>"You're the DRAGON?" "Um. Yeah." "... So. Now we know...

...are there any of our ladies who catch your eyes?"

Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.

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I never thought I'd find myself in the middle of a horror story. Yet, there I was, driving through the deserted mountain roads of Uttarakhand, India at night, wondering if the high fare was worth it. As I drove further into the mountains in my trusty black ford, the roads became more winding and narrow, and the darkness seemed to envelop me. My passenger, an old gentlemen with a grey beard, was sleeping peacefully through the ride.

For hours, my path was lonely, with my engine being the only disturbance in the mountains. But suddenly, I spotted another car's lights in the distance. I could even spot the car model, a dusty white Honda Civic. We drove together for a bit before the car turned off the road and disappeared into the darkness. The road ahead was empty once more. However, now I could see another white car's headlights in my rear-view mirror.

I had been driving alone for so long that the sudden presence of yet another vehicle was jarring. I felt as though I was in some kind of a strange, eerie dream, where nothing made sense. I tried to concentrate on the road ahead. As soon as I looked away, I could no longer see the car in my rear-view mirror. But another car had appeared right in front of me.

Was it the same car from before? I could clearly remember the car taking a steep turn and disappearing. I slowed down a little to see if the car behind me would catch up, but there was no sign of it.

I looked back for a second to see if the passenger was up, and immediately saw the bright white light of a car behind me again. The car ahead me was gone. At this point, I decided I needed a break. I pulled over, letting the other car pass. But no car did. My heart was pounding in my chest as I jolted my passenger awake and told him about what was happening.

"You should not have stopped the car. We have to walk to the next village. They’re coming."

The car failed to start. We stepped out of the car, the cold mountain air hitting us. I shivered, feeling a sense of unease. The cold air was making me weary, but the old man urged that we keep moving.

Suddenly there was a loud rumble of sorts, piercing through my ears. The man seemed to recognize it and told me to run. I could suddenly hear the sound of footsteps behind us, getting closer and closer. We broke into a run, our breathing ragged, our hearts pounding in our chests. Something was getting closer.

My passenger could not run any longer and urged me to escape without him. I reluctantly put my arm around him and helped him move. The chances of me surviving in this hell alone were slim anyway. He had started to chant something in a local language. I could not tell if the footsteps were behind me or ahead of me. Everything was getting blurry. I saw the old man walk ahead of me as my vision faded to black.

I was driving a car again. I was back on that road, and I spotted a car’s lights in the distance. Had I just blanked out? I drove fast as I could, trying to close the gap. As I drew closer, I could make out the model of the car. It was a black Ford, and I realized I was in a white Civic.

"We did not have the parts."

“Good job fellow heroes. You sure showed those thieves. Let us away to an up-to-code food establishment to celebrate and talk about justice and heroism”

Andy: Greetings! Supernatural tech support service center. I'm Andy, how may I help you today?

Medusa: I think I may have bricked my laptop. Would you be able to help with that? I can send you a screenshot, I am borrowing Arachne's laptop to contact you.

Andy: My lady! That's solid stone all around your laptop! I thought you only turn people to stone when they look at you! Would you be able to retrace how that happened?

Medusa: I'm not sure, the last thing I did was argue with Perseus about how rude it is to punt a lady's head after decapitating it. Next thing I know, my laptop turned to stone!

Andy: Don't sweat it, my lady! Bring your laptop to your nearest service center, and we will assign a dwarf to mine your laptop out of that hard rock!

--ticket number 10009--

Dwarf Engineer Andvari has reported that the stoning affected only external components. Laptop has been successfully mined out of the stone and returned to customer fully fuctional.

--ticket closed--

Andy: Greetings! Supernatural tech support service center. I'm Andy, how may I help you today?

Ares: FIX LAPTOP NOW.

Andy: Please specify your problem so we may better diagnose your laptop problems.

Ares: SMASHED IT. LOKI IS FUCKING CHEATER. HACKER. AUTO AIM PUSSY. NOW LAPTOP DOES NOT TURN ON.

Andy: Ares, I may not be able to advise you over the phone. Please send your laptop down to your nearest service center for repairs. If our dwarf engineers deem the damage too severe, you may consider buying a new laptop.

Ares: THROW IT TO YOU. MUST CATCH.

Andy: Ares, please, that is very dangerous. Please be informed that it is a criminal offense to be violent towards our staff.

Ares: I WILL WALK.

--ticket 10010--

Dwarf Engineer Fargrim has deemed the damage too severe to repair. Customer laptop is within warranty period. Replacement laptop will be sent to customer address in one week's time. We will not replace laptop if customer smashes it again.

--ticket closed--

Andy: Greetings! Supernatural tech support service center...Whoa it has been a long while since you last came by our service center! You really should be getting out more often and getting some real, actual sunlight, not the illusionary stuff. You don't look so good today.

Gwyndolin: I requesth thy assistance to set up content control web filters on these covenant laptops.

Andy: Any particular websites or content you wish to block your covenant members from accessing?

Gwyndolin: A 'chosen undead' who recently joined mine covenant has been spreading R34 pictures of me. Thou shalt block these websites here in this list provided. If thou art a true discipline of the Dark Sun, thou shalt Hunteth these heretics.

Andy: I'm afraid the latter request is beyond me, we ain't in Anor Londo. Also, PVP isn't allowed here in this support center. I can definitely help with the website filters though. Would you be able to come back to collect these laptops before we close shop today?

Gwyndolin: I shalt return tomorrow morning. I have an evening appointment with Sulyvahn.

Andy: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Gwyndolin: Thou shalt not shout in such an offensive manner. Pray tell, what thy know of Sulyvahn.

Andy: I played over 1000 hours of Dark Souls 3!!! I...I'll see you tomorrow. Please come to pick up the laptops tomorrow please.

--ticket 10011--

Website content filters have been set up as per customer specifications on all laptops. Pending customer collection.

--UPDATE--

Customer has not returned to collect the laptops for over 3 months and has not responded to phone calls, emails and snail mail reminders. Ticket has been automatically closed.

--ticket closed--

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Ahh, thank you! I'm very grateful for your kind words. I still do know there's still a lot of work ahead of me - especially with the narration vs dialog. I know my characters "feel" younger than I'd like them to be while narrating, but I'll keep practicing and hopefully get the effect I am looking for. :) I hope to read some of your works in the future, as well! I'm sure your work is wonderful, and I wish you the best with getting better too!

The printer was disassembled. This would not usually be a problem, but the constituent parts had seemed to decide that it was time to make a floating pentagram. The room seemed to be lit by a fire place, and there was a continual, albeit soft, chorus of screaming. The terrifying face came back into view, covering up the scene.

"What the hell were you trying to print?" Teddy said under his breath. His mic picked it up just fine.

"What the hell indeed" said the client, before letting off a bone chilling laugh. They were red and scaly, and certainly had horns, but Teddy thought it rude to ask if they were djinnic, demonic or draconic. Teddy had only been in support for a few months and had collected a laundry list of faux pas in his performance reviews. The client had given their name but Teddy lacked the vocal folds needed to use it. The company's videocall software didn't have good audio quality either, and the client had kept cutting out while explaining exactly what was wrong.

"Sir, or um, Madame... Distinguished patron, for prompt delivery of your IT solution it would be best if you abstain from sinister implications and double entendres." said Teddy. He sat on a tiny desk covered in protective runes, just like the runes covering his cubicle walls. His desk was one of hundreds in a cubicle labyrinth, lit up under tinny tube lights. Above Teddy's tinnitus, the whining of cheap LEDs became the background noise of life itself. He had a little company provided pillow under his desk, and meals were delivered twice a day. In short it was the best job he'd ever had.

"Right, sorry, our daughter needed it for a presentation at school. Just a simple hex, she really took to it too. They gave her all summer for it but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, hey, got it done in one night!" said the client. Their face had contorted into a wicked sneer, which was actually a beaming smile but humans weren't designed to be smiled at by entities like the client. Teddy felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, something of the animal response to quickly approaching death, but the employee manual had assured that workplace accidents were incredibly rare. Once every couple of months, which was a leading industry rate, the manual had repeated.

"Just a simple hex? What kind of incantation school are we talking?" asked Teddy. He didn't know much about hexes, on account of his degree being in information technology and cyber security, but he was really good at using Google.

"Nothing too peculiar, just a simple blood reversal hex, but the way *-* wired it was really quite clever! You see, normally *-* reverse the flow of the atriums but *-*" said the client, their lips continuing to move. The audio was cutting in and out but that suited Teddy just fine. He was reading the wikihow on how hexes worked. After a while he gave up and opened the hex in Microsoft paint.

"Ah here's the issue, look in between the sigils. There's a whole other hex in here. Have you noticed any activity at home in the room where the printer is stored?" asked Teddy.

"Now that you mention it, our furniture has been rearranging itself, and the cauldrons been bubbling when it shouldn't be..." said the client.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say this hex came straight off Google. Let me try plugging it in... Yeah literally the first result." said Teddy.

"No, it couldn't be, Anathema's a straight A student. We certainly raised a cheater but never with her education" said the client. They had taken on a pensive look now. They clearly didn't believe what they were saying, which was good, because if they did then soon there would be no more Teddy. The customer is always right wasn't just a platitude for Teddy, it was how he survived.

"I think I know what's going on, it looks like the interlayed hex is for a portal, looks like you've been the victim of a backdoor attack." said Teddy.

"Will that cost me a lot to fix?" said the client.

"Well the good news is the printer is a fairly easy fix, but the bad news is you're going to have to call in pest control. Looks like you have some ghosts. If you haven't noticed them yet they couldn't be more than, say, poltergeists." said Teddy.

"Oh, just poltergeists? Shouldn't need pest control for that, I'll put a few traps around. But what about the printer? I could never put something like that back together, even the error messages are Babylonian to me." said the client.

"Ah that's a part of our customer service guarantee. We'll get a technician over for the printer in the next few hours. In the meantime, I'm going to send you a survey, if you'd be so kind as to fill it out and tell them what kind of experience you had..."

The setting and interaction between the characters was beautiful.

Critique? I'm not a big fan of the style, i didn't find the story itself to be that interesting, and i didn't like the mildly crude word in the first of your three posts. But i have to repeat: The setting and interaction between the characters was beautiful.

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You're not the only one. I started the game fully spoiled through the end of Shadowbringers. The number of times I've stalled out because I'm dreading what happens next... is honestly a little embarrassing. Like, I just got done leveling WHM 0-70 so I could putting off meeting with Alisaie and >!Gabu!< outside of the Maelstrom (after which I basically speed-ran through to >!Amh Araeng to get her back!<).

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It's almost exactly a plot from Doctor Who

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Robali sat in her study in quiet contemplation, the ancient sword bared from the scabbard. Scales gleamed along the entire back of the single-edged sword, trailing well down along the crossguard and disappearing into the wrapped hilt.

A week had been given for the mourning of the former King Lucius Dragonblade. A week to contemplate her teachings before the inevitable time came when she would have to apply them. A week to watch her elder brother become the greedy wretch she'd always known him to be. Now though, she contemplated something else.

'Blood for Liberty,' etched in fine silver filigree along the razors edge of the blade. Something about the etching stirred something within her mind. A memory, though only judge at the very fringes of her consciousness. Something profound her father had once told her of what being a ruler would mean.

'The tree of Liberty must occasionally be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants,' something seemed to whisper to her.

The voice didn't bother her, in fact, as it was often that she thought of the sword as a sentient thing as much as she knew it was a symbol of her family's rule over their corner of the world. Now though, it seemed more...

'Real?'

"Who's there?" Robali called out, stirred from her position and glancing around the study; finding only stacks of books and the sword her company.

Something seemed to draw her eye to the word 'Liberty.'

'We are no strangers, you and I. Our pact is sealed. Liberty has been refreshed with the blood of a Patriot.' Robali could almost swear she could sense hesitation in the disembodied voice. 'Your father was a truly good man. A good Paladin.'

Robali felt the involuntary clench of her jaw at the mention of the man her father had been. Ten years ago, perhaps. Toward the end, he just seemed... Tired. Ready to retire to a countryside to be forgotten, as if his death weren't a foregone conclusion.

'You will know the same weariness in time, child. Duty is a mountain that weighs not on the body, but the soul. Duty will always crush the spirit. It was time.'

"Is that why he asked to be set free?"

'Good men are few and far between, child. Most will see themselves live just long enough to begin to embody the very things they once swore against. Some will hang on to those morals until the end of their days. Rulers, as you now are, and as you must now be, must be able to change with the times.'

'There is a time though, when the people need the change.'

Robali slammed a fist against the table, causing the sword to rattle upon it. "That didn't mean he had to die! He could have just passed on the crown!"

'That is the pact, Robali. That is the pact your family made with me to rule these lands.'

"Are you a demon then? Am I bound to a devil in servitude?"

'No, child. Demons and devils would have no use for happy countrymen, full bellies, freedom, and secure borders. They would benefit most from the strife your brother would cause. Did benefit from the strife your late Uncle caused.'

Robali sat back in her chair as if physically pushed, anger leaving her faster than it had come upon her. All she could feel in that moment was grim acceptance for what would have to be done... And a quiet gratitude that she had a great many years before her own time would come.

"Duty is heavier than a mountain..." With a heavy sigh and wetness stinging at the corners of her eyes, Robali asked, "Will I ask for it in the end as well?"

'That's your story to tell, Queen Dragonblade. But this I can promise you.' The voice of the blade fades almost to imperceptibility.

'It will be light as a feather when we welcome you home.'

Gotta say though, you absolutely nailed it. I've never seen the quote-en-quote game part of the prompt/story be integrated so seamlessly, or at least in such a satisfying way.

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Keep going. Part 2 part 3, all the parts haha

Also meaning changes if its a noun vs adjective according to mirriam-webster

Nope, humans age due to telomeres shortening each time the cell divides. You decay or rot because your body no longer is maintaining homeostasis...blood no longer moves through providing nutrients. oxygen etc, and it allows for forgein bacteria, fungus etc to start growing. Cells divide constantly for various reasons, if they didnt your immune system couldnt adapt, your brain wouldnt retain memories or skills, couldnt create muscle memory etc without what you call decay. Immortal literally means not dying, its in the actual word. Doesnt say unaging, immune to disease, immune to injury. Just means your not gonna die. Not that you'll stay forever young.

Thank you! You're very kind. I'll definitely keep practicing! :)

I did google it ahead of writing and - according to what I found - some albinos can have eyes that look red in certain light.

But, hey - it's mainly a cool image, I feel.

Either way, absolutely banger! Keep on writing, wordsmith!

Precious! :)