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There was an audible crunch when Tam’s fist met the old wizard’s face. The man staggered back, clutching his hands over his nose and gasped incredulously. The long oak staff he held fell into the mud with a splash.

“Ouch, why in Hel’s name did you do that for?”, the man asked.

Tam just looked at him blankly and turned his attention back to the three pigs in the pen in front of him. He picked up a bucket of swill and tossed the contents into the pen.

“I know your type, and I know what you are about to say”, Tam said in a cold, uninterested voice. “And I don’t want anything to do with it. I am happy here, minding my own business, just like I wish you all would do”.

The gray-haired man had produced a white silk handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it with one hand against his nose. A red stain had already started to form.

“But the fate of the world depends on you!” he exclaimed. “The prophecy…”.

Before he could finish the sentence, Tam spun around raising his fist.

“I dare you to say that word again. I double dare you!” Tam almost shouted. His calm demeanor had evaporated in an instant. Tam’s face turned red, his nostrils flared and his eyes burned with the intensity of a mad man.

“Leave now, or I can not be held responsible for my actions”, he said, visibly struggling to control his rage.

The wizard looked as if he was about to protest, but then he shook his head and muttered something about how the world was doomed before scurrying away. Tam sighed and bent down to pick up the staff. He went around the pigsty and tossed the staff in a heap with similar looking items. The pile was as high as Tam’s waist.

I feel like you fundamentally missed the entire point of atheism

I meant despite the fact/however.

Love this prompt

3rd to last paragraph, replace Chad with Charlie, no?

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"Where's my husband Tyler?"

I was surprised by the question, but then fear rose in my Emilia's face. I looked to my hands, which had returned to the ichorous green that my body normally showed. "Wh-who-who are you?" Emilia screeched at me, her anxiety kicking in to overdrive. I gently placed my hands on hers, as my disguise fell further.

This was going to be a long conversation, as I flashed back to a different time a decade ago.

/. /. /. /. /. /.

The blood-stained head of my best friend, Tyler, was serene compared to the rest of his scattered body. He's just taken a Holy Hand Grenade for me - and whilst the holy water contained within didn't harm him, the explosive and nails most certainly did. His grip tightened on my taloned hand, before slackening.

"Hey, Lexa, take care of my family for me." The cold clarity within his very mortal voice made me certain that he wasn't coming back this time. His summer blue eyes glazed over as his body finally gave up, blood leaking from all of his body parts across the room.

Being a literal Hell's Angel is hard - luckily, I gathered some skin and clippings.

/. /. /. /. /. /

My face streamed tears, as I realised what this meant. It was finally over. "I can't.....I can't....I won't..." I hesitated, and that was enough. Her face crumbled, and she, oddly, sought comfort in the nearest warm, adult body. Mine.

Touch is the most powerful sense for the humanoid, and to seek comfort is one of the most potent things a person like that can offer. I took it, and we shared our pain.

I don't know how long it lasted, but then it was gone. Her tear-ruined makeup, what little of it there was, showed me her pain writ forever upon my own mind. I couldn't speak, just sobbing salt how I'd torn this family apart with a secret.

"Do you want me to tell you how he....?" I trailed off, looking outside at the day that had moved to a dusky twilight. She nodded, tears threatening again, and not trusting herself to speak.

"He died saving me. We worked together on more...esoteric electrical engineering projects, as well as artefact recovery from dangerous places.

"We were working on a job, and there was some wiring that had gone wrong, and we were testing the electrical circuitry. But something had been connected to an explosive by mistake. He took the explosion so that I didn't."

Not the whole truth, for that would be too much; but enough of it that it would make sense. I continued.

"His last words were to ask me to take care of his family. So I did, the best way I could - but it wasn't forever, as you can see." I gestured to myself, in my natural Mimic body, complete with a mouth and teeth in my abdomen.

Emilia wailed then, just.....gone, sunk completely into her grief. "How long ago was this?" She spoke, completely tonelessly.

"11 years in September." I breathed, tears rising again. "He died a hero, to me. And this, was the least I could do to honour him - to provide for his loved ones."

She asked me to leave.

I wasn't surprised, but it hurt anyway.

I'd go with shop, yet.. (Did you mean yet as in despite the fact/however? Or yet as in "have not gone yet"? I read it as the first way)

Added part 2

Added part 2

Added part 2

-------------x

The fairy realm hierarchy didn't end with Queen Amaryllis. Long ago before the age of Kishur, there existed The Elemental Phoenixes, they were the guardians of all the realms in Yggdrasil. Their power was too great to be channeled and be stable on Earth and hence the responsibility of being Earth's guardians was bestowed upon the Fairies & Dragons. They hadn't intervened in humanity's affairs since before the age of Kishur.

With the increased frequency of beasts sightings, more and more Chaos energy was leaking into the Earthly realm causing disarray. Same was noticed by the border family heads, Queen Lilly, and Fairy Queen Amaryllis.

-------------x

It started out as an anuual meeting of family heads to discuss security measures. Lately they had been meeting every month due to the exponential increase in organized chaos beasts sightings, they were almost strategic as if to find the weak points in our defences. Their movements were too intelligent, like there was a general in the background calling the shots. This had never happened before, these beasts were called Chaos beasts primarily due to their chaotic nature, any attempt at controlling them resulted in failure. Hence the only option was to eliminate them.

The border was in much more disarray than any of them would care to admit. With the current number of soldiers & dragon riders barely enough to keep these monsters at bay. Like a balloon that was stretched out to it's limit, one prick was all it needed to cause the entire border to burst and collapse. What's worse was that these horde of beasts seemed to be increasing over time, gradually chipping away at the strength of the border security force.

The family heads knew that without significant effort the border would break down soon, then nothing would stop these beasts from entering the city limits. This was another reason why Jorfith's mother stepped down as the queen's guard - she wanted to be near the border in case something went awry since only the Fairy Queen Amaryllis could use teleportation spells.

"We can't just keep sending more soldiers to the borders, only the Dragon riders can effectively take on the beasts, the rest either end up gravely wounded or dead." spoke Colborn Fraener the family head of the Southern border standing up and firmly banging his hands on the round table. Joining him were Alexander Cadmus Jorfith's father, Gromei Tatsuya of the Eastern border, and Edward Knucker of the Western border. They all looked at each other knowing what Colborn said was true.

Though the Tatsuya clan was better at infantry combat with their swordsmen, they couldn't maintain a lead in an extended fight, since the Chaos beasts didn't get tired or hungry or feel pain. The Knucker clan were adept at long range combat, but they couldn't cover the vastness of the Western border. The Cadmus clan had the most dragon riders, but even they couldn't be deployed everywhere.

"Queen Lilly can't keep intervening with Fairy Ohr everytime, even with her teleportation powers there's only so many places she can provide support, it's not a long term solution. The Chaos beasts keep regenerating at an alarming rate every fortnight, like it's following the moon's cycle." said Alexander as he was reading from last month's damage report from the border patrol. "There's been a 15% increase in their regeneration rate and 8% increase in their spawning rate. If this goes on, we cannot sustain the defence line for more than 2 months. We need an alternative solution." They all agreed, but we're clueless on how to resolve this issue. Their members were already stretched thin as it is, even help from the Wolf, Kraken, and Tiger clans could only buy them 2 months at best. Contemplating what to do next, "Say Alexander, isn't tonight your son's initiation? What was his name again? " asked Edward. "Ah yes of course...! It's Jorfith. He's my youngest, He's a kind soul unlike his siblings, never hurt a fly. He can handle himself in a swordfight and has good reflexes, but he's how do I put it, weak.!! He prefers to be non-violent and hasn't developed his strength like his older siblings. I wonder if he'll ever get strong enough to ride a Dragon.. God knows we can use another dragon rider. I can't leave my post at the border tonight so won't be there to witness his Kishur ceremony, hope it goes well" All nodded in agreement.

-------------x

Back in the Altar room, the aura emanating from both Jorfith and Aurora was so dense it was now getting difficult to breathe. Fairy Queen Amaryllis however, didn't seem to have any problems and neither did Jorfith. "Thank you for heeding my plea Aurora Seraphina Cyra, we are in need of your guidance in these chaotic times. What i feared has come to pass, we're seeing early signs of the Chaos Master's emergence." said Amaryllis, "Please call me Aurora my sweet Amaryllis, oh my how you've grown." Amaryllis's eyes now widened, cheeks flushed red, gave out a smile like when a parent praised her child.

"Now then, it took 4 generations of Dragonborn for a single individual to finally be strong enough to awaken, he is quite cute though isn't he?" Jorfith was looking at his reflection in a small puddle of the lake's leftover waters. He couldn't recognise himself. His hair and eyes had changed, his body felt lighter and full of energy. Now, Alexander's standards of comparing strength weren't normal, so when Alexander talked about weakness he was comparing Jorfith to himself and his 3 eldest sons. Jorfith was still stronger than most of his siblings, just that he never really showed off his strength.

"Dragonborn? Awaken? Just what is she talking about? And what is with this atmosphere, why can't I move? It's like trying to move inside a sea of dense jelly." Jorfith's mother thought to herself. She had never read about any of this in her lifetime or heard any stories about it from her ancestors. Her bewilderment was shared across everyone's faces present in the Altar room.

"Listen to me Dragonborns and their familiars." spoke Fairy Queen Amaryllis, "You stand in the presence of royalty. It is my honour to announce the arrival of The Primordial Guardian of Yggdrasil - Aurora Seraphina Cyra" "Jorfith?" called Aurora. Jorfith now looked up at the huge looming figure, she was bigger than father's Dragon Valyryon who was the largest one in the family. Her wings seemed to cover the entire sky, her presence was so calming and majestic. Jorfith was happy, happy that he got a familiar and couldn't help but smile "Thank you for choosing me.." he said. "Thank you for being strong enough to awaken so i could materialize in this realm, together we'll take down the Chaos plaguing this land, our bond shall be the strongest. You will inherit all my powers, unlike the Kishur - our souls have now bonded. My powers of elemental threads, mana manipulation, and thought control will now manifest within you, you will lead humanity to enlightenment"

And so, the saga of Jorfith the awakened and Aurora Seraphina Cyra the immortal primordial phoenix began...

Thank you for reading so far, hope you enjoyed this short story.

That's so spooky yet intriguing! The fountain pen clearly has magical powers. Time to investigate and see what other mysteries it holds.

Really shouldn't have kept it secret yah espeicially not for the first time certain she would have

Maybe Fenton is also a dog/pom

Can he take care of all the poms properly

Encouraged, because the same prompt will generate new ideas and stories by different writers with each iteration. The point here isn't to come up with brand new prompts 100% of the time, but to spur imagination and allow everyone to stretch their brain cells accordingly.

A hamster and an electrical cable

A drunk actor known for C-list kung fu versus a PCP addled fry cook.

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

Reminders:

>* No AI-generated reponses 🤖 >* Stories 100 words+. Poems 30+ but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* [RF] and [SP] for stricter titles >* Be civil in any feedback and follow the rules

🆕 New Here? ✏ Writing Help? 📢 News 💬 Discord

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Maybe. But I remember that he was able to see the Ring Wraiths' true shape when he wore the ring.

Press 'submit' on the portal and our tender is uploaded. The website was glitchy tonight. But that's 'job done'. It's 8pm. We're half a day ahead of the Friday, midday deadline. And by 'we' I mean me. I sent the others home an hour ago. I can relax tonight. No need to come into the office tomorrow. Long weekend doesn't make up for the extra hours for weeks on end, but it's something.

Check the phone. Supposed to be seeing Shannon tonight. But no text for about an hour and a half. Last text was from me to confirm I was on track. Can't double-text. Especially to an ex.

She's probably going to flake. Shit happens but being totally ghosted by an ex, especially after things went so well two weeks ago - ouch.

But shit does happen. People are still acting a bit weird since the stars disappeared. Obviously, nowhere near as bad as when it first happened. People went loopy for a few months. Religious cult maxing. Orgies. Divorces up. Abortions up. Resignations up. Conception rate rock bottom. Consumer debt giving state debt a run for its money.

I can't be too critical. I went through that ayahuasca phase. And all the stuff with Shannon. Cheating. Arguing about who cheated first. Then the miscarriage. Then the official break up.

But we all became accustomed to the starless sky. The power of hedonic adaptation still shocks me. Good or bad, we just get used to shit.

Even astronomers and cosmologists. You'd have thought those professions would be emptier than the sky. But no. They became obsessed with studying what was left in the solar system with new vigour. A new set of missions planned to all the planets, even the Oort Cloud.

But people are still acting weird. So it's important not to take anything too personally. I AM taking it too personally. But it's important to pretend I'm not.

I say bye to the security guard as I'm walking through reception, looking down at my phone, frantically swiping everything on every dating app, to see if I can save my first free Thursday night for weeks. The app crashes, some sort of network overload. WhatsApp has crashed too. Maybe Shannon has texted me. Maybe I should head to the burger bar anyway. It's only around the corner and I've got nothing to eat at home might as well go.

The security guard isn't there, weird.

The streets are heavy with idiots. All stood still. So many for a Thursday evening. Something must be on at the arena. Is this the week that Taylor Swift is here?

Get my face out of my phone for a minute. Cars are stopped in the street. The drivers have stepped out onto the road. Everyone is looking up. I ask someone why. He looks at me like I'm an idiot, "Haven't you heard?" I've been at work. "The stars are back."

I can see two dim dots in the sky, dulled by the city lights and my overstimulated eyes. But that's just Venus and Jupiter, right? I keep looking. My eyes adjust slowly. I am another gormless mouth-breather blocking the street. Is that another dot of light? Another one perhaps. Are my eyes playing tricks on me?

My phone buzzes. It's Shannon. "Where are you?" she asks.

"Where are you? You ghosted me."

She laughs, "I'm at the burger place. All the apps have crashed. Have you seen the sky?"

"I'm looking, but... is it real? Hold on, I'm just around the corner."

Walking the last block to the burger bar with my neck craned, looking up. Bumping into people. Sorry this, sorry that. Nobody cares. They keep looking up, they can't turn away. Their universe is suddenly infinite again.

Shannon is outside the restaurant with the staff and all the customers, faces on the sky. I don't say hello. I take her hand in mine. She brings her eyes down and I think I can see a star glinting in them. I want to believe it.

Then someone trips the power and the city lights go dark for blocks. Everyone around us coos. We look up. The Milky Way stretches across the sky. Glitter scattered over sepia and red fog. Shannon squeezes my hand. We're so back.

END

https://linktr.ee/corporateclarke

I just wanted to build a play, Officer. I didn't start the fight. I didn't drug the Labrador. I didn't, I didn't...'

The bunny leapt into the air, planting a foot right on my face. I stumble back, the pain drowning everything in darkness, and trip over one of the bodies. I feel her rush beside me into the hallway.

For a moment I just lie there, drugged up as shit, and wonder what Diane would think about all this. There are new footsteps coming towards me and I know that I should play dead, stay out of their notice, but the pain and the panic and everything else just rises up and makes me try to crawl away, rubbing my face, squinting at the figure stepping past each of the cells, walking towards me.

Another cop, I think. But at that moment I would've preferred Mr. Big all up in my face than one of those guys. I try to wipe away the blood away from my muzzle, but more of it just keeps coming.

The policeman pulls off his sunglasses and frowns at me, blowing out a cloud of smoke.

'Aren't you that Xerox horse?' He grumbles, scratching an ear.

I just cover my face and wish he'll get it over with it soon. He kneels down, taking a glance at the crunched up cell doors at my side. 'Sorry about Judy, anyway. What with the whole Chavez case she's gotten a bit antsy these days.'

The fox offers me his cigarette. 'Nick Wilde, at your service. What can I do for you?'

Hey, I finally finished it. It's 2 am, and I finished it way earlier, but it all deleted when I sent it (because I'm on a laptop and it exceeded word count). So I had to rewrite it all. Anyway, hope you like it.