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Utterly obsessed. How the 3 witch moms are so loving to the child, how they're so content and happy with her that to not make it all so disappointing and sad they just offer her the opportunity to kill them then and there. The way that end goal potion was just given away in exchange for their daughter coming over for house chores

And the cherry on top in the end. Brainrot kicked in to how she'll react to that piece of information

[removed]

Aww, that's so cute.

“…But why ? Why would you ask for someone to come and slay you ?”

The great beast exhaled a grey cloud from its nose, as it extended its neck to look at the armored warrior. “You know us for being dangerous, violent, and greedy, but we are also very smart, little man. When one of us feels themself going, what better way to go than in a final fight against you, fierce warriors who don’t fear our fire ? What better way, if we want to do wrong to another of our kind, than to offer a part of our treasure for someone to come rob or kill them ? And you are also very entertaining. Those little armies and their wooden sticks are nothing to us, but if we want a real fight, against someone who is actualLu a match for us, then we just have to ask, with a good bounty on our heads.”

The slayer was astonished. “So… all of these quests are all for you to have fun ? How do you even register them ?!”

The dragon closed its golden eyes and chuckled, as its tail happily whipped the piles of gold it was resting on. “No, of course some quests still come from humans. As for registering, we do have to get creative from time to time, the smaller of us simply dip their claws in ink and write messages, while others just wreak havoc until they accumulate a high enough bounty… personally, I use smoke signals.”, it said, pointing at the open crater at the top of the cave.

The knight lowered their head, and placed one hand on the handled of their sheathed sword. “Then I assume you want me to fight you, right ?”

The dragon laughed once more, then menacingly opened its mouth to reveal its terrifying dentition, and the brasier that was already burning in its throat, projecting light onto the shining gold like a large oil lamp. “I sure would appreciate a good distraction.”

That's just Kirby

"Hey! Hey, you down there! Looking to earn some easy coin?!" The knight peered upwards from atop his steed, trying to make out the cloaked figure standing on the precipice of the mountain. He thought about moving on with his travels, but then the mystery man called out again and the knight's sense of curiosity got the better of him. The shouts carried down the mountain, spurring the call to adventure. "I could really use some help up here!"

Within a short time, the knight found that he had to abandon his horse owing to the increasingly steep terrain he now faced, and so he hitched it to a small tree jutting from the cragged rock face, continuing up as the man's voice became clearer and clearer, until, finally, the two were face to face. Behind the stranger lay a great cave, the interior shrouded by impenetrable darkness. Something about the environment rattled the knight, as though he knew things were not quite right.

"It's the damnedest thing, you know..." The stranger began, hobbling over to greet the knight as he stood with his hand firmly on the hilt of his sword, eying the cave with suspicion. "I lost a sack of coin beyond the entrance to that cave there. I would go and fetch it myself, but these old eyes are no longer up to the task. Perhaps you, a brave man of adept sight, can go in search for it and then afterwards we can surely split the value!"

"Remove your hood, sir. Allow me to look upon your face, so that I may know you are of noble intent."

Hesitantly, the strange man pulled down his hood, revealing a leathery, aged complexion. The skin on him betrayed an almost scaly appearance, but still it did little to dissuade the valiant knight from his newest pursuit and he cautiously made his way into the cave mouth, sword drawn and ready to strike. 

After a while, when the hooded man on the mountain heard the screams crying out from within the cave, followed by a victorious roar of delectation, he made his way back over to the precipice. There he spied another traveler walking the road below. Grinning, he called down to him, requesting assistance and offering an opportunity for some easy coin. 

Thank you :)

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Sounds to me like a vampire of sort

To be fair, renovating Arkham should be the first item on his to-do list. No matter what batman do, if the only thing that keep those maniacs inside is the fact they are too bored to bother breaking out, it doesn’t matter

With this particular short, the PTSD is a direct result of the indoctrination process for folks like the MC. The Imperium uses all kinds of nasty shit to produce what are essentially zealotous soldiers. For pilots, the machine is the only physical form they have that can express itself in any capacity, which is alluded to in the prequel I posted later.

I took the prompt a little literally in that sense. The true horror of what they are is something very few of them actually come to terms with and offset that horror by what their between fifty and two-hundred ton war machines can do.

“You seek for me to merely, let a hero win?” I sighed, crossing my arms as my assistant sorted through the excess documents I had on another desk. Additional immigration documents from the Lust sector are requesting additional salary to take out unsatisfactory customers so I currently have my hands tied.

“That’s right” spoke a female voice from the other side. “I had spoken about the prophecy about the hero after all, they should be arriving soon. You will thusly, need to be ‘vanquished’ in accordance to follow the plan. You know like usual protocol”

The voice was from the Goddess Sophia, my wife. Even now, it was still an unprecedented marriage. A demon lord and a god, usually on opposite ends of the spectrum, now uniting together in hands. Though that is not really something I care about. I love her dearly, and she does to me too. That’s enough for me. Our own private quarters in our respective abodes links together to a private domain in limbo, so we may hold each other to our hearts’ content without having to spend time visiting each other.

Why do we not stay with each other? Aside from the world’s perspective seeing us as different, it’s also because we run…a business to be exact. I’m the great demon lord, some of the humans have named me The Morning Star. Sophia, my wife, is known as The Goddess, she told me some people have called her The Graceful Mother. As the heads of our pantheon, each of our pantheons have long since accepted our marriage. But now arises a new problem.

Previously our economies hinged upon warfare. Using humans and lesser demons as proxies, we gained our currency through winning the heads of minds. The more people who live lavishly under the realm of desire, the more power and currency we demons get. The more people who abides by virtue, the more power and currency the gods get. So my wife and I proposed a plan. The Hero plan. Instead of simply waging war, we have single proxies instead. Every 100 years, “The Graceful Mother” will announce a prophecy that “The Great Demon Lord” has resurrected and would thus need a “Hero” to vanquish them. She will then select the strongest Hero candidate, who also represents the holy virtues, to fight on behalf of the humans to “kill” me. The gods get paid through the people’s faith in the hero, and the demons get paid in spreading the Seven Deadly Sins throughout the land a few years prior to the prophecy announcement. And for about 1000 years now the plan has proceeded without a hitch.

However this year, there lies a problem.

“Dear, you know I have no problem in letting the hero win occasionally, you know I love theatrics” I pursed my lips as I looked at the map on the wall beside me, with the border cities crossed out as placed taken on the hero’s campaign. “The problem is the hero you’ve chosen seem to represent more as a person who’d ally with the demons than a hero”

“Well yes, they’re the best I could find” the voice, albeit regrettably, admitted.

“That’s the best?!” I shouted, startling both my wife and my assistant. “Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to shout dear”

“No no, I understand, I’m equally as shocked as you are.” Sophia agreed, seemingly sighing over the call. “Raping conquered townsfolk, forcing them to convert to the religion if they had their own gods……it’s as though they completely forgot what it means to be a person of faith”

“If the best of humanity is like that, I don’t want to know what it’s like for the rest of humanity. Or the good people who are forced to lived under them”

“……” My wife stayed silent. “My love, do you think we should activate it?”

“You mean the drive for rebellion?” I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. “But that would essentially leave the demons completely free for a few decades, not to mention the impulse for rebellion is controlled by my hand as well, what would happen to the gods then?”

“My love, you have been slain so many times, yet you always came back, the same man I love all these time. It’s high time I suffered the brunt now.”

“But-“ I was hushed instantly.

“My love please” I could feel her gentle hands on my cheeks, as though she was here with me in my office. “You told me so many times that good and evil are but sides of a same coin, even if they flip, it doesn’t change what it means to be good and evil. Your people. The demons the humans have hated so much have noticeably helped so many of the lost who ran away from the kingdoms. I would be blind to not notice”

“But if you go through this-“

“I would be lauded as the demon instead. But I leave the decision to you.” She laughed, light heartedly. “I would gladly become a demon for you, if it means protecting the world you and I wanted to forge for everyone. I love you.”

She blew me a kiss, as she hung up.

I set the phone down, a magic apparatus that we worked on together so we can contact each other even at work. She asked me to let the hero win if possible, since their own evil tendencies will end up giving me more power than he has to even defeat me. But it also means letting someone like that stay a hero. If someone like that is a hero, who knows how bad the rest of humanity has become, or the how much of humanity has to suffer under people like them?

Yet if I do so, she……

I hesitated, before turning to my assistant. “Lilith”

She turned to me, setting the documents aside. “Yes my lord?”

“Call the 72 demons in” I adjusted my suit as I walked out. “I will be engaging the revolution”

I want a part two SO badly, JUST to see the reaction that last line. Excellent work, and I hope Grimm gets an answer!

'Next'
'Oh, that, that's me... thank you for seeing me.'
'Yeah, yeah', I sighed. 'Name?'
'God'
'Yeeaah. Ok... see him?' point to Anubis. 'He's a god. Her?' Point to a cat in a station master's uniform. 'A god. Them?' Point to a fox. 'God. And that funky one that looks like an old man, then a young one, with holes in his hands and feet, then turns into a spirit? Yeah. You guessed it.' I rubbed my eyes and sighed in frustration. I never should have taken this job
'Let's try this again. Name?'
'B-Baal'
'Okay, Baal. Just what do you...' I was interrupted by him opening up an attache case and producing a picture.
'Here's a picture of me in statue form when I was popular!'
Looking, you are horrified to see a tall gangly thin being with a phallus over half it's body length at full attention.
'I was...'
'Let me guess, a god of fertility.'
'YES! Have you heard of me, perhaps?'
'No. Lucky guess.'
'Wow, you ARE good!'
Aw, human damn it, this son of a bitch is getting on my nerves already.
'I... I still have what it takes, so to speak. Do you want to...' He gets up and unbuttons his
trousers.
'NO!... er, no, thank you. Have you tried the Adult film industry?' I mutter under my breath.
'Yeeaah, I, I did... Now kinda on the run... for murder... impaling.'
'Of course.' Son of a... why do they give me the impossible cases!? 'Look, I'm very busy with a large case load today, so let's just cut to the chase, shall we?' I look at Baal and see him nodding enthusiastically. 'Good. Do you have any followers?'

'Erm, one, but he's very elderly and in Hospice. So I was referred here by Inanna.'

'Okay, then. First, I think we need a little PR work. I mean, you can't just go around waving
your... ahem, member around. The times have changed in the last few centuries.'

'Oh, oh dear me,' Baal wrung his hands and looked at his feet. 'That seems to be one of the things I'm very good at...'
'Of course it is... why wouldn't it. There's no place anywhere where you can... wait a minute...' You narrow your eyes and lean forward over your desk at him. 'Have you heard of the Kanamara Matsuri?'
'The what? I'm sorry sir, I don't quite follow.'

'How would you feel about taking a trip to Japan?'

Damn. This is really good. Sad, heart wrenching, but very, very well done. The foreshadowing in how you described the hero and the lead up to this are excellent ways to key in the reader without them realizing off the bat. 10/10

The old ways just were not working. You can pay or even make people worship but true belief, true worship, that's harder. With no true worshipers gods were still fading. So when I asked for a meeting with the board to discuss a new idea to preserve and empower old gods they were skeptical but, gave me an opening.

My concept was simple, steal a concept from fallen Hollywood has beens, 'rebranding'. A simple concept really. Take an old god, take their old specialty and rebrand it to work in the modern age along with a new name that modern people can easily grasp. The board was skeptical but gave me the opportunity to test my theory and gave me my choice of those endangered of disappearing. Honestly, I took the easy win. Abeona, the Roman goddess of outward Journeys with safe passage. She was just unable to keep a good hold in the modern world so, time for a 'rebranding'. She didn't mind a name change as well and so, Asphalta was reborn. Goddess of roads and safe passage. Skin as dark as asphalt, hair grey like concrete with streaks of yellow and white. Add a few catchy phrasings like "Why call out to a busy Jesus to take the wheel with millions of others when Asphalta has been safely guiding those who ask since before Jesus was born?" or "Aphalta for the traffic light you need." and we just needed to let it catch. Sire, people might laugh at the billboards but they would remember and talk among their friends. Even if just making jokes to start.

And that along with one lucky video of an out of control car suddenly straightening out and coming to a safe stop was actually all it took. Suddenly 'Our lady of the roads' was on the lips of every overworked hourly worker running late for their second job, every kid trying to make curfew, every idiot who forgot to fill up was praying to make it to the next gas station, every bad driver praying not to wreck in the rain or on the ice...Asphalta went from fading to brilliantly radiant with the power of worshipers prayers. Shrines even started being erected at rest stops and the DMV.

That was all it took and now, my life sucks. Minor cog of the organization to a department head with a schedule around the clock, dang night time deities. Assigning PR managers to gods and making sure they do their jobs; rebranding the near forgotten, bringing those on the borders to the main stream and even getting some into movies playing themselves to revitalize old brands. Ha, rather than competing with all the other goddesses of marriage and childbirth I rebranded Hera as the goddess of cheated on wives and being your own woman. She has her own talk show a counseling organization and a mansion/women's recovery center now that apparently would rival the temples of Olympus.

That's the least of my worries though. Turns out when Gods beg your favor, when Gods give even the smallest prayers of thanks...you take on a glow of your own.

Great story, but the typo "the mage said weekly" is the funniest thing to me. Just the image of both characters being basically frozen where they are for weeks while the hero slowly pushes the food into their mouth whole... which now that I think about it could basically be canon to the game since that is essentially what happens when you're in your inventory

So I'm trying to understand. Is Cannibalism the original sin?

I'm a little confused about the shrine cave. Is this lucifer? So many questions~~~

Oh, that's good, I had too much bias from my own idea and the other prompt. It's always fun to see the different ways people interpret these, apologies for missing your creativity.

"Mr. S, the person we told you about is here..." I gulped, then waited as the receptionist put me at the waiting line. There's always a waiting line. Always has been, always will be. It's the last attempt to keep people away. They just keep you in line, for all eternity, expecting this to either be your last hell or that you'll get bored and go back to eternal damnation. I had been through this multiple times...but an eternity gives you all the time in the world to find the loophole.

It took trial and error in other waiting rooms in hell, but I cracked the code. The secret is in the Muzak in the waiting room. Most people never really listen to the background Muzak in these places, but I always had done it- and that's my advantage. If you don't listen to the Muzak, then you're going to have to just sit, and wait in line, forever. But if you listen to it, and you can convince yourself whatever workday-lite rock-pablum song they're playing is your favorite, if you actually WANT to hear the song...then the person will call you in just so you don't get to hear the full song.

Listen to it, get the idea...I bet all those fundies in the '80s talking about metal or rap being the devil's music would have shit themselves knowing Kenny G was what they play all the time here...start to smooth jazz out...and...

BUZZ. Satan poked his head out of the room.

"y...you actually beat the last test. W-well, come on in then." I walked into his office.

"Well, this is the proof. It took me an eternity, but I finally got past all the trials, and I want my just reward."

I waited, then Satan shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, you're one of THOSE people. Well, what reward were you looking for? Say the word and I'll pull it up for you...but then, all you had to do was put in the request at any of the places and it'd be done there too."

"Yes, yes, I know the rules of the 'no, you can have or do whatever you want to whoever you want down here, Hell is not really fire and brimstone, the real Hell is getting all you want in excess until you cease to get any joy from it' thing. Now, I want to rise above it." Satan put his hand on mine.

"...oh....ohhhhhh, I have to level with you, kid...that's not how it works here. See...I control it all."

"All of it...?"

"You know how Hades became one of the names for Hell, right? I thought I couldn't make it any more clearer then that and that'd turn people on to how it works- Hades ruled the underworld and the afterlife. Like, ALL of the underworld and afterlife. Only one. I guess the Greco-Roman myths did die after all...I owe Athena a nectar, I guess."

"Then God is..."

"Oh, no. God exists. Actually a nice enough person when you get to know him- but, he made all of existence. He's a creative person, and like most creative types, he's...not exactly a people person. God really doesn't like getting bothered all the time while he's trying to work on new projects. I wanted a bit more power, so he put me in charge of dealing with all the people here in the afterlife while he got to sit back and just keep working...so, yeah. This isn't the good place, it's not the bad place, it's the ONLY place."

"Only one afterlife..." Satan smirked.

"I thought modern day religions made it clear in so many words. Each one says their religion and only their religion is the One True Faith and if you don't worship them and only them you go to Hell for all of eternity- but they all worship the same God in so many terms. I thought people would realize the catch-22 means "you can only go to Heaven if you worship every single religion and cult in the world, and if you skip even one that religion condemns you to hell...but if you do that, you have multiple Gods and thus also go to hell due to the First Commandment. Nope, only one afterlife."

I looked.

"So heaven...?" Satan looked.

"Not just heaven. They're ALL covered by me. You could go to any of them right now if you want without an issue; there's a big building saying each. Heaven? The description is just you sit on a cloud and look at God all day. Ignoring that we established since God is a creative person at heart, all it would be is sitting around in an apartment with the guy as your roommate, trying to get him out of his room to actually socialize or do something while he makes it clear he'd rather be left alone so he can actually work, those people just go into the Heaven room...they sit on clouds, look at God...and you wouldn't believe some of the epic meltdowns they have when they realize they can actually get bored with that too and it isn't all its cracked up to be..."

"I believe it, you have the whole Heaven channel showing it, I've seen it..."

"Excellent. We're clear. And then I'm sure you saw the same with the nothingness channel where people find out the hard way their mind still keeps working even in the nothingness,and now they're trapped in their own thoughts for all eternity with nothing to show for it- not even any new stimuli to make new thoughts..."

"I bought the Betamax copy of that series because you were out of any format people used; I'm aware."

"Then you should know. Only one afterlife. Nothing else." I looked perplexed.

"...then reincarnate me?"

Satan laughed as I said it.

"Oh, now you're just joking, you'd actually go back to THAT?" I shrugged.

"Fine. Then why tell me?" Satan shrugged.

"What do you want to hear? I gave you the rundown because you're so fucking special, you figured it out? No, me explaining this is part of your hell. You clearly spent most of eternity working on your plan, and now you know it was all for naught and there's no light at the end of the tunnel. At least a few people a day get through this, finds this out, and gets this whole spiel- smile, you're on HellNet!" Satan pointed to a camera.

I was beaten.

"So what do I do?" Satan looked.

"Just remember...eternity's a really long time...all the time in the world. You have time to see everything, do everything, experience everything- and not just experience them, enjoy them, master them, get sick of them, get bored out of your mind by them...and then go find something else to do. So, you don't want to be stuck in hell...go do that. Now, you have your answer, so back to the rest of the afterlife...and try doing something besides scheming for something better. You might just get your heaven that way! You're dead, so live a little!"

I headed out of Satan's office. Well, that one restaurant by here DID look kind of interesting and I don't think I've tried that yet...

Love, love, love this! Wish I could upvote multiple times. It reminds me of stories like Stardust (there are probably better examples, but I just read it fairly recently and I've only just started getting into fantasy novels), with the tongue-in-cheek tone mixed with an overall groundedness. I think the last line would have hit sooner and harder if this was say, a hundred pages into the tale of our heroes (however long it would take to become familiar with them and their dynamic), but once it sunk in, I think I gasped a little.

Brilliant work. If this was a novel, I would buy it immediately.

This is a short film screenplay I’d like to see

oh i love this! have a medal 🏅

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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