The scale you've achieved with this gave me a very warm, hopeful feeling. I want to live in that universe now. THANK YOU

Tristan shivered as the atoms that sustained his body reformed, the first flicker of light striking his eyes as his retinas materialised. Sitting on the cusp of a pool of swirling power, he stretched, before inspecting a neon set of numbers engraved into the centre of his palm.

Run 5645

Sighing, Tristan got his nude form up, sauntering forwards through the circular temple. He blinked a few more times as his vision stabalised, strolling into the only passageway out of the expanse.

How many more runs? He inwardly pondered, dust billowing through the air in vivid detail, as sunlight filtered through a pair of gradually widening doors. How many more runs until my soul is properly ruptured?

Such was the cost of these endless rebirths. His anchor dragging him back to this archaic jumble of crypts was the soul-bond he had formed with it. Whereas his flesh may wear-away a thousand times over, his essence would only wilt to ash ever-so slowly, serving as the kindling to his brief jolts of life. Nevertheless, no resource was infinite. There would come a day when the core of Tristan would be undone, when the very iotas that sustained every crevice of his being would be sacrificed for the now.

But presently, he didn't have the privilege of deliberating over his own fate.

Tristan had watched this world fall to the forces of chaos countless times over, and if his soul would be the price to stop the slaughter, to put an end to the mindless bloodshed, he would gladly pay it.

He stopped at the brink of a wide opening leading to the hellscape that spanned ahead, breathing in deeply. He took one step forwards, and a timer above began counting overhead.

The beginning was always a blur, but as the hoarse screams of beings not of this world split the skies in twain, muscle memory alone allowed him to skirt away from the toppling clusters of shrapnel. Tentacles struck out at Tristan through tears in space itself, and, as if rehearsing a centuries old dance, he passed by them all without so much as a scratch.

Earth was upheaved, with creatures of unspeakable descriptions cluttering out of the Deep Below, traversing across entire dimensions to eradicate anything and everything in their path. Barely a thought stirred within the nexus of Tristan's addled brain, as he sidestepped past the fiends — knocking aside a few in the sheer ferocity of his breakneck pace.

Twenty seconds hovered above him, a blur of sparkling colour in his upper peripherals.

Faster! Tristan inwardly screeched, chomping his teeth down as with each passing second, thousands more were stripped of their lives.

One swipe of some distant god's blade, and the skyscrapers in the distance were sent buckling to their knees, the force of the blow resounding through the air for hundreds of miles all around.

Further than last time, just get further than last time!

The same thought that always spurred him into action surfaced in Tristan's mind, and, despite any forced motivation, some motion off to the side, and he knew it was over.

A being older than the very planet they invaded struck a gigantic head out the ground, sending Tristan scrambling. Empty eyes, impossibly ancient, bore into him, vacant of anything remotely resembling remorse. As Tristan anguished at his own pitiful inability to save his own species — not to mention the Earth he loved most dearly — monstrous teeth relieved his skin of its contents.

A few fuzzy moments later, and Tristan found himself sitting adjacent to that mystical stream once more. Breathing heavy, brain aching at the futility of it all, his palm came into crystal sharpness.

5646

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Wait until they here of places that feel all four climate temperatures

that's what happens when you find a hyperspace core in Sudan

“Oh. Hey again.”

Your story just got better, and better, and better, and better :)

You root for them, I'll loot for them! The bard and the rogue shall assist!

This is great lol love it

😀

Earth II

> FIRST FTL FLIGHT > SUCCESS!

Colony Established On A New World!

More Colony Ships Planned!

Scientists Advise Against Colonies!

We are disheartened that our young species has seen fit to attempt to colonize this world against our better judgment, but the popular press has once again misunderstood the reason. It is no lack of faith in their ability, if anyone could succeed in this hellish world, they could, but we wished them to wait until the I.F. saw fit to provide a better world. This world was taken from the top of the rejected list. The existing fauna and flora are simply too aggressive for any colony to have a decent chance to succeed.

•••

...

"What's worse, the idiots chose that planet themselves as the least objectionable world on what they were told was the only list of worlds they would ever have a chance at.

"The closed-minded twit who told them that has been removed from office, but the damage is done. If they don't succeed, they will be declared a failure and likely ordered destroyed as a failed experiment. If they do succeed, it will be even worse, as the government has already informed us that they will only be given access to worlds on the reject list. They will never have a chance at the better worlds!"

...

•••

...

"Council members, you are already aware of the science group that created these... these cockroaches... did so in direct contravention of the established protocols for uplift selection, purely for the chance to stick a branch in the eye of the established standards, without the slightest concern that their acts might unleash a plague on the I.F. of unimaginable proportions.

"That fear has now proven true. The study shows that population pressure is the sole motive for FTL travel, and all other population control methods, including the ever-effective death cult, have been rejected.

"They will breed and breed until they use up every resource in the universe."

•••

"Martha, Joseph, you have done well. So well that we have already begun building two more colony ships at both worlds."

"Excuse me, both worlds? I was under the impression that the existing ships were refurbished and sent out."

"Existing ships? What existing ships? Per I.F. colonization protocol, each ship becomes the center of the new colony, regardless of the cargo space that already holds three colony centers obviating the need to disassemble a craft placed in orbit at great expense, and allowing us to select three starting points for colonization making it that much more likely that the colony overall will succeed. Ergo, all FTL-capable colony ships no longer exist, and we must build more. Get me?"

Earth N^(x)

"The I.F. Fleet is on the way, women and children first. One small bag each!"

•••

"Admiral! We colonized only the rejected worlds, why are we being eradicated!?"

"Citizen, your people represent an unauthorized colony even in a rejected world. You are there illegally."

"We were told that the rejected list was open to colonization without prior approval!"

"And that was the law five hundred years ago, the law has changed, and all restricted world colonies must be eradicated."

"Please! We do not have the shipping to remove all of our people from this world!"

"That is the second reason. You have lied about the number and type of colonization vessels, breaking the rules in an unsafe and illegal manner, causing untold death and suffering. That must end. All of your colonization vessels are declared slavers, and will be destroyed on sight."

"So. It's come to this then. The grand I.F. Fleet has become a bloody handed murderer of defenseless civilians who it should protect rather than destroy. Congratulations Admiral Pirate! You are all declared outlaws! Come at us if you dare! We will fight you with our bare hands if we must, but fight to survive we understand all too well. I had thought better of you Admiral, having come from one of the worst colonization disasters ever, that you at least would see what we have accomplished rather than blindly follow orders issued out of unwarranted fear for unwise reasons to commit GENOCIDE."

((continued))

We were born in the Intergalactic Federation. Nurtured along by the scientists who created us from what everyone else considered the least feasible line of sentience. We were thin-skinned (never mind that it healed rapidly), weak-boned (the same, and yet easily able to grow to support nearly any weight), overly aggressive (when you don't have armor for skin, an uncompromising attack is the only choice in many situations), and worst of all, we bred like bacteria (fast that is, not by cellular division. No one had heard of rabbits yet.)

Having proved their point, the scientists announced us to the I.F., arranged for us to have our own world, patted us on the head, and went to accept their new prestigious positions, awards, and careers.

We didn't waste any time either and got busy doing what we were made to do. Survive anything and breed.

Earth I

"Eve? I think we have a problem."

"Adam, we most certainly do! Give us a thousand years and we will have filled this planet several times over. We need more room."

"That is one solution. There are others, like population control."

"We are not going to have a death cult!"

"Eve? Did I even say that? No, I did not. Our scientists think we might be able to fool the body with hormone therapy. The surgeons are certain we can make men infertile without disturbing their hormone balance and are reasonably certain they can do it for women too."

"No man will agree to snip snip."

"Eve, we've had ten children. I've had mine snipped."

"You... You did it without asking me?"

"I felt I had to be the first. Leading the way for our people. I also knew you had said you didn't want more children."

"I see. I can hardly do less, then, can I?"

"Eve, part of the reason I did not ask was that I wanted your choice to be yours. It's your body, I have no right to tell you what to do with it."

"Logical, and I appreciate it, but I am also a leader and must make a good example."

> Adam & Eve Say > No More Children!

How can she possibly do that!? I'm sure Adam forced her to do it! He won't ever get snipped!

How could he let her talk him into that? I don't know, but I'm not following either of them anymore!

"As we clearly stated in the original announcement, each of us made our choices independent of the other. We had already decided that we had enough children, but neither of us had any right to tell the other how to treat their body..."

Doctor Spock stated, "With the method used in both, there is no change in the hormone balance. Each will remain who and what they are..."

Economist Buffet explained that "at the present growth rate we will fill this planet in less than 100 years. Every year after that, we will experience a reduction in the quality of life planet-wide. The prudent thing to do is reduce the population growth to buy time for our scientists to develop our FTL Drive." It is well known that our revered creators do not favor allowing us access to FTL travel.

...

((continued))

… Drew identifies as an attack helicopter. Good to know.

This is the story I was looking for in this WP. It's a nice touch that none of them really know the whole story. I really thought the last senator would be some sort of Octopus, communicating through skin patterns or something.

Humans, dolphins, elephants, ???

Some form of whale? Octopus?

Centipent

For some reason I was expecting it to end with Spiders being the Dominant species (just based around the total worldwide number of insect and arachnids and such), and humans left standing with their jaws dropped at not being one of the four.

I don’t know why, but a part of me was expecting to see a vampire show up. Just, all, “of course we exist”

The ghost I live with can be a real dick.

It took some time getting used to him. And he's cost me thousands in electric repairs with his constant flickering.

I get it. I'm in his space. All his loved ones are dead. He can't move on. Yadda yadda yadda... doesn't mean you get to turn the T.V. off right before the game winning field goal.

But you know what they say. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Turns out ol' Cornelius wasn't a fan of some of the recent changes the HOA was making. Something about a new home being propped up on his family's graveyard.

Me, on the other hand, I just wanted to put in a basketball hoop and to let my friends park on the street overnight.

But that would be unsightly.

I'm a good neighbor. I keep to myself, mow my lawn, and, most importantly to them, I pay my dues.

But the HOA is a group of the belief that to have fun is to sin. Seriously, those guys make a monastery look like a rave in the early 1990s.

No loud music outdoors after dark. No more than 3 cars parked in front of your house at all times. No above ground pools. Kids couldn't even ride bikes past dusk without getting a lovely call and reminder from my neighbor, Tabitha, the head of the HOA.

So, when I got an email the other day that my Saturday BBQ (that ended at 7 p.m. per HOA rules) was "too loud" and "unbecoming" of our neighborhood, I reached my breaking point.

And then a light bulb went off. But that was just Corny in the living room.

I went to where he was and pulled out my Ouija board.

"Hey, Cornelius, can you travel outside this home?"

I watched the thing move over to YES on the board.

"Wait, really? What are you always bugging me for, then? Go out in the world. Live a little."

The thing moved over to GOODBYE.

"Wait, wait, wait. We might be able to save your family's grave."

The television flipped on to the T-Birds singing to John Travolta "Tell me more! Tell me more!"

"Okay," I continued. "Well, when I first moved in, Tabitha told me this house was haunted and that she could never live in it cause she hated ghosts." I paused.

"Sorry, buddy. Some people just are stuck in their outdated ways. Anyways... She's the one pushing for new developments and the home going in over your kids' dead bodies."

The Ouija board spelled out GO ON.

"I mean, do I have to spell it out for you? I can use the board if you want. Just go over there. Haunt the beejesus out of her and make her sell her home."

The radio turned on. "Okay! Yeah!" said Lil' John.

The following night, I sat on my patio while I watched Cornelius turn Tabitha's home into on big strobelight.

The pots were banging, the cupboards swinging, and the home owner shrieking.

Not two days later was there a For Sale sign next door.

My Alexa started playing The White Stripe's "We Are Going To Be Friends.""

There's an election upcoming for the new president of the association.

Suddenly, I've gotten really into politics.

Heh Planet Winnipeg.

Cthulhu?

yes

Segment taken from galactic hearing 345-989-Terra3

Subject: Induction of 4 new members to galactic parliament sector 4.

Translation: Human English

Briefing given to all participants:

It is stated in galactic law section delta 9 that all sentient species capable of space travel are given 1 seat at parliament. However after further research into terra 4 known to inhabitants as "earth" 4 seats have been offered. This meeting is to settle why 4 seats where offered whilst smoothing over any confusion homo sapiens class humans have over the situation.

The following extract has been taken from the meeting underlining the main subject of conference.

​

"What do you mean 4 seats. I could understand 2 but not 4" The human known as Sci stammered.

It was at 08:43, mere seconds after Sci's statement did a figure materialise out of shadows stumbling while putting on a tie.

Void hoppers - Notoriously late for everything

"I agree with whatever he said" The figure stammered pointing at Sci. "Void hopper designation code 873532 title Cards, my apologies for my tardiness but me and ties have never gotten along."

The court room as silent. Many had never seen such a pathetic excuse for a nightmare before.

"As I was stating I can understand why terra 3 would get 2 seats but why 4?" The human resumed speaking as they stifled a chuckle.

"We are still await the appearance of 2 other beings. Does anyone have any idea where they are" High councillor Stella spoke just above a whisper to the crowed.

​

"There was a bit of a situation getting them across to the mortal plain." Another member of the council spoke.

>!"I am right here you imbecilic galactic guppies"!<

Stella sighed as she glanced across the room. "Did someone FORGET to turn on the translator again?"

A common occurrence in the court. For all our technological advancements we have never been good at remembering to actually turn on the damn things.

"As I was saying I am right here" A voice echoed from a chair in the corner. "Dr A.R. McGonnell the local dead scientist present and not accounted for." A thick layer of sarcasm rested on each word.

"We are sorry for that Doctor, you wouldn't happen to know where the last member of your group is would you?" Stella apologised in a nervous tone.

Never wise to anger a ghost.

&#x200B;

"She is on her way, just had a few things to put in order" The chair shifted as he spoke. "She said not to wait up."

&#x200B;

"I'm sorry but who is speaking and who is she" Sci stammered.

"The ghost on the chair my dear friend. I presume she is referring to death - add least deaths publicity officer" Card whispered patting his friend on the back reassuringly.

Humans - oblivious to most things around them

&#x200B;

"No publicity officer today just me, sorry for being late we are rushed of our feat with the recent interstellar wars. So many deaths due to suffocation." A tall slightly scruffy girl said as she walked in holding a costa coffee in one hand and a burrito in the other. "Plus I had to get some breakfast."

&#x200B;

"Not at all now we can begin".

The proceeds simply meant each party had to sign there names on many documents. It was rather comedic to watch Sci interact with death herself and a ghost for a scientist. I wonder how humans go on oblivious to all these thing around them. Never the less the reminder of the meeting was fruitful. We just don't quite know how to explain a 5 chair for terra 3 has to be added. Apparently we forgot the dolphins.

&#x200B;

&#x200B;

(not my best work but I hope you enjoy it all the same :) I decided to make use of characters I have used in previous WPs. I hope you have a good day)

[removed]

“Oh? And what might those consequences be?” The man asked, sneering. It was was clear that this was his first time here. What a shame…

“You wouldn’t want to find out…” The boy lunged at him, pinning him to the ground in mere seconds.

“I surrender! I surrender!” the man exclaimed. The boy sighed, and got off of him.

“I’m sorry about this… But at least you’ll find the answer to your question.” He turned his head, ready for what was about to happen, but still couldn’t help but flinch as the man was engulfed in some kind of flames and was teleported away limb by limb. No matter how many times he had witnessed this scene play out, he couldn’t grow accustomed to the agonizing screams of his opponent. However, there was no one to blame but himself. After all, he signed the contract and now he was bound by it.