"Something wrong, Crewman?" The Lieutenant asked. I straightened, and saluted. He chuckled, and waved it off. "No need for that-- the Soros is a merchant ship. We keep it pretty casual."

"Yes sir," I said, then amended, "Er...L.T.?"

"Either one's fine." he said, smiling, "But you look a little unsettled. Something the matter?"

"Well, to be honest, I was thinking about my uniform, LT." I admitted.

"What about it?"

"What it says on the back, sir."

"The ID number? Do you have a superstition about the number 29 or something, crewman?"

"No, I mean the smaller text above the '29'. The one that says, um...'replaceable crew member'?"

The Lieutenant blinked, then suddenly burst out laughing. "You...you thought..."

"Sir?" I asked.

He shook his head, still chuckling. "Sorry, Crewman -- I see what you're saying." He tapped my shoulder. "This is a replaceable crew member uniform, not a uniform for replaceable crew members! Ha, no wonder you looked so worried!"

"Oh! So...but why do they say that, sir?"

"Eh, I know it's confusing, but what it really means is that you can re-use them. Crewmen we take on in one spaceport may only be with us until they cash out at the next one, so we get the uniform back from them and replace it in storage for the next guy that signs on." he explained. "The numbers are for identification if we have to call you over the open comms channel -- sometimes you might have to wear safety gear for loading and unloading certain hazardous cargo, and from a distance you can't tell who's who under the respirator masks."

I nodded, that made sense. "Heh, I see. Thanks for clearing that up, sir."

"No problem, Crewman." the Lt. said, and clapped me on the back. "Oh! And here's your bunkmate."

Another man in a similar uniform to mine stepped into our small quarters. He nodded to the Lieutenant, who nodded back.

"As you were, Crewman." the LT said, stepping past him and out into the corridor.

I nodded to my bunkmate, and stepped aside as he started unloading his gear on the bottom bunk. I'd already claimed the top. When he bent down, I noticed the back of his uniform.

Replaceable Crew Member #29, read the text on the back.

"Sir?" I called back to the lieutenant.

He turned, "Crewman?"

"My bunkmate and I have the same number. Won't be that be a problem, if they're for visual identification over the comms?"

"Huh," he said, stroking his chin and frowning thoughtfully. "Yeah. Weird. Well, don't worry Crewman. I'll mention it to the Captain. It won't be a problem for long."

My bunkmate said something, but I wasn't listening. I was staring after the LT. He frowned.

"Hey you okay?" my bunkmate said, following my gaze. "It is the uniform thing? It'll be fine -- he said he'd talk to the captain and get one of us a new one, right?"

I swallowed hard, and felt even more uneasy than I had before.

Because that wasn't what the LT had said.

Part 3? 🤞🥺

Ooof. Getting some all too real and painful political vibes from this one

Please more

Thank you, I am glad you liked it.

This is fantastic, good job! We need more!

Wonder if you can just cheat and spawn kill the blue one

I replied to my first part with the second part, so it should be in the replies

Wait where

Part 2 is out

It’s out now

Part 2 is out!

Made a part 2

(Seeing as how popular this got, this is the part 2, I’m surprised but I’ll do my best)

The Historian and Priests only shrugged, they didn’t know what had happened, and were just as confused as the King. They would only redirect their eyes to the three dragons who were around the shattered eggs.

The king only looked on, his hands coming together under his chin as the battle began. Red and Blue seemed more intent on fighting one another, leaving Yellow alone for the moment, and Yellow seemed content in not involving itself with the two.

One could best describe the fight between Red and Blue as a flying cat fight, claws flying at one another, wings flapping and maneuvering to get the upper hand. It seemed like they were an even match, the Red dragon ripping into Blue’s wing, and Blue latching onto Red’s tail, dragging it down and grounding the twin.

Dust was kicked up by the pair, the crowd cheering on Red, watching over the fight as Yellow just stood by, the Third Dragon watching the two fight against one another, claws and teeth and all. It seemed to be over in seconds when the dust began to settle.

Blue took deep breaths, blowing dust up as she stood over her slain brother, Red. She would roar and stand on her back legs like a dark stallion standing over its new lands.

The boos from the crowd were almost immediate, their voices however died down as Yellow roared to gat the attention of their sister. Blue would whip around, and roar back at Yellow, walking away from Red’s body, ready to fight Yellow but weakened by the fight with Red.

Yellow was slow, careful, sizing up their sister as Blue growled, torn wings spread wide, trying to intimidate Yellow. Yellow meanwhile only saw one thing in the display, weakness, and vulnerability.

Blue would fail the game of chicken, and charged at Yellow, roaring all the way until Yellow sidestepped and body checked her on to the hard stone floor, being silent as Blue tumbled.

Blue stood up, having expected Yellow to be on her and fighting, but the sibling just stood there, unmoving but ever so watchful. Blue had managed to hurt one of her arms, now on three legs as she huffed, roaring at Yellow, but being alone in the roar.

Yellow just watched, breathing slowly as she stairs down Blue, their wings folded neatly, legs planted into the stone like trees. Blue growled, and on her three legs charged again, being focused on Yellows head now, charging as fast as she could until Yellow spun, their tail tip striking Blue’s jaw, breaking it and sending Blue back to the dirt.

Each time Blue fell, the crowed would cheer on Yellow, no longer remembering Red who lays off to the side still. Blue stood back up, limping and jaw hanging open, her sides bleeding and mouth dripping as she roared weakly, trying to be strong but Yellow just walked up to her, and with an almost comically slow swipe, took hold of Blues head and forced her to roll on her side.

Blue shivered, unable to move, weakened by Yellow as she waited for the final blow, but still Yellow just stood there, holding Blue down. Yellow chittered with their teeth, seeming to speak to Blue for a moment before letting go. Blue didn’t dare get up, weakened by broken bones and blood loss, only able to watch as Yellow finally spread their wings.

With a gust of air and cloud of dust Yellow took off, flying high and leaving the arena, flying directly over the kings seat. The King only watched, amazed as this strange beast left, leaving a broken but living Blue behind.

“Have some men track it.” He ordered, one of his knights nodded and left to spread the word, the king then turned to the Historian and Priest “go down and capture the Blue Dragon, it is yours to do with” he says, the historian and Priest nodded, leaving the king to collect the Red body and Blue survivor.

The queen thinks, sipping her wine as she looked down to the arena “what do you think this means?” She asked, looking board more than anything.

“Nothing good.” The king says, grunting as he stood upright, standing to speak to his people, he would try and clear his throat. He couldn’t quite get the itch to go away, and would take the wine from his wife, taking a quick drink before coughing and speaking “my people!” He bellowed, looking to those in the stands “while we may not know what this winter brings, rest assured it will be nothing to hold us back, we will continue to grow and swell out over the Barbaric lands, and bring in a new year of peace, and prosperity!” He roared, smiling as the peasants roared in agreement. He would wash his throat with the rest of the wine in his wife’s cup, coughing some more before guiding the queen out of the stands.

The kingdom barely made it a month until the King began to get letters, from the boarder towns first, then closing in. A plague, starting with a cough, difficulty breathing, and sweating, which soon led to pale skin, dizziness, and diarrhea, and in some cases, Death. The king knew this well, as he was suffering from the same symptoms as he sat on his throne, wearing barely anything as he felt all too hot even with his feet in a bucket of ice.

He sat at his table, his advisors all huddled at the far end as to not catch the illness as he spoke. “We must find a way to cut this plague short.” He shouted, coughing hard and pounding the table with his fist. “What are in the notes on it!”

One advisor flipped through a book, frowning “there are reports of a large uptick in rodent populations, the wave of rats is often found around grain silos and other food storage sites.”

“The grain silos are bursting at the seems with extra grain, and with no cats to cut down those numbers of rodents, it’s a case of millions of rodents running rampant!” Another adviser exclaimed, putting down his book with some force.

“The rats must be spreading the plague” the third advisor says, grunting as he sat down, weakened by the limitation of food.

“Then the next best thing to do is to starve the rats” the king grunted, breathing in deeply although not deeply enough for his liking. “I want the spare grain silos to be burned, burn the rats with them.”

“Sir… that grain is our winter stock pile, the leafs haven’t even finished turning colors!” The first advisor replied, leaning on the table.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear about you’re recent promotion to King!” The king retorted, pointing at the first advisor “my word is law, now go! Or your head will go away from your shoulders!”

The advisors only nodded, grunting as they left the table, walking away as one of the doctors came over to check with the king.

Bravo! Also great twist! 🌹

Since I was a child, I loved to walk along the beach to the dock and dangle my feet while smelling the sweet salty air.

If I was lucky, I could see teal and aquamarine scales glittering in the sea, just out of my reach. It wasn't until I was older that I learned what I saw was no fish.

Since I couldn't pronounce her name, I called her Maria. She blended into the ocean unless she wished to emerge. When I was around 10 or 11, she decided to make my acquaintance. At first, I thought she were just another girl. Just swimming. When I asked her to walk on the beach, she showed me her tail. The same teal and aquamarine scales I had seen many times before. Maria and I became quick friends.

I asked is mermaids could ever walk on land. Her answer was "I don't know." She wasn't supposed to interact with humans.

As the years passed, we found our own partners, though my love for her never faltered. We would always be friends, although in secret.

One day, there came a terrible storm. Boats from down the way came loose and rotors missing. When I came to check on Maria, she was on the pier. The scene that lay in front of me made me retch. Her beautiful teal and aquamarine tail was now run with crimson. Her hair chopped and matted with drying blood. The salty air smelled metallic. Yet she was holding something, as if her life depended on it. A blue orb, no bigger than a clamshell.

"My child... Take care... Will you?" She gasped when I reached her. "Of course, my dear Maria." I cried.

I held her as she slipped away. I wrapped her in seaweed and let her body rest in the depths of the sea.

The orb I carried home. My partner asked what it was. Why I left in a storm.

So I had to explain.

"How do we even raise a mermaid?" Otis exclaimed. "I am not sure." Was my defeated response.

So I went about how I always did.

I ran the tub with saltwater. I placed the orb in it. And watched it grow as we waited.

Eventually, a sweet child came from it.

"Maria! It is time to come in now." "But mommy! I want to swim some more!" "You can swim tomorrow. For now we walk along the beach back home." "Okay." The small child huffs.

"Why don't you ever swim with me, mommy?" "I am allergic to saltwater. I get a terrible rash." "Oh. Okay. Just once can you dip your toes?" "For you, my sweet, of course. But tomorrow."

I and Otis were enamored with our merchild.

We did not expect me to be one too.

I hope you are fucking happy now, all of you. Glenda and your holier than thou attitude, for your sake I hope you're right. Fuck you Art, I'm sorry that came out wrong, Fuck you Mayor Arthur Dinar, your pompous arselicking excuse of a man. Your literal job is to keep this town safe, fucking bungled that didn't you? You know what? Years. I've helped you for years. Art in particular but all of you. Glenda with her unwanted pregnancies from men who is not Terry. Terry and his own problems from the same general exercise. Viktor and Tam would have had 3 small sad graves instead of the helions you now try to raise if it wasn't for me.

I could go on! I spent fucking years helping you all. And when I told you it wasn't a good idea at all to go along with Art's and Glenda's idea that the fucking plague could be prayed away when I told you I have a god damn cure for it?

Yes I know mold tastes bad but it's better than dying innit? So. Yay. Half the town is dead because, Glenda, gathering everyone in a small cosy temple and having them breathing and touching each other is a collosally fucked idea for beating the fucking plague.

We could all have stood here. Jim and his family. Amber and her's. Little Sam who looked up to you Art. Fucking hurt's doesn't it? I could have saved them...

But they listen to you. And you will live with that pain for the rest of your lives.

And so will I...

Totally the Justice Lords...

More?

Amazing work as always Apocalypse Owl! Poignant and precise with every word and phrase!

I didn't vomit, or shit myself if that's what you're thinking. No, she told me about the hike (one day hike, half the time to get there, half the time back, with a couple hours for "fun" when we got where we were going), we kissed again (nothing like the time before) and we parted ways.

The next week was a blur, I bought all the hiking gear I thought I would need. I did some research, then bought some more. I did more research and realized that now I had too much stuff and really needed to calm down, yet I couldn't stop thinking about the hike, about Julia, about the kiss.

The night before the hike I had assembled my gear, including some joints that Julia had asked me to bring, laid out my clothes and done everything I could think of to be prepared. When I realized I had nothing else I could do, I decided to look up the trail we were hiking the next day, see if I could find a video of the hike or something like that.

Instead I found missing person reports going back decades and crackpot theory videos about "something" being in the woods. I shut my laptop with disgust, every forest had people going missing in them, why did people have to twist that into some hidden evil? Of course there was nothing in those woods, those people were just stupid, they got lost or fell or something, obviously.

I was in bed, almost asleep before I actually acknowledged what I had thought. Where had that come from? Videos like that had always interested me, I never really believed the theories in them of course, but they were fun. I was about to watch one of them on my phone, when sleep took me, the last thing I remember was thinking about Julia and that amazing kiss.

The next morning I parked my car on the lot next to Julia's. The night before long forgotten as I looked at her, casually dressed in jeans and a flannel, her hiking boots worn but clearly loved, her red hair seeming to crackle with energy in the early morning sun. For a moment I was reminded of her eyes after the kiss, I think for just a moment some of the pieces to this puzzle had started to fall into place for me.

The puzzle, any hint of a puzzle even, was forgotten as she kissed me again. This one held no special magic, no more than a tongue and her hand traveling to a suggestive place, it worked all the same. If she had asked me to climb Everest, right then and there, I would have, if only to get what her lips and hand had suggested.

Luckily she asked no such price, just that we climb the small mountain (or was it a hill?) that laid before us. I won't bore you with the hike. We walked, hand in hand sometimes, we talked and we navigated this well traveled trail. I was even starting to have fun, a part of me was thinking about following Julia in the woods for the rest of my life, of how happy that would make me.

Eventually we left the main path, turning off when Julia saw a particular rock by a wispy birch. If I hadn't been so blind to everything but Julia, I may have paused to question in that moment. Leaving the path was rarely a good idea and if your do, you don't want to go far, just enough to do your business and get back out there.

You'll understand that logic had left me a long time ago by this point. I wish I could say that I was thinking with my dick, that I was just a dumb horny guy that let himself get led on by a pretty lady, to disastrous results. The truth is much worse though, much much worse, once we left the path we walked miles, it must have been miles because when we stopped it was late at night and the moon was high but I had no memory of walking there, to me no time had passed.

Yet I could not deny that my feet hurt, the sun had long set and I had a few new cuts and bruises on my face and hands. I could taste blood, from a cut lip I assume and my pants felt wet, like I'd wet myself, or walked in water up to my waist a while ago.

Julia however looked amazing. She had taken off her hiking clothes, though I never saw her do it and was standing naked in the moonlight. Behind her, seeming to glow in the moonlight, or perhaps of it's own hidden light, was a pool of water, perfectly still save for the small ripples created by a near silent waterfall.

The entire scene didn't look like real life, it was too perfect, too beautiful. It was like seeing a sex scene in an art film, one of the ones that people talk about for years to come. It was beautiful, she was beautiful but in a way that nothing in nature could ever really achieve.

I didn't see this then, at the time I felt as though I was living in a dream and in a way I was. I lost time again, just a few minutes, when I was aware again I was naked and waist deep in the pool. The water was warm, just slightly warmer than my skin, the warmth of flesh blood as it splashes on your skin.

Julia was in the pool with me, holding my hands and looking deep into my eyes. She smiled at me, it was a sad smile and perhaps the most real one she had given me yet.

"You know, I really do like you" she said, her voice soft. She dropped one of my hands and reaching up, stroked my cheek. "You're a bit of an ass, sure, but I do like you. I think we really could've had something. You're just unlucky, if I'd met you a week later, or if you had said you hated hiking even, we wouldn't be here."

I didn't understand what she was saying, it almost sounded like she was breaking up with me but that couldn't be true, could it? Before I could speak, to plead my case to her, she pressed her finger to my lips, shushing me. "No, don't talk, don't make it harder than it has to be."

She started to cry and again I started to speak, only to be interrupted by her hand finding my hair and slamming my face into the water. She was strong, unnaturally strong as she held my face under the water. My feet slipped, flapping uselessly in the water as I tried to escape.

I started to hit at her, as best I could, slapping clawing and grabbing at her pale skin. None of it worked, her skin felt like marble and she was as still as a statue. When the water invaded my mouth I had a moment where I noticed that this water didn't taste like water, but like pure iron, like condensed blood. It was the last thing I noticed before I died.

Or I think I'm dead. I'm not really sure. I'm writing this down, in a book, somewhere. I don't think I'm where I was before, in like a… metaphysical sense. I'm in the pool now, at the bottom of it, or under it somehow. Maybe I am the pool, but then how can I write?

None of that matters really, Julia comes by every once and a while. She bathes in the pool in the moonlight, when she does I feel myself growing weaker, though I can't explain how. I don't know if I have much longer.

I wonder if the last guy watched me die, or if he was gone before I got here. I guess only time will tell.

Seems as though humans love following trends. I bet if you go far enough back you'll find a caveman doing something stupid, then having other ones follow him, each one thinking they were the one being original.

These days the Internet has really taken us for a ride, at first trends became global, the Internet letting everyone know what was in at the time. Now things have gotten bigger as they also became more fragmented. As you read this there are trends in small, niche communities that you'll never know about.

That's not always the case though, in some cases it seems like everyone has the exact same hobbies. Like hiking. On every dating site these days it seems that everyone is a hiker, "if you don't hit the trail you're not getting any tail" my best friend, Kyle, had said after a few beers.

He had laughed at his own joke then "come on man, you're fit already, you love exercise. You're always hitting the gym and shit, what's the difference between hiking and an elliptical?" Kyle wouldn't get the difference, as far as I knew he never had been to a gym, or gone hiking. He'd married his highschool sweetheart, started working at his dad's business and gotten fat right out of college, he never dated.

I didn't say that though, of course I didn't, he's my friend and I do like him despite his flaws. "It's very different, a gym is climate controlled. There's no bugs, no dirt and no chance of rain. Best of all, if I decide I don't actually want to exercise I can just go home, can't do that half way up a fucking mountain can you?"

You may be thinking now that me and Kyle are both dumb, sure plenty of women had hiking as a hobby, if it is a trend surely not all of them hike. I thought so too, so I went on a couple dates, lying about my love of hiking. No girl lasted more than two before they asked the question "so, wanna hike next weekend?"

The first two took it okay when I said that I didn't really want to hike. I'm an honest guy and I didn't have anything I felt I'd need for a hike, not even good shoes for it and I didn't want to spend the money on it. If I'm being honest with you, the reader of my strange tale, I didn't feel any real connection with either of them, so when they clearly lost interest after my response, I wasn't bothered.

That changed with the third girl, Julia. She was beautiful, red hair and freckles, legs for days and sun kissed skin that should have warned me (or maybe it should have been all the pics of her hiking on her insta, we'll never know). She had the best sense of humor too, laughing at her own jokes with abandon and laughing at mine, even when they weren't that funny. I was smitten with her, when she said she wanted to go hiking with me, take me to her special place in the woods, I readily agreed.

She had smiled then, true joy cracking across her face. A moment later her arms were around my neck and she was giving me the best kiss of my life. That's no exaggeration, as our lips touched I lost time, the busy dive bar patio disappeared and I was transported away, somewhere that smelled of pine and of the peculiar smell of clean water. I could almost hear the sound of a stream, close by, surely no more than a few feet away.

She broke away from me then, her green eyes seeming to sparkle for a moment, like sun filtering through leaves. I couldn't help but look around after the kiss, expecting for a moment to find myself in a fantasy clearing in the woods. No, there was no woods, just drunks smoking cigarettes and eating greasy burgers, like the one I could suddenly feel very clearly in my stomach, like a lead weight

Nice twist

[Writing Prompt Story]

Since eternity timekeepers have prevented time related paradoxes from happening. Paradoxically this made the job rather boring since all paradoxes were already prevented, but if noone did the job then paradoxes would happen. Jack and Matteo were two timekeepers doing their job by having already done their job reviewed timelines for amusement.

"Hey Matteo come look at how timeline 8973 has developed!" Jack gestured for Matteo to come look at the timeline on the chronicler. "So it looks like timeline 8973 becomes a dark solarpunk timeline." Jack said in awe. Matteo gazed upon the chronicler with a curious and confused expression. "Dark solarpunk? How does that even happen?" Matteo as a timekeeper has chronologically already seen many dark solarpunk timelines but that was his future self in the past so this time would technically be the first time. "Well it looks like a technological breakthrough in timeline 8973 on Earth results in solar panels that efficiently make electricity from all wavelengths of light resulting in a solarpunk timeline. Then a technological breakthrough in remote energy transmission results in solar satellites providing energy that supplements and eventually surpasses the energy from rooftop solar panels. The supply of energy combined with increasingly limited land as the population grows over time leads to the rise of megacities comprised of residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural superstructures surrounded by preserved natural habitats." Jack pauses the chronicler on an image of a forest in front of a wall of gleaming skyscrapers. "What happens next is where it gets interesting."

Jack displays the Earth's Moon uncolonized on the chronicler. "Limited land and further scientific breakthroughs cause the Moon to be colonized. Centuries later the Moon has a bunch of megacities just like Earth but since the Moon doesn't have plants which require sunlight the solar satellites of the Moon end up being replaced with a super solar satellite since in this timeline they fail to develop a laser based method of energy transmission that can transmit enough energy to power megacities without breaking so they are limited to receiving energy from planetary orbiting satellites instead of getting energy from sun orbiting satellites but they do develop stationary satellites that use ion drives to move to and stay in certain positions in space." On the chronicler was the view of a lunar city beneath a solar eclipse caused by a gigantic disc shaped solar satellite. "Wow that is something." Matteo remarked as the chronicler shifted to showing a view of the Moon from Earth shrouded in darkness by a huge stationary solar satellite with dots of lights from lunar cities being the only light on the surface. "That is nothing just look what happens further on." The chronicler showed the progression of the timeline. A solar satellite eclipsed city with a backdrop of red sands on Mars. Another solar satellite eclipsed city completely dominated a landscape with Jupiter in the night sky dotted with towers and floating cities that were darkened by an absolutely massive solar satellite. A sunlit Earth in a solar system of solar satellite shadowed planets. Then other solar systems and planets in perpetual solar eclipse. "That dark solarpunk timeline sure is something." Matteo remarked. "It sure is." Jack responded.

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