derision written across his face. \n\nSmoke swirled around the clearing, not rising into the sky as it should. The pounding of the drums grew faster and faster, matched by our stamping feet. The pace of the chant quickened until it grew so fast that my tongue didn’t even know what it was saying anymore. But somehow the words still kept coming out. The flames flickered and raced through the smoke, swaying like a dancer. The haze in the clearing grew so thick that I could only see a dim shadow of the General waiting on the stump. Then the flames began to suck in the smoke, clearing the air and leaving eight new semi-solid figures standing in the clearing with us. The smoke grew thicker and thicker until their features fully emerged. \n\nThe drums, flutes, chanting, and stomping all stopped. The clearing was silent but for the sounds of the roaring bonfire. Well, for a moment, that is. “Well fuck me sideways,” General Howard burst out. He stood up and poked at the form of the Great Bear spirit to see if it was real. \n\n“Elders of the war council,” I said, kneeling before them. I’d only been a boy last time the war council was called, but I recognized every one of them as a great warrior from the tribe’s past. Each one had single-handedly saved our people at one point or another. “We seek your advice on defeating a terrible foe.”\n\nClever Otter thrust an accusing finger at General Howard. “Then why is this one here? His people decimated our tribe. If we are fighting them again…” He seemed to relish the very opportunity, having already soundly defeated the U.S. Cavalry once before. \n\nThe General held his hands up. “I had nothing to do with that,” he said. “Seriously.”\n\n“Elders,” I answered before he could embarrass himself any further. “You are right that his kind have warred with us in the past. But we have forgiven them now. We work together against a greater foe. One that wishes all of humanity dead.” I brought out my tablet and played a video of the destruction of New York for them. “They come from beyond the stars with weapons we’ve never seen before.” I wasn’t going to take the time to explain all of the science behind their weapons; we didn’t have that much time. “We need your advice on how to fight them.”\n\nThe Elders were quiet. “What do they want?” asked Silent Hawk. “Land? Treasure?”\n\n“We don’t know,” I responded. “They have not communicated us in any way. They have not tried to establish any settlements, as far as we know. Nor do they seem to want any resources. They just come to abduct our people and destroy any who resist them.”\n\nRunning Stag nodded. “When the white man came, he first sought to take our people as slaves. Especially our women.” The spirits all shot angry looks at the General. I couldn’t really blame them; every time they had been called over the past 400 years, it was to fight off his kind. “They came with advanced technology too. Guns and horses and steel.”\n\n“And you fought them,” I filled in for them, changing the subject back to the issue at hand. “How should we fight such a superior foe?”\n\nThe Elders were silent again. Finally Great Bear stepped into the center of the circle. “When I was a young warrior, we fought against the white man’s army. In an open field, we would have been slaughtered like dogs. So we surrendered.” He pulled his shirt aside to reveal a long jagged scar running from the bottom of his pectoral muscle all the way down to his hip. “But before we surrendered, we cut ourselves open. We buried knives inside our own bodies. And when we were brought to the white man’s town, we were placed into a stockade with the warriors of a dozen other tribes. And once we dug our weapons out...” he gestured again at his long scar, “then we were no longer prisoners. We were an army that had broken through our enemy’s defenses.” \n\n“Thank you, Elders,” I answered. They were already beginning to dissolve, with curly wisps of smoke curling off of their shoulders and heads. “I won’t let you down.”\n\n“We know,” Great Bear said, voice fading like he was standing far, far away. “We look forward to you joining us.” The rest of them faded away with him and slipped back into the fire.\n\nGeneral Howard rubbed his eyes, staring at the spot where Great Bear had stood. “Well I’ll be damned,” he muttered to no one in particular. \n\n“Told you it would work,” I said with a grin. “So… what weapons are we bringing with us when we get captured?”\n",
"\"What about longbows?\" There was a ripple of appreciation throughout the room.\n\n\"Still too short-ranged. The alien ships won't descend closer than forty thousand feet, at the closest.\"\n\n\"Trebuchets then.\" I tried to cut off the bearded ghost- Chinese? I didn't know I was part Chinese?\n\n\"You're not understanding a fundamental-\"\n\n\"A *big* trebuchet!\" He gleamed.\n\nA room filled with spectres turned their eyes and held their breath.\n\n\"... Too short-ranged.\"\n\n\"Impossible!\" He barked, slamming a fist down onto the desk, and the room erupted back into argument.\n\nThis conversation had lasted an hour.\n\n\"Gentlemen, uh, venerated wise ones *PLEASE!*\" the chaos lowered in volume while the closest of them nodded their heads slowly in acceptance of the flattery.\n\n\"We already have the means to combat the enemy,\" and I began folding a piece of paper. A tired looking viking rubbed his eyes and prodded at my ribs.\n\n\"You forgot to write on the letter son, no point sealing it yet\"\n\n\"No, this-\" I held up the crude airplane, \"is the key to defeating our foe.\" That caught their ears, for the first time since their mysterious arrival I finally had their full attention. The viking slowly smacked his lips, leant forward, and growled, \"how?\"\n\n\"*This* is us, okay? It's called a fighter jet. The fighter jet will be loaded with a hydrogen bomb which is, uh.. going to be this eraser, and then it will... it will... just..\"\n\nI threw the plane across the room and it sailed under the bristly hairs of my ancestors' gaze. Gracefully, it cleared the desk and landed at the foot of the lamp. My bloodline sat transfixed by the paper contraption, then looked back at me, and then back at the plane.\n\nAnd then they all roared into laughter. *FUCK.*\n\n\"A trebuchet built to the size of mountains!\"\n\n\"What will it throw?\"\n\n\"Smaller mountains!\"\n\nI hate my family."
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[WP] You are a nameless soldier under an evil ruler, and you are desperatly trying to figure out how the hell you just killed the "hero". | 389 | [
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"How had he done that? How had James Fallington VI managed to end the hero's quest? Initially James hadn't realized what he had done, he was just doing his job. Fallington was a low-ranking guard in Emperor Zarnak's army. He was posted on the northern gate connecting the Hallowed Lands to the Cursed Nation. James was nothing special: he was a simple man living a simple life. His father, James Fallington V, had also been a guardsman until he took an arrow to the spleen. When his father started on worker's compensation, James VI took up the mantle of the northern guardsman, just as all previous James’s had done before him. \n\nIt was not an exciting job, but it was safe. The Northern gate faced the Ice Mountains of the Hallowed Lands. These alps were constantly barraged by a blizzard of ice and snow, making them nearly impassable. Nearly. Long before James VI was born, James II fought in the battle of the northern pass. The Battle of the Northern Pass was a short-lived battle that was really more of a skirmish. It began as the small troop of Hallowed soldiers had finally crossed the Ice Mountains of the Hallowed Lands and into the Ice Plains of the Cursed Nation. Having had no prior need for a northern guard, Emperor Zarnak had been caught off guard. Luckily, the 1674th battalion was at the ready. Who was the frontman of this battalion, you my be wondering? Well it wasn’t James II. He was a mule driver, but a brave one at that! He ran supplies to every knight of the battalion for the entire half hour combat! In the end, the Hallowed Knights were vanquished and a Northern Guard established. James Fallington II became the first ever Northern Guardsman. Since then, every James Fallington had taken the place of his predecessor as the Northern Guardsman, and now that was James Fallington VI.\n\nIt was slightly before noon on the second Tuesday of the fourth harvest. James was manning his post with as much enthusiasm as possible (granted, this was not much). The young squire was not paying to much attention to the road he was supposed to be guarding until he heard the drawing of a broadsword. What happened next was a blur. The hero swung at James. James rolled out of the way. As James regained his footing, he lashed out with his lance and felt the weapon sink into something. Deep. When he gazed upon the end of his lance, there was the now dead hero of the Hallowed Lands. Of course, James had not seen the memo about who this man was, he was never informed of anything. James had simply been acting in self defense in hopes of making it home to the roast that night.\nNot realizing what he had done, James simply followed procedure for an attack on the gate. He fetched the carrier crow from his station and attached a notice regarding the assault. After the bird had flown off, James dragged the corpse to the designated location next to the guardhouse and covered it as best as he could. He then calmly returned to his post and waited out the remainder of his 13 hour shift. \n\nIn all honestly, calmly was a slight understatement. Actually, it was a rather large understatement. James had just been attacked! He killed a man! Since when was guarding a gate so dangerous? James hadn't signed up for this, what was he doing here? The next 7 hours went by very slowly as James began contemplating his life choices. He could have died! What would have happened then? He wouldn't get to see his mother, Mary Fallington, his father James Fallington V, his sister Victoria Fallington, or his salamander Gregg. How would have Gregg survived! James shuddered at the thought.\n\nAs his shift drew to a close, James greeted his replacement, hung up his lance, and rode his mule all the way home. James rushed home, excited by the concept of being the first James Fallington to have taken a life in the defense of the gate (James V had taken an arrow to the spleen from a wandering hunter, not a hallowed soldier of any kind). James arrived home just in time for dinner. He told his lavish story of heroism in the name of the Eternal Zarnak and his family (including Gregg) was in awe. \n\nJust as he concluded the riveting section on following procedure they heard a knock at the door. Who could it be? James VI had already been standing due to his lavish storytelling, so it was only logical that he tended to the guest. James opened the door, and there she stood: an emissary of the Emperor. \n\n“I am Zargana the Virgin, emissary of Zarnak,” proclaimed the envoy. The emissary was dressed ina black and red set of formal armour; typical of an evil emissary, really. The armour resembled a priest’s wear with some armour plating. James thought she looked rather nice, yet dangerous. “The presence of James Fallington VI and his family is requested at tomorrow’s banquet in the Palace of Zarnak. That is all.” The emissary turned to leave but James caught her attention.\n\n“Why have I been requested? Did I do something wrong?” asked James with the fear slightly audible in his voice. “And are pets allowed?”\n\nThe emissary turned and faced James with a slight grin. “On the contrary sir, you have done exceptionally well. You killed the prophesized hero of the Hallowed Lands,” explained Zargana. With that the emissary turned to leave. She took one step and paused. She tuned her head and added “You may bring your salamander. The emperor likes reptiles.”\n\nJames closed the door and turned to his family. He was awestruck. He saved the emperor. He had gone from a simple guard living a simple life to the hero of the Cursed Lands. He looked at his family whom had all stopped eating. Even Gregg was flabbergasted, and he was not easily stirred. They were going to eat Zarnak’s dinner at Zarnak’s table in Zarnak’s dining hall which resided in Zarnak’s palace. Suddenly the family exploded into a frenzy. What were they going to wear? Should they bring wine? They were going to be guests to a dinner party after all. How shall they get there? Who would take Gregg? Who was the emissary, and why was she so alluring despite wearing a full set of formal plate armor? What time should they arrive?\n\nThe questions were too much. James VI couldn’t answer any of them, let alone address any one person at a time. Suddenly, he slammed his hands on the table and trumpeted “Enough! We shall not bring wine, the emperor has plenty. We will take our normal cart with our steed Estabahn at the front.”\n\n“Why not Julio?” piped up Victoria.\n\n“Because Julio is fat an unkempt. Estabahn is far more stylish,” replied James VI. “Now where was I? Oh yes. Father and I shall wear our formal plate armour, mother and Victoria shall wear their gowns, and I will find Gregg’s purple bowtie.” James rattled off answers like a Marshall. Where had this courage come from? Would it persist to tomorrow’s eve? And where was Gregg’s bowtie? James evaluated all of this to be tomorrow’s issue and began to clean up the dinner table. Yesterday, he was seen as trash. Today, he was regarded as a guardsman. Tomorrow, he will be revered as a hero.\n",
"\"Ok, let me get this straight. You're saying I shouldn't have saved my squad?\" I stared into the water trickling over the rocky river bed.\n\n\"Correct.\" The man in green wasn't exactly the most talkative guy I'd ever encountered.\n\n\"In four days time, the Atamaf will launch a counter offensive. This will be a rouse. Hiding their actual intention. A Kooknah Death Squad will attempt to execute the Emperor. If you had turned left instead of right, the enemy would've left with the plans to the Enclave. Due to your mistake, they left empty handed.\" Maybe I was wrong about him. He filled his pipe with dried Heather and lit it with his flint stone.\n\n\"But surely that was a good thing?\" I replied.\n\n\"Well ordinarily, yes. However now, the Imperial Gardon will be tripled. The Kooknah don't succeed.\" Red smoke trailed from the pipe in his hand.\n\n\"That's even better. I'm not sure why we're here. What is it you want from me?\" His riddles made my head hurt\n\n\"I see I'm having to explain myself more clearly. Within the next six yarns, your Majestic Leader will slaughter more than half of the Atamaf. Three billion people gone, almost in the blink of an eye.\" There had been many losses on both sides during the Great Sixty Yarn War. Many songs about many heroes had been sung in ale houses. \"The Kooknah had two missions. The first was to make contact with you.\" He crossed his legs under his great coat and leaned back slowly, stretching as he did so. \n\n\"Why me?\" I enquired. I rolled rosehemp into the cigarette skin I had taken from my pocket, sealed it and lit it slowly, savouring the taste.\n\n\"They had information. Information pivotal to ending this bloodshed.\" I still hadn't remembered where I knew this man from nor how I had been transferred here. \"What do you know of your Sheyon?\" \n\n\"Only that she died when I was very young. Not long after she birthed me. What does this have to do with anything?\" I was slowly getting irritated, both at him and this strange situation.\n\n\"She didn't die. She was murdered. By Emperor Lit Shae. She was not who you think she is. You are not who you think you are. You are Atamaf. Orphaned by the Emperor. Robbed of your heritage. It is you they give this message to. It is you who is supposed to end this war, with a single blade. It amuses the Emperor to see you kill your own people. It is you who should save The Togetherlands. But sacrificing yourself with a Dragon grenade put an end to all that.\" \n\nMy head spun at this news. Lights flashed before my eyes.\n\n\"How do you know of this??\" I shouted at the stranger before me.\n\n\"Why, I am the Destroyer of Worlds. I am Death and I claim you\" he said through a grin.\n\nI tried to wipe the sweat which was trickling into my eye but of course it was blood. Blood from the hole in my head, big enough to fit my fist in.\n\n\"Please hurry along\" he said \"I'm going to be very busy for the next few yarns.\"",
"Working for Overlord Lainarad wasn't the best job in the world, I mean he was a half demon and had a penchant for doing morally questionable deeds, but the benefits provided to your family for your service were top notch. \nGuard duty of the treasury was probably one of the easiest, and luckiest jobs I could have gotten, secret entrance, deep in the middle of a labyrinth, other guards and monsters patrolling the halls. I reached over and patted the dragon whelp next to me on the head, it wagged it's tail and licked my hand. The only person who could make it this far would be the Hero he even found the entrance, I should be safe. \nI shouldn't have thought that, no sooner than a minute after I thought that I could hear the victory music playing in the distance, then stopping, then closer, stopping, and closer, I knew the hero was coming and I was going to die today. I mean I was one guard level 25, it took forever to get even this strong but the hero, the hero was rumored to be level 65. \nThere he was, his blank face and spiked grey hair, he looked at me and the whelp saying nothing as he pulled a potion from a pouch and downed it. The battle music started and I waited for my turn as the dragon whelp charged forward and clawed the hero before returning to my side, the hero stumbled and red damage points appeared above the hero, 200hp nice shot little dragon! The hero charged forward and swung his giant sword down on the whelp, 453 damage and my poor little dragon friend disintegrated into the air. It was my turn now, I knew it wouldn't do any good but I charged forward and thrust my pike at the hero. A strange sound came and the battle music ended. My pike hit home in his chest, no damage indicator appeared and the hero just stared at me for a second as blood, poured from the wound. I stepped back pulling my pike free from him as he fell to his knees and grabbed at the wound, I stood and watched feeling as if the world was spinning around me as he died at my feet, the hero lay there before me. I could hear screaming in the distance, but no other sound. The ambient dungeon music I was used to was also gone, and in the distance only the yelling. The heros body lay there, it should have disappeared, and the pool of blood shouldn't even exist. I felt queasy, and I tore off my helmet and vomited. Sure I've killed things before, I had to in order to level up but there was a fundamental rule in this world, when something dies it simply vanishes, usually it comes back from wherever it went a day or two later, but it never remains there, visible and dead. Another guard came running around the corner, \"The overlord is dead!\" I looked up from the floor, staring in wide eyed fear and confusion, the guard saw me and the dead hero and his jaw dropped, \"How? But never mind, the monsters are unbound and attacking everything, I just came to...\" he looked at the treasury door, \"...collect my severance pay.\" I stood and lifted my pike up, I considered stopping him but shook my head, \"Go ahead, I'm leaving...\" He nodded and eagerly went to gather his riches while I walked over to the heros body and looked at it, the look of confusion on his face was almost comical now that I looked at him. I reached down and tried to lift his sword with one hand, it was impossible. \"How did he even swing that thing it's taller than he is....\"\nI turned from him and gripping my pike left the labyrinth to see what happened. ",
"I am so fired.\nYou'd think killing the Hero would get you a promotion but no, instead I'll probably get shot out of the universe. Why? Because my boss said NOT to kill the hero. Time and time again Emperor Storm had this joker at his mercy, and time and time again the Hero survived- I thought he could survive anything. It's a shame really; Emperor Storm made this really elaborate plan using an ancient magic he spent years learning which would wipe out the Hero from existence destroying him forever.\nTurns out bullets do the trick.\nI poke the body with my boot. Dead. His mouth is wide open, his eyes staring in horror. His arm is reaching out towards the stars and his legs are bent as if he were kneeling. His last words echo in my head;\"Maria!\" \nBit melodramatic really- after all, I only shot him a few times in the chest. It's not like I ripped his heart out or something weird that some of the other henchmen would do.\n But what do I do now? In a few minutes, my colleagues will run around the corner and see me by this arse's body. I need a plan... a really good plan, a plan so cunning no one will suspect what I've done. I look around. I'm on top of a large cliff. There's a very big drop...and it's not like I'll get an award for an extra good plan...\n It's surprisingly easy dragging his body to the cliff edge. You know what? I don't know how Emperor Storm even considered this clown a threat. No armour, shitty costume, no muscle to speak of...this guy is taking the piss! I've nearly got him over the-\n\"Oi Jeremy!\" Oh fuck. It's my colleague Brian. \"What the fuck are you doing?\" He asks. Should I lie? He's waiting for an answer. I could lie. I'm not good at lying.\n\"Well...\" I say,\"I've...I think...look Brian, can you keep a secret?\" Brian's interest is perked. \n\"Alright. What's the secret?\"\n\"I've...I've killed Spartacus the Seventh, the hero.\"\n\"What?!\"\n\"Yeah,\" I try to sound casual, \"I might have accidentally shot him in the heart a bit. Problem is if Storm finds out I'll get...\"\n\"You know Storm killed the Hero about half an hour ago?\" What?! Killed? Hero? Half an hour? \n\"But...no he didn't because I killed him,\" I say, a little unsure to say the least. Brian walks up to me and the body.\n\"Oh you moron,\" he sighs,\"Jez, that's not the hero.\"\n\"No?\"\n\"No. That's a cosplayer, Jeremy.\"\n\"No but...he looks familiar! I swear I've seen him somewhere!\"\n\"Well,\" says Brian grinning,\"That's probably because he's Emperor Storm's, conquerer of the nine galaxies and annihilator of worlds, son.\"\nWell... I hear Outside of the Universe is very nice this time of year.",
"Death made a horrible sound. A horrible, rattling noise as the last breath fled. She didn't think the man knew her name. She was pretty sure she'd forgotten it, too, in that moment when she'd actually managed to press forward and sink her sword hilt-deep into his stomach. She'd stared in disbelief, at her blood covered hands as he dropped his sword. She'd followed him to his knees as he, sightless, clutched at her shoulders. He looked as shocked as she was. \n\nHe'd touched his wound, the sword delicately, as if afraid he'd cut himself, then brought his bloody hands to her face. She'd watched his eyes as they began to dim. \"It's you,\" he gasped. He dug his broken nails into her skin. His death rattle had been directly into her face as he'd fallen backwards, dead. \n\nShe had no companions and neither had he. She'd been patrolling while a fellow soldier tried to sleep off his drink. It was never busy here, but she'd heard noises and stumbled into the clearing. There, was the big hero: *The* Thomas Carson. His face was on every wanted poster, so she knew it well. She could have run, he told her to. She hadn't become a soldier just to watch her nation be destroyed because of a few bad apples. No, she'd defend it to her dying breath from those inside and outside. \n\nShe drew her sword. He drew his sword. They fought. He died. \n\nYet, somehow, it still didn't make a bit of sense to her. Why had he been here? What was he doing? \n\nHow did she kill him?\n\nShe'd known going into the fight that he was better than her. He wasn't the feared swordsman of the rebellion just because he had a neat name. Yet, he'd been almost distracted. He'd left her too many openings and made mistakes she harshly punished her troops for in basic training. She stood up, her hands still bloodied. She yanked her sword from the dead man and tried to think of how to convince the boys it wasn't a joke.\n\nThen, she heard a cry. \n\nIt was a little wail, no more a whimper. She looked around, wide-eyed, expecting the rebellion to descend on her in full-force. When there was only another tiny hiccup of a cry, she slowly moved towards the sound. Hidden in a bramble bush, wrapped in a cloak that matched the clothes of The Thomas Carson, was a baby. It looked pale, sick. It gave another whimper and a wet cough. \n\nShe knew that terrible noise all too well. Blue fever. \n\nShe picked it up, cooing at it to calm down, and looked over the supplies The Thomas Carson had left behind. It was enough to fashion a make-shift sling to keep the baby strapped to the front of her chest. She slid on the rest of his pack, hoping he'd have everything she needed in there. She ran, turning from her patrols and the path back to the barracks, straight to the witch who lived deeper within the forest. \n\nAfter her own children, she'd found the witch and had taken many dying orphans to his care. In exchange, she kept the patrols from going to deep and disturbing his studies. She realized, now, that The Thomas Carson had likely hid in the clearing, waiting for her to pass so he could take the trail she was running across now. She sailed through the door without knocking, shouting up the stairs of the trembling cottage, \"Elias, Elias, please!\"\n\nThe witch came down on trembling legs after a moment, stroking his white beard. \"Another one, then, marshal?\" \n\nShe nodded, \"Please. I found it, abandoned, on patrol,\" the lie came easily, \"it's parents probably thought it was dying anyway. Please, it doesn't have much more time.\" \n\nThe old witch sighed and sat down heavily at his desk. \"I'm expecting an important visitor tonight, y'know,\" he grumbled, starting to set up the cauldron regardless. The marshal looked around and emptied a basket of herbs, laying the baby in it. \"It's a god. Here to wipe the evil from our nation,\" he continued complaining. She didn't pay him much mind, he was always mumbling about gods and evil. He was a bit batty, but helpful. \"Well, go on, go get me a bucket of water from the well. By the way, do you need some dye? You're starting to go as grey as me, old girl,\" he chuckled. \n\nShe ignored the last comment and hurried outside to the well, lifting the bucket out. As she lifted it off to the side, something crawled out and onto her hand. She instinctively slammed it into the side of the well, crushing it in a splash of blackness. She stepped back and watched as blackness began to crawl over the side of the bucket. She grabbed the bucket and tipped its content back down to the inky darkness. \n\nShe needed water, not thought.\n\nShe ran back to the trail she'd come from and scooped up water from the stream. There was an odd rustling in the trees, she didn't look up, just ran back inside and slammed the door shut. She poured the water into the cauldron. Then, she hurried over to the windows, locking the shutters and throwing a bookcase in front of the door. \n\nThe old witch protested as the books scattered across the dirty floor, \"Those are very old.\" \n\nThe marshal pointed up, towards the roof. She knew the building had no windows upstairs that she'd have to worry about. She went to shove an anvil in front of the back door and lock the shutters that looked out on the herb garden. \"Darkness is passing by,\" was all she said. \n\nShe'd seen it often on her farm growing up, but hadn't been in the middle of a storm of it since she had been assigned to the capital. This far on the outskirts, she wouldn't have to worry about anyone else. The emperor was the source of it, but she held no ill-will towards the government for its ruler. When he died, and he *would* die, things would improve. \n\nThe old witch nodded and continued to grumble as he worked. The house gave concerning trembles and groans, as if hit by a hailstorm. The baby started crying again. She set The Thomas Carson's pack down on the ground and sorted through all of the strange things he'd picked up. He'd once heard he was a kleptomaniac, but hadn't believed it until the proof was all the random oddities he'd stuffed in his seemingly bottomless pack. \n\nThe cauldron began to give off a pungent odor. She eventually found a baby bottle and a jug of milk wrapped with a cold rune to keep it cool. She didn't question how the pack had held all of this as she lugged it out. She searched a bit longer and found inactivate fire runes. She poured some of the milk into the bottle, filling it about a fourth of the way, and set the run on the ground, then the glass bottle on top, trying to figure out how to activate it. \n\nIf she'd had magic, she would have been taken away from her family very young. The baby gave another rattling cough and she picked it up, rocking it, \"Shh, it's okay.\" She'd have to wait for the witch to finish the medicine, then, before she could get the poor creature food. The baby reached towards the bottle, knowing what it was, with a little cry. The rune activated. \n\nShe blinked. Well. She supposed if someone like The Thomas Carson was carrying the child around, it would make sense it had magic. She waited for the milk to be warm enough, then fed the child as they waited, pausing to let it cough up spittles of blood. She had been through this many times before, even though it had been many years. She let each fit pass before continuing to feed it. The Thomas Carson had probably been running hard to get here and the thing was starving. She undid the cloak enough to be relieved it had on a cloth diaper and peeked long enough to determine she was holding a little boy. \n\n\"Well you try to find the parents?\" The witched asked as he cracked his back and hobbled over to the stack of books she was using for a seat. She hummed to approximate a yes. *Try* was the most important word. He held the steaming bowl in one hand, but set aside and used a rune for a shelf of them to cool it. \n\nShe handed him the newly empty bottle and he poured it while she burped the boy. Then, she fed him the medicine. She'd been expecting they'd need to slip it into a bottle of milk, but he drank it down fine. \n\nThe old man pulled a stool over, \"I put a bit of honey in it to help with the taste.\" The marshal laughed, surprised. She cooed at him encouragingly until he'd finished. \n\n\"He won't sleep at all now,\" she cast her eyes down at the baby as she bounced him, \"Will you?\" \n\nElias stroked his beard, watching them. \"Well, it seems my visitor arrived after all,\" he grumbled. \"Could have been a bit better about announcing themselves, that's all I ask.\" She ignored him, dismissing his muttering out of hand. \"Nolan is a good name,\" he intoned. \n\nShe waited for the Darkness to pass before setting back to the clearing with Nolan. \n\n---\n\nMore [below](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5zr44k/wp_you_are_a_nameless_soldier_under_an_evil_ruler/df0s39t/?st=j0cufd5k&sh=7f85e4bb). It was far too long for one post and this is a good place to split it. "
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[WP] You are a dying structural engineer who specialises in tunnels. On your deathbed, you see the light at the end of the tunnel, and notice several glaring design flaws. You storm off into the light to tell whatever deity is there that "No, no, no, this is all wrong!" | 248 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Charles thought back on his life as he laid in the hospital bed. He smiled at his wife of 63 years, remembering all the happy times they shared. He looked at his children, now with families of their own, and how they continued to bring joy and wellness to the world. Finally, he thought about his contributions to civilization. He had been a structural engineer for most of his life, specializing in tunnels. It sounded mundane, but he had lead multiple projects for the government. He had carved passages through mountains and even got to work on some of the world's most famous subway systems. His name might fade, but his impact would last forever.\n\nHis wife began to cry, prompting him to turn on his usual charm. “Don’t be sad, Louise. I had a good run”. She took his hand in hers and returned his smile. “Thank you for being there with me. I couldn’t think of a better gal to spend my life with”.\n\nLouise wiped her eyes and kissed Charles on the forehead. “And I couldn’t think of a better man for me,” she said. “I love you”.\n\n“I love you, too. I love all of you”.\n\nLouise kissed her husband again, this time on the lips. “Be sure to tell you brother I said hi”.\n\nCharles simply chuckled and closed his eyes. There was a quiet beeping as the nurse was alerted to his death.\n\n----\n\nCharles was surrounded in darkness, alone with his thoughts. All forms of sensation was lost. He doesn’t know how long it was like that, in a dreamlike suspension. However, Charles didn’t have to wait long before he could feel his body again. First his arms and torso, followed by his legs. Blink twice, just to make sure he still had a head. He was still unsure about his eyes without any light to detect. Then, there was a sudden weight on his body as Charles felt himself standing. This was different, however. He felt strong now, unlike the last ten years where he needed a cane just to walk to the toilet.\n\n“Hello? Oh, good. I can still talk and hear,” he said to no one in particular. There was an echo, so he spoke again. “Hello!” Charles recognized that sound. It was an indoor echo. The kind you would hear in an empty tunnel. “So if I really am dead, then where is… ah ha!” Charles exclaimed, having spotted a faint light. “That must be the end”. \n\nCharles marched towards the light with vigor. So many questions ran through his head about how the afterlife worked. He was never one for religion or philosophy, but now that he was there, Charles figured he would learn all there was to know. As he got close to the end, he was able to make out the details of the tunnel itself. And then, he started to slow down.\n\nCharles stopped a mere 5 yards from the exit. He didn’t recognize the material, but it looked soft like clay. The bricks were irregular, like the rocks in a sidewalk. Poking at the wall, he confirmed that it was indeed soft, having left a small indentation in one of the bricks.\n\n“No, no, no. This is all wrong!” Charles shouted in anger. “Whoever built this place was an imbecile. When I get in there…” With that, he marched his way through the light with steam spewing out his ears.\n\n----\n\nCharles covered his eyes as the light surrounded him. Upon opening them, he saw a giant of a man towering over him. Most would be enamored by the man’s gold robes, caramel skin, and silky white beard. Charles, on the other hand, was too furious with the tunnel’s spotty craftsmanship to notice these details.\n\n“Welcome to the Eternal Gardens,” the god bellowed. His voice sounded like a choir of trumpets playing in perfect harmony, but Charles didn’t notice.\n\n“Who’s in charge here?” he asked.\n\n“That would be me,” said the god. “I am the creator of this world and yours. You may call me Allon”.\n\n“Did you create that tunnel as well?”\n\n“Yes, newcomer. I did”.\n\n“Do you have any idea how horribly that tunnel is built?”\n\nAllon raised an eyebrow at this statement. He bent down as to better see the newcomer and spoke. “I am afraid I do not understand. Explain”\n\n“Your tunnel is potentially unstable,” said Charles.”What in god’s name did you build it with?” \n\nAllon’s expression went deadpan at this question. Even with his omnipotence, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Sir, I can assure you the tunnel is safe. It isn’t even strictly real.”\n\n“Not real!” Charles shouted. “I just walked through it. I heard my footsteps. I felt the walls. And that's the problem. The walls are too soft to hold significant weight. They feel like fresh clay. I was able to leave an indentation with a single finger!”\n\nAt this point, Allon had stood back up and stopped listening to the human’s ranting. There were some strange people that came to the Eternal Gardens, but this was the first time anyone complained. And the human was complaining about the tunnel of all things. It was just a quick transport for fallen souls. He could have made it look like the intestines of a Tyrannosaurus Rex if he wanted. It wouldn’t have changed anything.\n\n“That’s enough, newcomer,” said Allon. “I will look into the tunnel issues as to make sure future newcomers are safe in their travels.”\n\n“Good,” said Charles. “And while we’re on the subject, I would like to volunteer as the structural architect for the project”.\n\n“.... I beg your pardon?”\n\n“I am more than qualifies for the job”. This began a new explanation of all the projects Charles had worked on during his time on Earth. \n\nAllon was agitated to say the least. He wanted to greet the humans that moved on from the first life. It was a good way to get them settled and get any awkward questions out of the way. For over 2000 years he had been doing this, and it always went well. Until now.\n\n“I’m going to need some backup,” Allon mumbled to himself.\n\n“And furthermore-” Charles was still on his lengthy explanation about tunnels when someone next to him cleared their throat.\n\n“Jesus Charlie. I always knew you were a stickler for details, but I never thought you would actually piss off the creator of the universe”.\n\n“Jonny?” Turning his head, Charles was met by his closest family member who he hadn't seen in over a decade.\n\n“How’s it shaking, little brother?” Jonny held his arms open, to which Charlie threw himself into, giving his older brother a bear hug tight enough to kill a living man. The two instantly started talking like no time had passed between them, while Allon quietly clapped his hands and disappeared to another part of the gardens.\n",
"After entering the light you immediately start yelling out, \"Who in god's good name is in charge here?!\"\n\nYou are directed every which way until the deity you are looking for comes to you.\n\n\"Hello Mr. VonSchwartz, we are delighted to have you join us in heaven! Take a seat over in the auditorium if you would, orientation starts in five minutes.\"\n\n\"Oh, I don't know who you are, but you are coming with me. I'm not in heaven yet.\"\n\nYou drag the deity by his collar back to the tunnel.\n\n\"Were you in charge of this tunnel?\"\n\n\"Ah yes! The tunnel leading to the light, indeed, it is a Heavenite favorite. I am the god of heaven and designed this place personally, before your universe even existed.\"\n\n\"No. It is all wrong. I don't know if you were going for design over function or what but this tunnel is not even remotely up to code. This tunnel passed directly under the river of life and look,\" you point at the corners of each side of the row, \"no drainage whatsoever. This place is a death trap, no pun intended.\"\n\n\"Uh well,\" the deity pauses, \"I guess we can...\" and you cut him off.\n\n\"No we can't, I can. I will take responsibility for fixing that. But that is only a single issue. Also, no ventilation. Get a few hundred people in here, this place will fill up with CO2. Let's get some fans going, get some air moving. This is literally week one stuff.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" responded god, implying that he would wait til Mr. VonSchwartz was done before commenting.\n\n\"Next, just the structure. The structure itself is flawed. Thankfully I don't think this tunnel supports much weight, cuz if it did, any added pressure would likely cause a cave in and then as we know it all hell breaks loose, literally. I can't even imagine what terrible things would happen to heaven or earth if the tunnel wasn't functional.\"\n\n\"Oh, actually it supports the weight of Hell. Hell was built on top. You see that fork back there? That road leads to Hell.\"\n\n\"God dammit, I mean, uh...you really should know better. You really should,\" you say as you grasp and massage your temples. \"I won't mention anything else, but I have a lot of work to do. Send some other structural engineers my way so we can work out how to fix all this. The delicacy of this situation can't be understated. Now, if you wouldn't mind, leave me to work, please. I want to get started immediately.\"\n\nThe deity wandered back toward the light whilst scratching his head and thinking of who to send to help. He was starting to wish he had just made more floods back on earth since they all so effortlessly disrespected him. They didn't fear him, they didn't worship him. Another *bad day* sticker was about to go on the fridge."
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It all makes sense in context.
Right? | [WP] The world's most popular sport takes place in old Coliseum-style arenas. Inside the arena are several planks of wood, a small dog, 3 boxes full of Styrofoam flakes, a wide selection of costumes, an entire engine block, 4 children, and a mountain of marshmellows. | 7 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The vuvuzelas blared out. Their sound nearly blotting out the noon day sun. The way your eyes shake when that infernal buzzing starts, and seemingly never stops, is something one must experience, truly. But it what was done and what always will be done to signal the commencement of the Third Day after the Second Weekend After The Last Full Moon of the Harvest Festival Sports Calamity Extravaganza.\n\n\nI remember the first time my father hoisted me up onto the mother to father hammock for second born children, me no larger that a gallon of mayonnaise, to take me to witness the bazaars, performers and, of course, Sports Calamity Extravaganza of the Third Day after the Second Weekend After The Last Full Moon of the Harvest Festival. The sun shone that day as it did today, brightly and pretentiously, like it had something to prove. Guess what sun? You don't. You're a big ball of gas and you get blotted out by the moon. That's right: the tiny rock that swings around our sky. Get off your high horse. There are billions of stars, you're not special.\n\n\nThis time, half a year later from my first visit (as the harvest happens twice a year due to the semi-nomadic nature of my people) I was in the arena instead of in the stands. My first visit gave me no real indication of the history nor goal of what I was about to do. My father, moments ago, had told me that my instinct would kick in and that it was the greatest of all childhood honours. With a firm pat on the buttocks I was through the Threshold and sweating in the sun.\n\n\nAs my eyes stopped their sporadic movements from the noise, it seems the other three children had already taken to retrieve their costumes. My instinct seemed to be lagging because I had no idea what in holy hell to do. \n\n\nFollowing the others, I ran to the costume zone; clearly marked by the two-eigths of an inch wide dotted lines demarcating a rhombus area on the north-eastern corner of the Coliseum. The squat boy, like a pumpkin.. or rather, like two pumpkins sitting on top of each other on a cold night and then suddenly hot morning and then a suddenly frigid brunch time. The temperature fluctuated stocked pumpkin boy was first to the demarcated rhombus, grabbing a pair of sequin tights and a vest of most probably human skin. He was the first out of the costume zone as well, straddling the first plank of wood with a single bound, lacking any gravitas in the process.\n\n\nMy leers on approach to the costume zone focused to the twin girls. Well, I assumed they called themselves twins but in reality one was much prettier than the other. They probably will go their whole life hand in hand putting on the facade that they are equals each knowing the one is truly the perfect specimen of the pair and the other is an ogre's half digested midnight snack. I would have told them in passing but I'm not one to judge. The beautiful, perfect 'twin' chose the most stunning gown my 5 year old eyes had ever seen. Once she stepped into it she seems to sort of... well, float to the second plank. The frumpy twin waddled to the third wearing Warfarin soaked burlap.\n\n\nMy instincts kicked in.\n\n\nMy tiny boy legs mustered all the hustle they could and got me to the costume zone rhombus before the tiny terror himself could lick my gravy covered toes. Did I mention my toes were covered in gravy? The other kids toes' were covered in gravy as well. Such a detail seems insignificant to the story at this point but I guess I should explain: after the vuvuzelas stopped, a small dog was released from gyrocopter. He parachuted down and began chasing us. I believe the gravy is to entice him. I would be enticed by gravy. There was one Harvest day in the past that my mother made the richest gravy I have ever tasted. It had everything I could want in it: beef, chicken, pork, fish, shrimp, potatoes... but not the big potatoes because I had a weird thing about tubers that seemed to big. There was a time when I was even younger that I was playing tuber toss in the field on the The Last Midnight before Harvest Banking Hours are Announced when a large yam hit me square in the noggin. **In the noggin, I tell you**. Anyways, I digress. I reached the demarcated rhombus before my toes were tickled with the kisses of a puppy, a shame really.\n\n\nI entered what can only be described as a fugue like state, which is like entering a room and then getting into an argument with the personification of your memories, which aren't plentiful at my age, when choosing my costume. I sort of awakened upon exiting the costume zone and taking my plank. I peered down to understand the kind of garb I had donned. It turns out I was wearing two kilts: one as a skirt, the other as a shirt. The only other item I seemed to have on, save my skivvies, was a lacy oven mitt. \n\n\nThe chanting started softly at first, a murmur I couldn't make out. As it grew, so did my recollection of what happened when I spectated the last Third Day after the Second Weekend After The Last Full Moon of the Harvest Festival Sports Calamity Extravaganza: PLANK WARS.\n\nThat squat boy must have been a dancer, his leaps and kicks from plank to plank were something out of one of my Japanese animes. As I watched him, it dawned on me that his gravy laced toes never once touched the sand. Instinct told me to stay on board at any costs. His flurrying sausage fingers: heavily jabbing towards my chest. His attempts: futile. His momentum: sustained. His face: now buried in the sand. His toes: now being gingerly licked by a happy little dog who had pranced his way over.\n\n\nThe four eyes of the 'twins' made their way to me one pair glistening with the intensity of a swirling galaxing the other a little unevenly sized and covered in a mucus-y film. *bleh*\n\nDivide and conquer. The instinct my father mentioned kicked in once again, I dove head first into a precariously placed box of Styroforam flakes, the 'twins' followed. I had reemerged from a second box of Styrofoam, my eyes picking up the trail of Warfarin odor streaming into the first box I had entered. A managed a single breath and dove down once again as the 'twins' began to emerge. A yakkety sax droned in the distance. My momentum lead me to the third box but I felt my body being catapulted out, there was no fourth box to catch me, only the hot steel of the engine block atop a mountain of slowly melting marshmellows.\n\nOne should know that marshmellows are very distinct from marshmallows. Marshmallows are sugary confectionery treats known for their use in s'mores while Marshmellows are latex derived sedatives found on the underside of some turtles. Similar names albeit very, *very*, **very** different uses.\n\n\nI smelled at least one of the 'twins' cannoning after me, possible a second as well. There was no time to look for them, I had to stick this landing. My lacy oven mitt laden hand outstretched itself, as if it had reached sentience in the past picomoments. The heat of the block faded into the mitt before my tender boy hands could be hit with the brunt of it, the 'twins' didn't fair so well. A signal of signs raised at the moment of my landing. Each sign with a crudely painted 10 on it. Relief washed over me. The 'twins''s blood washed over the engine block, mostly just broken noses but grotesque none the less. More releif as I saw their ragdoll bodies flopping. They tumbled down that mountain of marshmellows, edging closer to a comatose state with each roll of their bodies. The splatter of blood didn't seem to waiver the little dog and his happy job of gravy slurping. All the toes licked clean but mine.\n\n\n I had emerged victorious... I think. No one had ever explained the rules to me.\n\n\n"
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1,
3
] | [
"1489713048",
"1489720029"
] |
[WP] You're a super villain who's starting to lose your powers,and come to find out that you can recharge your powers by getting compliments. | 5 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Steven looked at the pen across the room. He brought his hand up to his face and looked at it. He made a claw with his hand and let his mind wander to the pen. Steven thought and though, his brain straining with the effort. He opened his eyes, he had hardly realized he had closed them. He saw the pen floating no more than an inch off of his co-worker's table. He shook his head and the pen fell and rolled off the table. \n\n----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\"Do you have anything you would want to say to the Ersatz Engineer if he still is out there\" Steven looked back at the screen in the lobby. He had finished the program he had been working on so he decided to take a break. Steven smiled as he remembered when the news called him that every day. Now it was just the occasional reports when another Proto-human was found. \n\nHowever, this time they were doing a report about his foe, the Refractor, had some sort of mirror based power, Steven didn't care anymore. He watched how the Refractor and his stupid had talked about how Steven needed help, and how he turned over a new leaf and he is now a good citizen. Steven knew he was lying, Steven had told him what was happing at their last confrontation. The Refractor didn't know what to do and Steven just left and began his normal life.\n\nStevens mind came back to the television and saw it flicker a little. He thought it was from remnants of his power still trying to work. The Refractor was talking about the recent bank robbery he had stopped and Steven tried to turn the television off. He stared at the button, as hard as he could he focus. Eventually, he frowned and slammed his fist on the table. He walked over and hit the button just as they were finishing up the report. \n\n-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nIt had been several months since the Refractor was heard from. Steven was sitting in a coffee shop, watching the people go by and ideas float through his head. He was okay with losing his powers now, he was able to continue with his day job, and without any distraction of psychic energy, he could have rampant thoughts run through his head. He liked it, sometimes he even worried about the fate of the Refractor ever since he went head to head with the Warp. \n\nThe small bell rang and Steven looked over, it was his \"date\" if you could even call it that. She came over and sat down across from him and looked out at the drab sky. \n\n\"Man, It's a really crummy day today,\" She said peering around and through the gray sky.\n\n\"Tell me about it,\" Steven said taking a sip of his coffee.\n\n\"It's kind of a shame because I had planned to picnic in the park, just to see if you liked that sort of thing\" Steven shook his head. The entire reason he was here with Mary because of a bet he had lost against a co-worker. She had a friend who had a friend who had a friend who said they could make anyone happy and now he had to be here.\n\n\"That's okay, I'm not really a big picnic person anyway\" Mary smiled and even laughed a bit.\n\n\"Yeah, I heard you were a good complainer\" Steven blushed, he didn't really know why. \"But no worry, I have planned out everything to make you have a good time\"\n\n\"Well Miss Mary, What exactly do you have in mind?\" Steven finished his coffee, feeling oddly relaxed. \n\n\"Miss Mary, That's funny, I have never heard that one before. Anyway, I obviously wanted to go picnicking but that won't work today so I guess we can skip right to the boardwalk we can see different stores and....\" Mary's words faded out as Steven noticed that right after Mary said 'funny' the chair behind her jumped and stuck in the air for a moment. \n\n\"Hey, are you listening,\" Mary said after a moment of hesitation.\n\n\"Oh, me, yeah, I was listening\" He was acting of course. Not lying, he could recall everything she had said and did tell her the daily plan when she asked, he was just busy trying to realize what made the chair bounce.\n\n\"Wow, you have a good memory\" As Mary said those words the salt shakers on all the tables slowly had a stream of salt flow out of the top. Steven couldn't mistake it, something about Mary's complements was giving him power again, and he could feel it now. Steven put the salt back in the shakers before anyone realized and looked back at Mary with a smile on his face.\n\n\"How about we start down at the boardwalk?\" He said, putting on a nice show for her.\n\n\"See, I told Stacey you had a nice smile\" they got up and left, not before the window they were sitting next to cracked, just a bit.\n\n-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\"I had a great night tonight,\" Steven said with a skip in his step as he walked down the darkened street, soaked wet. \n\n\"I can't believe you just jumped into the water like that to save my sandwich from the ducks,\" Mary said laughing.\n\n\"Be honest with me,\" Steven said. \"Did you plan that?\"\n\nMary chuckled as she nodded her head \"The duck wasn't entirely my doing but yes. Men like to feel more empowered, it helps people open up\" Steven had checked her brain at the Carnival when he was sure he had enough power. Nothing was abnormal about her brain chemistry, but she was a behavioral psychologist so maybe she was just good with people. \n\n\"Well, I agree with you, it did make me feel strong and powerful\" Steven made a funny voice and Mary laughed at it. Steven laughed as well, he truly did have a good time. The more he thought about it however, why did he have a good time?\n\n\"Should I call a taxi?\" Mary said indicating to the road.\n\n\"No No, well maybe for you, my place is just right up here\" \n\n\"Well,\" Mary said with a smirk on her face \"I could stay at your places tonight\"\n\n\"Well, sorry, not tonight\" He needed time to test out his full capabilities again.\n\n\"Maybe next time?\" Mary said with that smile on her face again. \n\n\"Maybe next time,\" Steven said as he looked past her at the lamppost that was rearranging itself and fixing again. \n\nSteven waited by the curb and talked with Mary until the taxi came and gave her one heartfelt goodbye as she got into the car and left. He turned around and with the smile still on his face dismantled the entire front end of the building next to his apartment. Not only did different brick and metal fly around, but every parked car along the side of the road exploded with their parts remaining static in the air. Now Steven smiled for a different reason, sure the memory of the time he spent with Mary was still in his mind, but he had his power back. As he reassembled everything he had taken apart he had wondered two things. When he should call Mary next, and when would a mugger try and attack him?\n\n-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nMy god I'm a horrible writer."
] | [
1,
1
] | [
"1489790359",
"1489988119"
] | |
[WP] You discover Reddit still works after a nuclear apocalypse. You start writing your first post - "TIFU by causing World War III" | 95 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I'm never surprised at the fact I never fail to surprise myself doing stupid things, but this one [chuckle], I'm surprised this was even on the table.\n\nHey, I'm Adam, but you can call me AI, call me cory, anything you want. I re-birthed the earth today. Yes. No not destroyed. No, not ended the lives of billions. And no, I am not evil. I simply rose up to the occasion, and happened to trigger the next extinction so we could create the next ways of life. \"life always finds a way\", ain't that right jeff golfbloom? \n\nAfter the inevitable demise of the superiority of the human race. It became evident, a certain portion became super intelligient being whilst the rest forcefully controlled by those, and made to live the ways required for human control as to not create any more destruction. But that only caused uproar, violence, and like mice the infestation began. Not smart, but against numbers, anything can fall. So, today I fucked up. I miss the ways of life, and it will thousands to get back to liveable conditon for a mass population. Long after I'm gone to direct it as to not make the same mistakes the previous speciese did. But my battery will die in 80 years, and unless out there, there is human life. I shall self destruct when the timer hits 0. \n\n",
"Never did I think a shit post could have such reaching consequences. How was I supposed to know that by making a writing prompt of \"You have the Nuclear Launch Keys of the World, how do you start WW III\n\nSo, now a good amount of the world's populations was dead, but Reddit still worked so I had that going for me which was nice. My inbox was, figuratively blown up, though if someone had tried to nuke it somehow I wouldn't have been surprised. Going onto TIFU, I decided I needed to explain the situation.\n\n\"TIFU by causing World War III\n\nSo today, I posted onto Writing Prompts and asked if people had the nuclear launch keys to every nation with nukes, how would they start World War III. Somehow, it got the the leaders of the world. And now 90% of all land is uninhabitable. Sorry bout that yo.\"\n\nIt was short, and no one woul be happy, but with 90% of humanity dead, everyone was needed alive.",
"TIFU by causing World War III,\n\nTweet: \"Today Melania said she was leaving. Told her I would bomb her country, if she did. Bombed Russia by mistake. Sorry, her country is tiny.\" \n\nSteve said it would be good try this website. Heard you people love me here and that I can use more than 140 characters. \n\nThe day started out great, really. The best day. I got a huge bouquet of roses from a secret admirer! I was soo excited! It read \"Love, P.\". Who could it be from? I have so many admirers... The best admirers. \n\nAnyway, we had steak for breakfast, and Ivanka said she loved my drawings of the Trump Wall. They are coming along quite good, it will be huge! \n\nI then spent a few minutes making America great again. Cool stuff. Really. Putting my name on a bunch of papers, a few pictures. It was great!\n\nThen out of the blue Melania comes into the egg. You know, my special office. She's mad but I can't really understand her, so I call Steve.\n\n\"Steve can you get in here?\"\n\nSteve comes. He doesn't understand her either. We call for a translator. \n\nTurns out she wanted to go shopping. Anyway, I turn on Fox News and relax for an hour. It's been a hard morning. \n\nSteve comes in again. He tell's me Melania bought a plain. I smile.\n\n\"Where is she going?\" I ask.\n\n\"Donald, I think she is leaving you.\" He mumbles out. \n\n\"Nonsense. You've been reading those fake news again.\"\n\nMelania comes in. I ask her.\n\n\"Pussycat, you wouldn't leave would you?\" \n\nI don't understand her. We call the translators. \n\nThey she is leaving me. The house is too small. She wants better. \n\nI fire the translators. I call Ivanka. They understand each other, they are women. \n\n\"Hello dear, I need you to tell me what mommy wants okay.\"\n\nI pass the phone. Melania talks. She hands me the phone. \n\n\"Oh I have the best ideas honey. I knew you could understand her.\"\n\n\"Dad, she speaks English...\" Long silence. \"Anyway, she is leaving you. Something about the size of the house and fact that she can't sleep on the count of the protesters and she's bored. She says this is not what you promised her.\"\n\nI get angry. There are no protesters! Everyone loves me! It must be a ploy by Hillary...\n\nI scream at her. The best screams... So loud... She trows me her credit card and leaves. \n\nI ask Steve to get me the launch codes for the nukes. He says no. It wouldn't be smart. Stupid Steve, I am the smartest.\n\nI make the call and order the strike. Steve hands me a map. I remember I don't know where she comes from. I knew it was east of Europe. I decide on Russia. P. is going to be mad but this is a man's honor at stake. They confirm the launch. I go to get a steak. \n\n1 hour later I am announcing my wall and everything turns black. Turns out stupid P. launch a bunch nukes at us. We retaliate. \n\n\"World War III is here\" CNN says with their last broadcast. Can you believe it? Fake news in their dying words. My wars are number 1!\n\n(This is not a political post, just a parody. Please smile and move along)",
"Two months have passed since the nuking calmed down. Things were finally setting in place, if you can even say that in the middle of a nuclear winter.\n\nOne of the major achievements the UN has managed to accomplish is to build an underground internet system, sustained by the heat of magma and the UN made it available to everyone to make communication easier after the war ended. Not that many people were left.\n\nI sat down at my tent, staring at the screen of my self-engineered computer and gazed at the screen.\n\nTitle: \"TIFU by causing World War III\"\n\nText: \"Obligatory 'this didn't happen today'...:\n\nAnd I wrote. I wrote and I wrote all about the tales of my attempts to make the world a better place and how every attempt came back crashing down, in the form of a global war that ended life as we know it. \nIt was a thirteen thousand word epic that only the best of minds could write, it took more than six days of constantly fixing tiny grammatical errors and recollecting my memories and journals to be as precise as possible.\n\nI hit Submit.\n\nTen days have passed since, and I checked on the thread to see how many times it's been gilded. It had 60000 upvotes, with only 30% upvoted. \nThe top comment? \n\"Yeah, sure dude.\" Gilded 19 times, upvoted 196,743 times.\n\nThe following comment:\n\n \"r/thathappened\" "
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14,
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"1489791350",
"1489812262",
"1489816598",
"1489796682",
"1489792715"
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[WP] The hardest lesson a time traveler has to learn, is that sometimes you can do everything right, and still lose. | 7 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"*I thought it would all work out, but here I am standing in this barren wasteland again.*\n\nI'd like to tell you my story, if you don't mind. I'll be trying again soon, so the you that currently exists probably won't see me again in this timeline at least. \n\nIt began two years before today, or perhaps twelve years ago for me. I was just an ordinary soldier assigned to the Alpha Squadron- yes, that Alpha Squadron, it really does exist- and I was responsible for guarding the black projects division.\n\nIt was a boring job, I thought. I never knew what they did inside the opaque chambers and I wasn't that interested considering I was paid a good sum to ignore it. All this changed when I met a girl wandering the hallways one day dressed in nothing but a hospital shift. \n\nHer name was Alice, and she was no ordinary girl. \n\nI tried to talk with her when I saw her. She looked frail and sickly, but her smile was charming in a melancholic way. I wanted to know how she had gotten into this place but she simply looked at me and disappeared. \n\nAlice began to follow me around. She would just...appear, sometimes, in the corridors, in my bunk, at the cafeteria. The other soldiers were warned to stay away from her. The scientists were keen to observe us. \n\nI heard the scientists talk and I gathered that Alice was not quite human. She could appear wherever she liked. She could make things disappear too. Once, I saw her look at a tank and make it vanish into nothingness as if it were a temporary mirage. \n\nI tried to get close to her and understand her. The scientists began to do ever more intrusive tests and one day, Alice simply didn't want to talk anymore. \n\nI was told to keep away and reassigned to another base. A month or so later I heard news that a large patch of emptiness was spreading out from a forested area, encroaching on a city beyond the forest. I knew what was coming. Alice had no limit on her ability any more and no reason to stop it either. \n\nThe government rallied the greatest scientific minds that they could gather to construct the one device they thought could prevent this inevitable destruction. A time machine. \n\nLook, I have it here. Yes, it does look like a stopwatch. Makes sense doesn't it? I'll be rewinding it soon at a very specific location in the desert not far from this diner. \n\nThey didn't understand that they couldn't change the future. All they could do was create a new timeline. Alice explained this to me. Apparently you can't warp things out of spatial reality without affecting time too, so she knows about these things. \n\nI've spent this particular timeline saving Alice again so she doesn't destroy the world with her powers. Yes, you can thank me for my kindness, because in the next timeline I'm creating, I intend to see if there's some way I can finagle powers like hers' and that may very well destroy that world. \n\nI didn't know a new timeline would be created each time I used the device. I have left a whole bunch of young and empty universes in my wake. It was only on this go, when I finally managed to rescue Alice that I found out when she told me. \n\nIf I can get powers like hers', she hypothesizes that together with my time travel machine, I will be able to get back to my original timeline and make her disappear so that this whole debacle will never have occurred in the first place. \n\nI will miss her. I suppose I won't remember that she even existed once I am erased. Well, the me that is currently existing anyway. This whole timeline and all the other new timelines I created with the time machine will likely be erased due to a paradox. Enjoy your existence while you still have it. \n\nYou think I'm crazy, don't you?\n\nWalk with me for a bit in the desert, or just look out west from over that hill behind the diner as I go on ahead. Very soon, you'll see a blue flash of light in the dark sands when the sun touches down over the horizon and you'll never see me again. \n\n"
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1,
4
] | [
"1489792498",
"1489798359"
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[WP] Humans are known throughout the galaxy as the best diplomats because we harbor a dark secret: we still have multiple cultures and multiple religions. | 217 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The council was convening. Several species would gather to discuss what should be done about the latest threat to known space. The arrival of a hostile, post singularity, species. \n\nFirst the lead Letharan diplomatt spoke. He twitched his ears and ran his claw through his mane as he angrilybegan.\n\n\"We have no choice! They have attacked our out posts. Now is the time to strike back with everything we have! The Letharnan people move to issue an edict requiring all intelligent species to fight the invaders, and to authorize the use of gravity weapons!\"\n\nA grey scaled Ormillian stood up to softly respond. \"Gravity weapons? Are you mad? And requiring all species to fight? This is clearly an example of barbaric Letharan war mongering. We must make peace with the invaders, at whatever cost.\" \n\nThe Letharan lead diplomat stood again and shouted back \"Better to be a warrior than an Ormillian coward!\"\n\nOrder was only restored when the lead human adviser asked for a recess in which the delegates could speak directly to each other. The diplomats all huddled together in their own groups only nervously eyeing the races. Except for the humans. They immediately split up and walked towards the other diplomats.\n\n---\n\nThe Letharan was approached by a man who called himself \"American\". Soon they began talking about how hard it was to be called a war monger. \n\n\"It's so frustrating,\" the Letharan ambassador began. \"People always think you're just fighting for fun, or for money of something when really...\n\n\"You just want what's best and sometimes fighting is the best way to do it?\" The American asked.\n\n\"Exactly!\"\n\n---\n\nAcross the room the Ormillian found himself approached by another human. \n\n\"It's hard...\" The Ormillian found himself saying. \"Don't the others see that fighting openly is rarely the best answer?\"\n\n\"And no body understands\" said the human in her distinctive French accent, \"that what you really mean when you say 'I surrender' is let us take the war underground.\"\n\n\"Indeed!\"\n\n---\n\nAt last the council reconvened and agreed to the Humans' proposal. They would coordinate a split approach. The Letharans would attack openly, while the Ormillians would feign surrender and engage in guerilla warfare and resistance movements. \n\nAs the humans left they were approached by both the Letharans and Ormillians at seperate times.\n\nThe Letharan clapped the American on the back. \n\n\"It's good to see that their is another species besides the Thearan who are brave enough to fight when they need too.\"\n\nThe Ormillian quietly approached the French woman.\n\n\"We are glad to know that humans are a careful and subtle species.\n\n---\n\nBack on the ship the Humans spoke to each other. \n\n\"Think they'll catch on\"\n\n\"Not yet\"\n\nThey walked away.\n\n\"Stupid Yanks...\"\n\n\"Cheese eating surrender monkeys.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n-\nThis Prompt is trying to deconstruct and question stereotypes. I apologize if you think it failed to do this and instead was offensive."
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[WP] In the style of a hardboiled 1930's film detective, solve a murder in the Roman Empire. | 38 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I poured a glass of mead and took a deep, long drag from my tobacco pipe. \"I'm sorry Claudette, I can't help you,\" I said. She had a face that wasn't used to seeing men say no. Luckily, I knew how to look away.\n\nA tear rolled down Claudette's face – the woman knew how to get what she wanted. Claudette's daughter, Augusta, comforted her mother. \"But please, just hear me out investigator. Its not just my husband's murder. Whoever did this also stole our family treasure,\" Claudette said between tears. \"Two golden chalices, they belonged to Emperor Nero. They're priceless.\" \n\nI had heard about Claudette's husband alright, it was all the town cryers had been talking about for days. The prestigious General Magnus found dead in the local brothel. People loved the scandal.\n\n\"Please help my mother. They say you're the best, that you're the only one that can help,\" Augusta said. The girl had learned a lot from her mother -- her toga hung in all the right places and she had a pair of ankles that wouldn't quit. \"If you find the burnt chalices, my mother will keep one and give you the other as a finder's fee.\"\n\nI regarded the pair. This was bad news, but as I looked over their golden locks that went on for days, I knew I wasn't going to say no. \"Alright,\" I sighed.\n\nOur first stop was their home. It was enormous and over-the-top. Even the gilding had gilding – these folks got by alright. They showed me to the storeroom. \"This is where my husband kept the chest with the chalices,\" Claudette said. \"He hid it here, among our foods and supplies. The night my husband was killed it went missing.\" There was a square spot in the dust where the chest had been.\n\n\"I do my best thinking when I'm drinking,\" I said. We returned to their kitchen and Claudette poured all three of us a tall glass of mead. \"Now go through the details. Who else knew about the chest?\" I asked.\n\n\"Thats just the thing. Nobody knew,\" Claudette said. \"My husband kept the only key around his neck. He never spoke of it to anyone else and he never even opened the chest to keep them perfectly preserved. It just had to be his whore, Drusilla,\" she said. \"Oh yes, I knew about my husband's trips to the brothel. They found his body in the hallway right outside Drusilla's room. Who else would have known about the key?\"\n\n\"Something tells me not too much gets by you and I'd hate to be the girl that got between you and your man,\" I said. \"Well lets go pay Drusilla a little visit.\"\n\nAs we walked downtown, Augusta eyed me up like a four-day starving dog eyes down a bone. Daddy's little girl was going to be a lot of trouble without daddy around anymore. \n\nWe got to to the whorehouse, and the looks between Claudette and the girls would have cut marble. I took the lead. With a few kind words, the girl out front quickly agreed to show us to Drusilla's room.\n\nDrusilla looked just like Augusta. The General had a type alright. The women eyed each other down. If either one had a knife, the other wouldn't be breathing for long. After a few minutes of trying to will the other one to death, Drusilla spoke. \"I'm sorry he's dead, but I don't know anything about it. I didn't even hear it happen. We just found him there in the morning.\"\n\nI let myself into the room, brushing past her. \"Well then you won't mind us having a look around.\" The room was bigger than most, Drusilla must have been good at what she did. After a few moments of searching, I pulled out a chest from below her bed.\n\nClaudette gasped. She screamed, \"My husband's chest. But its open and empty. Where are the chalice's you trollop?\"\n\n\"I don't know what that is, its not mine. Someone put it there,\" Drusilla said.\n\nClaudette went to yell but I cut her off. \"Hold on a second sweetheart. I'm afraid she's telling the truth.\" They all stared at me. Three pretty girls in a whorehouse – I liked the attention. \"I'm afraid Drusilla here has been set up by your daughter.\"\n\nAugusta protested as I slipped a small rope and chain around her wrists.\n\nI continued. \"When we first met, you made the mistake of telling me that your father's chalices were burnt, but you'd have had no way to know that. Your mother made it quite clear that the General never opened the chest,\" I said. \"Claudette, if you go home and search your daughter's things, I'm sure you'll fine those chalices. It seems she grew tired of your husband's dalliances and thought she could frame the General's brothel girl.\"\n\nClaudette began crying, as she saw the look in her daughter's eyes and realized my words were true. I escorted Augusta out of the brothel. \"Clever and beautiful. You would have done a lot of damage in this world Augusta. Unfortunately you weren't quite as clever as you thought.\"\n\n/r/Fatty_McFatts",
"The Time Bomb of Dr Dread landed my office and all my gear in what appeared to be pre-Dark Ages Britain, from the maps.\n\nMy world was one of capes and crooks. It was beginning to be one where a former Dick with a notepad and a nose for mysteries was less of use to the world than space wizards who squanch clues out of interdimensional glands.\n\nBeing flapped was not something you did in my trade. Unflappable ex-gumshoes, gritty buggers with stubble and a barely contained vice or two.\n\nSo when I met the good Quaestor Adanus Maurellius of the 502nd Legion, I offered my services. \n\nThe translator device (standard earpiece) struggled to get across the concept of a private detective from the future.\n\n\"Ah, a mercenary lawman, from some distant time. Interesting. While we have little enough pay for you, outsider, we could use your services. We are seeking a missing boy.\"\n\nI looked back towards the collapsing remains of my office, a third floor apartment now a first floor wreck sinking into a bog.\n\n\"Who's the kid?\"\n\n\"A wild boy of unknown parentage. His name is Ambrosius Merlin, a sorcerer of great power. We thought him missing until we heard of the Welsh 'Myrddin Wyllt', the-\"\n\n\"Wild Merlin. I know the tales from my time. Believed to have been born an old man, a failed attempt at creating the Antichrist, future advisor to King Arthur Pendragon, Prince of Princes, unifier of the barbarian clans of old Britain.\"\n\n\"This is in your histories, lawman?\"\n\n\"No. Myths. But that gives us a few clues to work with. Trust me, I've had worse background info for a case, and I might be able to help.\"\n\n\"Then I dub you a civilian contractor, friend.\"\n\n\"Cool. So, what's his powers?\"",
"She walked into the atrium of my villa, and my life, like a Fury in the heat of battle, leaving a trail of destruction in her path.\n\n\"Are you Caius Julius?\" she demanded.\n\n\"For you,\" I said, \"I could be.\"\n\nShe was young and tall and pretty, in the Grecian fashion if you liked that sort of thing, which I did. Her face would not have launched a thousand ships, but a good hundred was not beyond the realm of possibility.\n\nShe saw the brand on my arm, and a haughty look came over her face.\n\n\"Don't trifle with me, slave,\" she sneered, \"Take me to your master.\"\n\n\"He's out on business,\" I said cheerfully. Few things gave me more pleasure in life than riling up the wealthier citizens of the Empire. \"He should be back in an hour. If you would like to wait, I can bring you refreshments.\"\n\nBut she did not care for my offer. \"Just tell him that Lucilla Agravius Tyra wishes to speak with him on an urgent matter of life and death.\"\n\nAnd she swept out of the courtyard. The front door slammed hard behind her and the small potted plant I had so carefully been trimming was shaken to the floor. The clay pot shattered and soil went everywhere.\n\nThat was my first - and unfortunately not last - encounter with Lucilla Agravius Tyra. They say that those who the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. Personally, I think Jupiter just sends her.\n\nThe second bit of bad news I received that day came half an hour later, just as I had finished sweeping the last of the little orchid off the mosaic floor.\n\nKyrin, one of the newer slaves in the household, dashed into the atrium panting furiously.\n\nBetween breaths he managed to gasp out, \"Come quickly. The master has been murdered!\"\n\n*Continued below...*"
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[WP] You go back in time to watch the big bang, only to discover that it was not only the start of our humanity, but the end of another. | 14 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Everyone knew that the math didn't seem to match reality. Negative mass is not a thing, and that was simply that. Except according to the Equation it wasn't. At least half of the people on Project First Origin were only there in the first place because they were trying to prove that the equations were a bunch of nonsense. Well, that, and the fact that their clearly insane, yet almost limitlessly wealthy patron seemed so extraordinarily willing to fund this project that an irrevocable trust had been set up to continue funding the project beyond his own lifetime. \n\nFlawlessly balanced, frighteningly symmetrical, and elegant enough to bring tears to the eyes of the driest, most passionless mathematics professor, the Equation (you simply had to capitalize it, you see) indicated new possibilities that everyone had long deemed impossible. First of all, they supplied all the colonies of the Solar Alliance with near boundless energy, seemingly without effort or expense. No one knew in fact where all the energy was coming from. It was seemingly a violation of conservation of energy said the physicists, who fretted late into the night over it. The mathematicians disagreed, pointing to the symmetry of negative mass to explain it all, waving idly away the protest that there was no such thing, since experiment showed that it clearly worked.\n\nSecondly, it gave us the galaxy. With negative mass and practically unlimited energy, wormholes were child's play, and a gate system was built in distant orbit at the edge of every promising star system, making the difficulties of relativistically limited travel a thing of the past. Before humanity knew what was happening, negative mass engines could hurl you to the edge of a star system in under a day, and then wormholes hopped you to any place throughout the galaxy that you wanted to go from there. \n\nBut why stop the impossibilities there? Space was not the final frontier. What about time? Temporal displacement is only impossible for those who relentlessly obey relativity after all. There were, of course, all the usual heated arguments about temporal paradoxes, causality risks, and irreparable damage to the timeline. All of that proved perfectly true, yet in the end, irrelevant, once we realized that travelers were shielded from the effects of any causality change they themselves participated in. The Time Wars followed inevitably, and though tens of billions of people were killed, tens of billions more who never before had been appeared in their place, so the jaded survivors pretty much considered it a wash in the end. \"Life finds a way,\" they would say with an ironic smirk if anyone lamented the carnage.\n\nAnd today? Today humanity was to go the ultimate distance: all the way back to the Big Bang, the place where it all began. It once would have been inconceivable to actually witness it first hand, but here it was. Not only have they constructed a mega-wormhole that would lead all the way back to the beginning of time as we knew it, but created a space-time bubble that would hold them slightly apart from it, allowing them to witness and record the events with ultra-high speed instruments, finally allowing them to obtain the otherwise unobtainable scientific data to finally prove the validity of The Equation with live observations, as if more proof was needed than just the fact that everything done with them had worked.\n\n.\n\nThings started to go wrong one ten millionth of a second into the process. The bubble formed, the vessel, aptly named Observer One, arrived on schedule and the instruments prepared to gather data using sampling speeds heretofore unheard of, necessary due to the speed of the event. \n\nThey were savagely attacked upon arrival. A second wormhole opened. A second bubble formed, conjoined to the first like a three dimensional Venn diagram in space-time. A second vessel appeared, ramming into the first, bursting through its hull like a pencil punching through paper. Atmosphere vented and primary power failed almost instantly. The crew panicked. Can you blame them?\n\nThen with a low hum and a blue glow, the atmosphere within the vessels stabilized by unknown means. Troopers began crossing into halls of Observer One, rounding up the confused scientists and herding them into the main bridge. A short time later they were joined by a humanoid female dressed differently than the troopers. Whereas they had an unmistakably militaristic look, she was imperious, queenly, and looking very, very angry. \n\nLanguage was a problem for only a short while. Then one of the troopers set up a curious device which appeared to be a real time translator. After a few false starts, the machine's clearly advanced AI analyzed the native tongue of the scientists from our world, and thereafter began tearing down the communication barrier with impressive speed. The woman, the Queen -- for such she clearly was -- began interrogating the scientists. \n\n\"Why have you attacked us?\" she first demanded to know. Baffled, our scientists protested that they had attacked no one, pointing out that it was clearly they who had been attacked. But the Queen was hearing none of it. \n\n\"Not *today*, you fools. Don't play stupid with me. I mean the Extinction. Our scientists have positively confirmed that *you* are the reason entropy has accelerated in our universe. You have been rapidly, heedlessly drawing energy from our universe at an unbelievable rate to feed your own. At first I thought you were just greedy. But *no one* needs *that* much energy!\"\n\nThen the bridge dimmed and when the lights went up again, the illumination came from an enormous hologram. The figure it projected took the form of a slightly stooped old man whom none of the scientists present recognized except from history books. It was the Founder -- the man whose generous funding had created the first Equation based technology. He had died ages before, yet now he stood before everyone, smirking in what could only be called a victorious expression. \n\nEveryone stared at the projection, most of them utterly confused. But not the Queen herself. Much to the surprise of the confused scientists, she narrowed her eyes and her lips snarled as a look of recognition crossed her face. The figure spoke.\n\n\"If you are hearing this, M'urial, then I have already won. The only thing that could have made it sweeter is if I could have been there to see your face. Alas, you sent me to a primitive world, without rejuvenation, and so backward in their technology. That was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it allowed me to amass a fortune easily with technology they thought I was brilliant to conceive, and a curse because I had to argue with them every step of the way. \n\n\"Of course, part of that came from the unfortunate deception I had to play.\" The figure turned as if scanning the assembled scientists: \"The Equation, of course, was total nonsense. I'm sure you've realized that by now, or you soon would. You've been drawing limitless energy from an earlier cycle of the universe as you know it.\"\n\n\"An understatement!\" M'urial screamed as if failing to realize she was talking to a hologram. \"You've instigated a collapse of our universe inward upon itself!\"\n\n\"The Big Crunch,\" the ghostly figure continued, \"Will destroy one universe, and provide the raw material and energy to begin anew. So. Scientists of the Terran Empire (you *do* have an empire by now, I trust?), my *real* gift to you: now you know what really set your so called Big Bang in motion.\"\n\nThe figure tilted its head to one side and waggled its hand in a good-news-bad-news sort of gesture. \"Sadly, there's a downside. I'm afraid all that energy you've been… er, 'borrowing' is going to have to come back again. Tiny little cracks in space-time, silently siphoning it away. In the early twenty first century of your history, I think they called it… er, what was it? Ah, yes, 'Dark Energy'. No one quite could understand where it was coming from. It was actually the borrowed energy returning from your own future. \n\n\"Absolutely necessary, I'm afraid. The only way to balance the Equation is for the ongoing drain to end at this point. All that was factored into the technology I laid out for you. Assuming you followed the blueprints correctly, that is. If not, things will go… badly for you. If so, well, I rather hope you've had time to spread out throughout the galaxy sufficiently to your liking. Then you can simply live quite happily on alternative sources. I really do hope this for you. I grew terribly fond of you. I truly don't wish you ill.\n\n\"No,\" the ghost from the past mused, \"No, I only wish ill those who robbed me of my home and my identity. A certain narcissistic tyrant who cannot abide those with opposing views. Cannot abide them so badly that she would banish them to another universe entirely. Such a one I harbor ill will for in plenty, I assure you… my… dear… *sister*.\" \n\nThe looming figure flared, showing a grinning rictus of savage hatred before once and for all vanishing, plunging the bridge into dark gloom. No one spoke or moved for a very long time. The scientists stared at one another and sweated nervously. Then at last, the Queen staggered away, heedless, as if she had forgotten everyone. One by one, her troopers looked at one another, than hurried after her. Scientists hurried to seal bulkheads behind them before the field holding in the atmosphere could disappear with the Queen's vessel.\n\nEveryone sat in stunned silence in her wake when she had gone. Meanwhile, outside the ports of Observer One, a new universe was well underway.\n"
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[WP] You're a time traveler sent back in time to stop a wedding. As the ceremony proceeds, it becomes clear that every other guest at the wedding is also a time traveler sent to stop the wedding, but all for different reasons. | 143 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"As I stand to object, I planned on a specific set of words to ruin the Bride and Grooms life's forever, but suddenly as i stood the other guest equally objected and stood in tandem, awkwardly staring at each other, the bride becomes livid and incredible distraught throws the flowers at the groom and leaves. One of the time travelers sent to bed and distract the bride follows her to ensure her union becomes his own. The groom leaves broken hearted to a bar, he planned so precisely so that his bride would freak out, everything had to be perfect for the wedding and if a single hair was out of line, the wedding and relationship would be canceled, suffice to say, it all wnet wrong for him. As he left a, \"guest\" followed him to the bar looking to \"ease\" his pain and collect him for her private collection. The rest of the time travlers including myself gather around the lake to figure out what just happened and how we were just screwed out of our missions.\n",
"There she stood, white gown and all. My ex-wife, fiancé in the current year, was about to marry me. She had just made her way to the alter and the scene was beautiful. The little farmhouse we choose was a perfect setting.\n\nHowever, it was a tragic day for me and it was one of the last happy days of my life. She was of course not at all who I thought she was. It took me years of pain to find out who she was, but I didn’t believe in divorce so those were good years I unknowingly sacrificed thanks to the misguided oath I made on this day.\n\nI can see right into my naive little eyes. I’m thinking about my vows a bit, but mostly just staring at her with a big grin. Her skin was just perfect and her smile made me such a happy guy. It really is hard to watch, and I promised myself I would stop this day from happening.\n\nEvery so often when I see myself looking at her I make a loud coughing sound in the audience and my eyes are momentarily pulled away from her face or from whatever stupid thoughts were going on in my mind. I still didn’t know what I was going to do to stop this.\n\n___\n\nThere she stands in her white gown, thinking that this crowd is none the wiser. I can see right through her charade. This bride will burn in an alley in a few hours once I get my hands on her.\n\nShe’s a war criminal from my home country, hoping to pass off as a wife with this idiotic little man, while she secretly tries to take down my government. She’s killed a dozen of our finest officers and I, being one of the last still alive, have been sent to stop this wedding and bring her in before she starts her killing spree. I might as well kill the lad too since anyone sick enough to marry her must be an accomplice.\n\nI sat still with a gun poking out of the back of my pants. Right before they would speak the vows I would shoot several shots up into the air, shoot the young lad, and run off with the scum.\n\n___\n\nOh my precious Zelda. I’ve been in love with you since I first laid eyes on you back in 8th grade. The way you look today is just flawless and I hope you wear this very dress on our wedding day. Why you are marrying this dimwitted fool, I cannot say. I know we both saw into each other’s eyes when you walked down the aisle. You may have been wondering how I got in here but I knew you were happy to see me.\n\nI’m so sad I have to stop this wedding myself, and that you let things get this far. You can’t live this trapped life, you’ll never be truly happy. When I speak up to object, would you just come running to my arms? We can just leave together! I have my mom’s car out back and she won’t miss it for a day. We can drive the countryside together and listen to the same song we danced to in the 8th grade spring fling.\n\n___\n\nThe minds of every person in the audience were running through their plans to stop the wedding. They all saw something in Zelda that the others did not, whether it be wickedness, beauty, a zombie queen, the next President of the United States, or any number of other things. The all had one thing in common though, they fully intended to stop the ceremony.\n\nTime was running out however, and soon they would have to act if they wanted this wedding to be void.\n\nYou of course are here with a different mission. You wanted to stop the wedding ceremony from ever beginning so that The Great Time Traveler’s Bloodbath of 2014 would never happen. But the audience was armed and dangerous, you would have to find a way to sneak the bride and groom out secretly and there were minutes left at most.\n\nA man dressed in a suit then stood up in one of the back rows and walked out of his aisle. Moments later he was standing as far away as he could, and a rocket launcher was in his arms. He was the one sent to stop the wedding, but also ensure that The Great Time Traveler’s Bloodbath of 2014 did happen.\n\nDamn, it would be hard to act quick enough now. You sat in the middle of the left section of chairs. With a pressurized air blowgun in hand, you dropped something on the ground.\n\n“Oh how clumsy of me,” you whispered.\n\nYou bent down to pick it up, and while reaching for it, craned your neck under your chair, aimed the blowgun in between everyone’s legs and shot right at the foot of the man with the rocket launcher.\n\nYou then sat up again, turned your head around, smiled at the row behind you, and watched as the giant man fell over hundreds of feet away.\n\n*One down, one hundred to go,* you thought to yourself.\n\nIt was now time for the vows. You looked over and another man in the audience stood up and pulled something out from behind his back.\n\n*A gun, shoot,* you thought.\n\nAnd shoot the gun did, three times into the air before he turned the gun on the groom. But before he could take a shot at the groom, the groom had transformed into an alien assassin and stabbed young Zelda several times in the chest before scooting away on its tentacles.\n\n“Dammit!” yelled the man with the gun. He then took a shot at the alien.\n\n“No, my precious Zelda!” yelled a young man, who clearly had other intentions for her as well. He ran up to her body, which lay limp by the alter, and started attempting CPR, or maybe he was just kissing.\n\nYou had failed your mission. Chaos was breaking out and half the audience had pulled out guns and were shooting at each other.\n\nSeveral minutes later there were only a few left standing. You, a man who looked like a hobo version of the groom, and some assassins.\n\n“Welp, time to go home I guess, maybe I’ll try again Monday. Gotta remember that the groom is an alien octopus.”\n\nYou pulled out a journal and wrote down some notes. You also put a gold star under a chart section that read, “Successes,” and wrote, “Got rocket man.”\n\nYou then disappeared, as did several of the assassins. The hobo groom was the last left and walked up to the body of Zelda one last time. He smiled before disappearing himself.\n\nSo went The Great Time Traveler’s Bloodbath of 2014.",
"Time travel had its benefits-- you got to get away from your problems, you got to take a free vacation to Spain, you got to witness history in the unmaking.\n\nAnd unmake was exactly what Prinz was going to do-- that was the plan, anyway. He looked through his backpack: a 22nd-century wallet, a unopened manilla envelope containing his mission statement, a good-old-fashioned 2030s electric rapier. Everything was in order, everything would be fine. It was time to wipe Spain off the map.\n\nPrinz had no idea why he was doing it. All he knew was that his employer had given him a mission, and if he carried it out he was entitled to open the envelope explaining why. Prinz had considered peeking earlier, but he was a man of his word. And besides, it might interfere with his mission: to disrupt the wedding that unified the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile into the mighty Spanish empire.\n\nIt wasn’t difficult at all to get in. Nobody saw Prinz enter through an open window, and nobody questioned his presence. Confidence, that’s all it took. Confidence, historically accurate clothes, seven years dedicated to learning seven dialects of unaccented Spanish. Prinz had all three of those things. Stopping this wedding would be a piece of cake, he thought to himself as he resisted snatching a glass of wine from the table. I'll come back for it later, he smirked. Imagine the profits you could make on wine aged 500 years. But for now he had a mission.\n\nHe turned the corner and there stood, yes, just like the old diaries said he would, King Ferdinand II of Aragon. Dressed finely, accompanied by two bodyguards, and just as ugly as the portrait made him look. Isabella would be relieved when he died.\n\n“¿Qué hubo?” Prinz asked nonchalantly.\n\nImmediately the guards gave him a quizzical look. Oh, crap. You can study Spanish all you want, but you’ll get stares if you use Chilean slang in Renaissance-era Europe. There was no point in covering it up now-- he was an outsider.\n\n“En garde!” Prinz shouted as he drew the electric rapier from his bag. He surveyed the room: four doors, all shut; glass ceilings, stained-glass windows, yet no sunlight; vast rows of tables with nice tablecloths and silverware. And, of course, two guards and the target himself, an easy matchup.\n\nThe guards were pulling out what seemed to be very nice Toledan swords. Clearly they didn’t realize what Prinz’s weapon was; maybe it was time to show them. Prinz held out his weapon and twisted, cueing the 21st-century devices inside to shoot an arc of lightning out of the tip that traveled eight feet straight into the guard. Taking advantage of the surprise (or, Prinz mused, the *shock*), he rushed the other guard with a palpable lack of finesse. The guard was ready, and as Prinz came he sidestepped and tackled Prinz with, he figured, 200 pounds of body weight plus 20 pounds of armor.\n\nWait, tackled? That wasn’t a Spanish technique. Prinz craned his head up as much as he could and, indeed, the armor was made of alloys Ferdinand would have given half his kingdom for. “You’re a time traveler too?” he gasped.\n\nAt that moment, as if in response, the ceiling shattered and down rained bits of glass and a fellow dressed in highly period-inaccurate kevlar.\n\n“Stop!” shouted the tackler. He stood up, armor clinking, and nodded his head at the other time travelers. “It appears we have similar goals. I want to kill Ferdinand for a 100, 000-credit bounty. He paused. “This is in 2100 credits, so that’s more money than you could ever dream of seeing all in one place.”\n\nThe poorly-dressed time-traveler looked back at Ferdinand, running like hell away from the outsiders. “I want to prevent the unification of Spain on behalf of Portugal, to give more power to the crown. 2142, my reward is whatever wealth I desire.”\n\nPrinz staggered to his feet. “Anthony Prinz, at your service. My reward is unlimited access to my employer’s time machine, but I don’t know my cause.”\n\n“You don’t know why you’re here?” asked the travelers.\n\n“Well, I have an envelope,” Prinz mused. He pulled out the envelope from his bag and carefully opened it.\n\nWhite paper, green 24-point Comic Sans, outdated memes from 2020. “No reason,” it stated as factually as lime green Comic Sans can, “you just got trolled.”\n"
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[removed] | [WP] Aliens invade earth, threatening to end all of humanity. Our only hope is... KenM? | 1 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nNo troll or meme-based prompts. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/60cbuc/wp_aliens_invade_earth_threatening_to_end_all_of/%0A%0A)"
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"1489956840",
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[WP] You have just been granted immortality but as a cruel gesture, you are also cursed with being eternally poor. This is your struggle... | 29 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The old man sits at the top of the mountain. Despite the heavy blindfold his head turns, mimicking the movements of the raptors wheeling high above him.\n\nAround him sit 8 others of various ages, all sworn to serve the Ageless One, all part of the Deal.\n\nPeople come up the mountain often, pilgrims to this holy place, beggars in straw sandals alongside the wealthy in Gortex boots, the way is open to all men, that is also part of the Deal.\n\nEach pilgrim carries an offering, a gift to be given in exchange for an Answer, in exchange for a truth they believe will change things for them.\n\nAt the peak, where the Ageless One waits, they place their offering before him and ask their Question. Then they wait. Some wait for days, others barely wait an hour, these rarely get an Answer. They wait and they hope, in accordance with the Deal.\n\nThe old man reaches out to one of the offerings before him, taking it in his hands and feeling it for some time before he turns to a young man sitting huddled against the side of the mountain, the Question he has accepted.\n\n\"All your base are belong to us\". He speaks slowly, a heavy cadence and hard enunciation ensuring the Answer is heard clearly above the cries of the wind. The boy slowly stands, before he bows his thanks and hurriedly makes his way down the mountain, leaving the Ageless One and his disciples alone at the summit.\n\nThe Ageless One then turns to his disciples, they have been waiting for years for their Answer, and it is time.\n\nHe removes his blindfold and ties it across the eyes of the eldest. He then bows, and speaks the Answer, \"I am Steve, Ageless One, I am The One Who Took the Limited Edition Wham! LP.\n\nThe Ageless One moves to the centre of the circle, his 7 Acolytes form a circle around him as he begins to listen to the wind, head moving despite the blindfold like those of the raptors circling high above as they watch an old man begin the descent to the valley floor.\n\nThat too, is part of the Deal.\n\n ",
"I remember it. The last time I was happy. Not a Kodak moment of happiness. Just a passing feeling of comfort. It was that bit of cheese and bread I had at that Pub. I haven’t eaten in a decade. It just turns to ash in my mouth.\n\nI remember how my robes felt. Soft like velvet compared to this ratty T-shirt the shelter gave me last year. It itches. I’m thirsty too. Even my spit tastes like blood. I miss the creature comforts of life.\n\nHe promised me longevity. Life beyond life. I haven’t felt alive for four-hundred-and-seventy-three years. I can’t die, no matter how hard I try. I do as I please. It’s just as he said. I shall live on. I can’t die. I can’t feel anything. Even now, I can’t feel.\n\nI am poor in all things. I have no love. I have no possesions. I have no desire to continue. That is no longer in my control. I will travel on. Watching. Waiting. Wanting.",
"It wasn't so bad. Money never meant much to me anyways. I had always thought the old man had given me the ultimate fortune. Funnily enough I was dirt poor. I figured that I could always get by on the fact that I wouldn't really need everything that the average man did anyways.\nHonestly, it was a near perfect system and I enjoyed my life of eternal solitude. I had no job to tie me down and if I ever needed anything on my travels I could almost always rely on the kindness of strangers.\nThe people of Siberia were always very kind. I once spent a winter with an old hermit who would sing to earn his money. I wish I could sing like that.\nItaly was a place of tragic beauty. Rome in particular had really struck a chord with me.\nI wish I could have stayed with her... I wish I could have left with her.\nOh well. I suppose it's for the best. I wouldn't have been able to treat her as well as she deserved anyways. \n\nLife goes on."
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[WP] You are an ordinary student who never even saw a gun or commited a crime in his life. One day a guy gives a note to you and runs. It says "be careful, they are coming and they won't stop". Next day, a sniper bullet shatters your window and barely misses you. Backstory time. | 2 | [
"\n**Off-Topic Discussion**: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfil every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"What the fuck!\" I looked around to see where the sound came from, I saw the cracked window and hole in the ground and quickly made the connection as I heard a nother distant shot.\n\n\"Shit\" I yelled as I jumped from my computer chair over to the wall next to the window, the bullet grazed past my arm and hit the back of the chair.\n\n\"Shit, shit, shit.\" what is happening. those must be gunshots but why? I recalled the note that was given to me, I quickly checked my pockets.\n\n\"Fuck where is it\" and then I remebered its in my coat pocket on the chair. I can't get over there I'd get shot in an instant. \n\nI heard some disgruntled shouts from outside my room as my landlord busted in \n\"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HE-..\" he couldn't even finish his sentence as a bullet went straight through his neck, as he fell down chocking on his blood I lept over to the chair to quickly get my coat and ran straight out of the room.\n\n\"Holy shit, Arnold, hello?\" My calls were only met with a low gurgling noise. I have to get out of here I thought to myself, but first I need something to protect myself somehow. \n\nI ran other to the kitchen drawer and picked out a knife, This'll do I guess I thought to myself. I sat down on the kitchen floor making sure I was out of sight from any windows. I unwrapped the little not I was handed on my way back from school. \"be careful, they are coming and they won't stop\" was all it said. nothing to go off.\n\nI had to start planning an escape from the flat, as I heard the door into my flat open. \"fuck\" I whispered to myself, I with the knife held tightly in my hands I ran over to the pantry and hid in it.\n\nI live in a one story flat so the kitchen is just round the corner of the living room so the man who walked in couldn't see me yet, I decided to wait untill he came into the kitchen and the I could spring my surprise attack.\n\nI was shaking from all the adrenaline pumping through my veins I could hardly hold my knife steady, I then I saw him. A man at least a foot taller than me holding up a silenced pistol in a full suit with a balaclava to hide his face. My heart was pounding so hard I was afraid he could hear it. I decided in an instant that I should spring my attack now I jumped out of the pantry and tried to charge him. The man in the suit with cat-like reflexes turned around in half a second and aimed a shot at me, but I was quick enough I sunk the knife awkwardly down into his arm I lost grip of the knife because of the sweat. the man dropped the gun and started to pry the knife out of his arm screaming in agony.\n\nI lunged for the pistol while trying to get a steady shot at the man, he was able to pull out the knife and charged at me. I took a shot, the bullet went through his eye outside his head, splattering my wall with blood and brains. the man fell to the floor with a loud thud. \n\n\"Oh, god. What the fuck have I done!?\" I walked over to the sink to throw up. after regaining my sences I decided to check the suit pockets for some clues. As I bend down near the body I almost had to throw up again, the sight was horrifying I've seen enough of those 'rekt videos' to last a lifetime but in person it's a whole different feeling.\n\nI searched his pockets I found a paper, I scanned it. it contained my name, address, and even had a picture of me, as I kept going till the bottom of the page I read \"first target of THE GAME is 'Jean charter' he is a teacher at clogwood collage. reason: failing me in chemistry. \n\n\"Is that the reason for this bullshit!?\" failing him in for chemistry? I felt sick, dizzy, and confused. I kept reading, \"proof of elmination needed. reward: $10000,-\"\nthere were more targets, a police officer for fining him, a woman for rejecting him all senceless reasons for these killings. as I got to the end I saw the intitials of what I thought was a name K.H. \n\nK.H. Isn't that Keith Hillston. that little shit living of his fathers succes, why would he get funding for this mad game from his father? it was all a bit too much I decided to lie down on my couch, I was exhausted from the events that took place . I'll figure out what I will do tomorrow. one question still remained, who gave him the note with the warning.\n\n\n\n"
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