Jesus. Prime of your life forever if you're in love, accelerated old age if you're not. That's a hell of a thing.

Poor them.

Well done!

This was actually fun to read. I liked that your sword was also evil.

Ah, I think I get it now. Some mind control thing where they have people about to die do something useful to prevent the war?

Gonna read it now!

[deleted]

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Now I'm finished!

Woot for Krampus!

Word limit. I could describe that they are hijacking people who are about to die to alter the future or I could go into how these agents are trying to influence the future events. I couldn't do both.

I thought the idea they are trying to prevent a war was more interesting than the how as, realistically, that might be something as basic as "make sure this girl decides to become a poet rather than teach physics"

The pregnancy went off without a hitch. Mom says I was a freak of nature. Barely any morning sickness, only a little back pain, some fatigue but nothing that really slowed me down. Every morning, I looked in the mirror, turned to the side and saw my belly grow just a little bit bigger. And of course, I ran my fingers through my hair, checking again, for that wily grey strand. It disappeared just as suddenly as it had appeared. Most days I tried to convince myself that it was just a trick of the light. My husband loved me and I loved me and I loved him. How could I not?

He was the most attentive pregnancy partner a girl could ask for. Daily foot rubs, midnight runs for cravings, by my side at every Lamaze class. Even built the crib without me having to ask him. I have never loved him more than in the moments late at night, when he'd bring his face inches from my belly to tell our baby bedtime stories so they would recognize his voice.

In the end, I gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby girl. We named her Anne, after his favorite aunt.

She was the light of our lives and like moths we centered everything around her. Schedules, sleep, food, everything. For the next few years, it was like we were on autopilot. Sleep, work, Anne. That's all that existed. Sleep, work, Anne.

I finally finished my residency and got hired by a nearby, sleepy hospital. I was grateful for the light workload but just when things eased up for me, the revved up for my husband. His father suffered a heart attack. He lived, thank god, but took a much-needed step back from work leaving the business in my husband's hand. He worked overtime almost daily. 55 hour weeks when things were good.

I tried not to be resentful. He'd wanted the business for a long time. He deserved to put his dreams first for a while, just like I had. I reminded myself of this every time he stood me up for a lunch date, every time I handled Anne's bedtime and breakfast alone, every time I counted the days since we'd had sex and realized it'd been quite a while. Relationships ebb and flow. That was natural. We still loved each other.

At least that's what I told myself when I was trying to ignore the crow's feet that was popping up around his eyes.

More and more little signs of aging popped back up.

An argument over him leaving dishes in the sink, gave me three gray hairs.

Him having to bail on a loan meeting at the bank to pick up Anne when I was trapped at the ER, resulted in liver spots on the back of his hand.

Our ten-day "discussion" over whether or not I should turn down a chance to be an attending physician at a prestigious hospital two states away, left us both with back aches, dull skin and permanent frown lines.

We've been married 10 years now. And looking in the mirror, I can't lie to myself anymore. My shiny black hair is growing more pepper and salt colored by the day. The crow's feet around my eyes are deepening by the minute. When I brushed my teeth I noticed that my gums are starting to recede, I wouldn't be surprised if I lost a tooth soon.

I look twice as old as I should be... and I am not the only one.

I walk into the kitchen and find my husband reading the newspaper. His hair is stark white now and his gut falls over the belt of his pants. He leans forward at he reads, his back hunched over like a man in his 80s, even though he's barely 35 now.

I sit across from him with tears in my eyes. "I don't think this is working anymore."

He sadly nods, in agreement. "I know."

I just simply took what first came to mind and ran with it. It's how I do my writing.

Digging it. loving the universe and potential future it is set in. Gj

Turned out really good :)

Okay. Male and female. Both internationally wanted on bioterrorism charges. To the public she is his second in command. To them they are equals, friends, lovers. Both probably not entirely sane/sociopathic but do care for eachother.

Currently near death, having just survived and escaped a fight through faking their deaths. Currently doing the classic taking care of eachothers wounds and making sure they are as okay as can be after it all thing. Like sicfics but injuries.

Idk, I tried to make it unique. I apologize if it's not the best prompt. Basically two terrible people who do terrible things but love eachother as a sick(injury) fic prompt.

Oh, I'm excited now!

Hang on, not done yet!

Now that's just downright gorgeous. "What happens when a god worships a mortal?"

Oof, that hair at the end. Oof.

Well done!

Not quite sure what happened... what are they doing?

Tremendous! I loved this!

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Lofe had always been a bit of a skeptic when it came to things like the paranormal and ghosts. But when a group of his friends insisted on doing a seance one night, he figured it couldn't hurt to go along with it.
They set up the Ouija board in the living room of their apartment and sat in a circle around it, with Lofe sitting opposite his friend, Emily. They placed their fingers on the planchette and asked if there were any spirits present in the room.
To their surprise, the planchette immediately began to move, spelling out the word "Yes."
Lofe couldn't believe it. He had always thought the Ouija board was just a silly game, but now he was starting to feel a bit uneasy.
"Okay good," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "Because rent is due, and you need to fork over your share."
But as the planchette moved again, spelling out the words "F U C K," a strange feeling washed over Lofe. He could feel a presence in the room with them, something dark and malevolent.
Suddenly, the room grew colder and the lights began to flicker. The planchette was moving faster now, spelling out words that made no sense. Lofe's friends were screaming, but he couldn't hear them over the sound of his own racing heart.
In a moment of sheer panic, Lofe grabbed the planchette and threw it across the room. The room went silent, and Lofe and his friends fled the apartment, never looking back.
But the spirits they had disturbed that night did not let them go so easily. Lofe began to experience strange occurrences in his apartment – objects moving on their own, eerie whispers in the night, and a constant sense of being watched. He tried to ignore it, but the hauntings only seemed to get worse.
Finally, Lofe couldn't take it anymore. He packed up his things and moved out of the apartment, hoping to leave the spirits behind. But wherever he went, they seemed to follow him, haunting him for the rest of his days. Lofe lived the rest of his life in fear of the spirits that had attached themselves to him that fateful night.

Yes. Either accidentally (like you insinuate) or by choice (e.g. let’s build an Ultron to unleash on our enemies if the time comes).

“Hey, coach canceled practice on account of how cold it is, but the girls want to go out together.” Sarah told Orion. “They…”

Orion hugged her. He wasn’t sure about anything that had happened this morning, but what he knew was that his friend was hurt and she needed to be cheered up.

“I guess you heard I got dumped, “ Sarah whispered as her throat tightened. “I need a raincheck on the rest of this hug. I can’t cry right now. The girls want to take me out to cheer me up and I don’t want to be that girl that breaks apart in public because she got dumped.”

“Whatever you need,” Orion promised. “Text me when you’re home and I’ll come over.”

“Deal. Bring that Belgium chocolate your mom brought back?” Sarah said as she opened the door to head out. Orion nodded in agreement.

As Orion watched her jog back to the field for her things, he couldn't shake the image of Sarah's sad and brokenhearted expression from his mind. She was one of those genuinely nice people and sometimes suffered for it. Orion wished he could do something more than just offer her some chocolate.

“Pretty girl. Are you in love with her? I wouldn’t really know about that sort of thing.” A woman’s voice rang out behind him. The voice was clear, firm, and confident; it sounded familiar to Orion.

Orion spun around and found himself staring at a short girl… or woman? This person stood merely at his shoulder height, but her face was one that held eons. No wrinkles appeared on her face and her skin looked flawless, but her face was taut with the tension of age. However, it was more than perceived maturity emanating, there was an unseen force from her that Orion could sense would burn him alive without effort if provoked.

“Who… who are you?” Orion barely was able to ask before he felt her life force slam the air out of his throat. He doubled over and gasped for air.

“Hera,” she replied with a look of concern for Orion. “Oh drat, I’ve overestimated your constitution. Here, this should be better.”

“Orion felt the force diminish and he could regain his breath. Putting both hands on the floor to help himself up, he slowly stood up again. Looking once more at Hera, he wondered if he dared speak.

“Hera, as in wife of Zeus?” Orion mustered the courage to ask. He wondered if she had come for the arrow.

“No.”

Orion didn’t know what to say next. Her voice was oddly familiar despite not something any human could produce. She had to belong to the pantheon of gods that his arrow belonged to and yet she claimed not to be… or more strictly speaking she said she wasn’t Zeus’ wife. Maybe this was one of those fiction that only has a seed of truth. Orion racked his brain for who she could be and recalled one other name.

“Are you also known as Mother Flame?” Orion hesitantly asked.

“Goodness no!” Hera exclaimed and once again nearly knocked Orion over. “And I’ll thank you not to use her name so lightly!”

With that exclamation, Orion’s mind recognized the voice finally.

“You saved me when I first touched the arrow! You commanded the voices!” Orion was sure of his suspicion.

“Voices? Oh, is that how your brain perceives the Multitude? Yes I suppose that makes sense. Oh, yes I was the one who saved you. I thought it fair since I’m the one that put you in danger. I seem to have a habit of overestimating your constitution. I had no idea you couldn’t handle The Multitude. It’s a shame. They really are quite convenient and friendly, you know.” Hera stated all this casually as she circled Orion looking him up and down. Her observation was eagle eyed raking every inch of him and more.

Orion noticed as she walked that her black dress didn’t rustle or shift. It was as if it was an extension of her body and moved only when commanded. Everything about her was curious and overwhelming. Nothing she had just said made any sense to him, but he did understand that she seemed to know about this situation he found himself in.

“I think I have to give this arrow back to Cupid. Do you know him? Can you give it back to him for me?” Orion hopefully asked.

“Back to him? Not when I’ve gone to so much trouble to steal it from him and give it to you. I know that the Multitude was unable to instruct you, but surely the Voice gave you some clarity?”

“You mean the mysterious one that speaks at random? It’s helped a little I suppose, but I still have so many questions.”

“So ask”

“Why did you give me this arrow? The voice said I had to give it back to Cupid. What do you want me to do with it?”

“I want to see if you can use the arrow. Candidly speaking, I’m starting to doubt it, but I suppose I might as well see the test to the end. Find someone to shoot the arrow with and we shall see the results.”

“Use it? But the voice said the arrow was dangerous around people. I don’t want to hurt anyone”

“True, the test has risks, but what I’m hoping to achieve outweighs them. In addition, an instrument of the gods is most dangerous when there isn’t a god around to shield them, but here I am. I may not hold the arrow, but I’m close enough to prevent catastrophe. Now enough questions, time for you to see if you can shoot this arrow. I have other candidates to try, you know,” For most of this conversation, Hera seemed like she had all the time in the world, but now she looked eager and ready to move on. “Take out the arrow”

Orion reached into his backpack for the arrow. It was full of his books, so it was proving difficult to find. Orion rummaged around until he started to worry it had fallen out of his backpack.

“I swear I put it in here! Did it fall out? I don’t think I have any holes in my backpack.” Orion started to get worried and frustrated. Why did things have to go so wrong when all he did was spot a stick in the morning?

Hera stood there without any emotion or expression. She betrayed no movement; not even a single lock of hair rustled. It seemed like time stood still for her and Orion lost all sense of it.

“So… it seems I was thrice wrong. You have indeed utilized the arrow,” Hera finally spoke. “Time to see the results.”

“Wait, I didn’t shoot the arrow. I don’t even have a bow!”

“Fool! An instrument of the gods is not so clumsy as to rely on your body. Did you think we would allow our instruments to be bound by the natural physical laws of the universe? Our instruments answer to a higher power.” Hera immediately pulled Orion through the double doors out into the cold. It seemed her body too did not obey physics as she casually dragged him along without effort.

“Wait, hold on, where are you taking me? Hang on. I can walk. Stop dragging me!” Orion cried out.

“Walk if you want, but keep up. We don’t have any time to waste. We need to see the results of your choice.”

“Choice? What choice?”

“The test is a choice!” Hera snapped. Orion saw the capricious nature now; Hera was only moments ago a far more pleasant individual. “If you’re going to replace Cupid, we have to know you’re in tune with his arrows to make the best choice for each arrow. Every arrow has a destiny and Cupid is best at figuring out that destiny and enacting it. When an arrow isn’t perfectly used, an imperfect event will unfold. If you got it really wrong, it will be death and tragedy. And if I was really really really incorrect in my assessment of you, the entire world will end.”

“Wait someone could die!? Who?” Orion breathlessly asked as he sprinted to keep up with Hera’s stride.

“Fool again. I already told you that the arrow doesn’t obey the physical world. It obeyed your will. Your thoughts. Your mind. Whom have you directed all these at?”

Orion paled as he came to a conclusion. He ran faster and followed Hera across the field after Sarah.

Ha! Crypto's tanking pretty hard right now. No wonder he doesn't have his share.