Recent comments in /f/WritingPrompts

PriorSolid t1_iximxso wrote

Reply to comment by SpitFire92 in [WP] The ritual calls for 100 sacrifices, but after reading it carefully you realize that it never specified they had to be human. Deciding to be the smartass that you are, you got a petri dish full of bacteria and sacrificed them instead. by Prompt_Dude

When you kill the human you dont kill the bacteria inside so you arnt sacrificing them, but you can count all the brain cells that die which would be i. Yhe billions

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Accidental_Ouroboros t1_ixiljeh wrote

Reply to comment by SliceThePi in [WP] The ritual calls for 100 sacrifices, but after reading it carefully you realize that it never specified they had to be human. Deciding to be the smartass that you are, you got a petri dish full of bacteria and sacrificed them instead. by Prompt_Dude

This makes the most sense to me, unless he is specifying something like "so small that they can't be seen." Microparasites like helminths and flukes are visible to the naked eye.

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jardanovic t1_ixikqhq wrote

Reply to [WP] Out of the blue, your spouse asked you if you would still love them if they turned into a worm. Thinking it was a little odd, you said that yes, of course you would. It was a short time later when you realized that they actually meant “wyrm.” by Maximum_Pootis

When I woke up, Helen wasn't laying next to me. As I got out of bed, I called out, "Honey? Where'd you go?"

"I'm in the living room!"

I stretched out as I slipped out from under the covers and left the bedroom. I was mid-yawn when I saw what was on the couch, which led to me nearly choking on my own tongue in shock. Draped over the couch, loveseat, and rug was a cherry red dragon, with massive wings and no limbs save for the swishing tail at the end of their body. The dragon grinned and said to me, "Good morning, Chelsea! You sleep okay?"

"Wh--Helen?! What is--what is happening right now?!"

"Um, it's what we...talked about last night, remember?"

"Last night?! But all we talked about was--" I stopped once it dawned on me: "Wyrm. You said wyrm, not worm."

Helen cringed slightly. "Ohhhh, I forgot to clarify what kind of wyrm I was referring to. I'm sorry. But, um, yeah, this is the real me. And if this is too much for you--"

"Whoa whoa whoa, are you kidding me? Honey, I love you like apples love peanut butter. And you could be any kind of DND monster you can think of, you're a nat 20 in every which way."

Helen giggled and replied, "Thanks, my lovely little geek."

I grinned mischievously as I walked over to her. "Besides, you're not the only one with a mythical secret."

"What are you talking abou--Oh my goodness!!"

With the faintest shadow of effort on my part, I lifted Helen into a bridal carry. As her wings flared out over us like an umbrella, I remarked, "You know, you're actually lighter than I expected."

"Chelsea, how the hell are you doing this?!"

"Come on, hon, it never struck you as odd that I'm almost eight feet tall? Or that I keep a kid-size baseball bat under the bed?"

Helen used her wings to shrug. "I mean, I was never one to complain about you being huge, and the bat was autographed, so..."

I chuckled and responded, "Yeah, the bat's not actually autographed. It's not even a bat in the first place; it's actually a cudgel I had disguised as one."

"Why do you have a cudgel?"

With a smile, I willed my own disguise to fade away. My skin changed to a dark red, my hair to a stark white, and my eyes to an almost sickly yellow. Once my transformation was complete, I looked into Helen's eyes and said, "Cause no oni worth their salt goes anywhere without one."

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Islands-of-Time t1_ixijd6c wrote

Reply to comment by AutoModerator in [WP] Out of the blue, your spouse asked you if you would still love them if they turned into a worm. Thinking it was a little odd, you said that yes, of course you would. It was a short time later when you realized that they actually meant “wyrm.” by Maximum_Pootis

Interestingly enough, the words “Worm” and “Wyrm” have connected etymological roots. That same root is where we get the word “Vermin”.

It’s all referring to the same collection of gross/revolting animals called vermin. Worms and spiders and scorpions, but also snakes and the like.

So ultimately the question of love despite appearances holds true regardless of the creature since Wyrms and Worms are both Vermin.

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xwhy t1_ixij8h4 wrote

Reply to [WP] The ritual calls for 100 sacrifices, but after reading it carefully you realize that it never specified they had to be human. Deciding to be the smartass that you are, you got a petri dish full of bacteria and sacrificed them instead. by Prompt_Dude

From June 2021, it didn’t get a lot of views then. It can be seen on r/xwhy

Making the Most of a Small Sacrifice

When I realized that the ceremony called for 100 "sacrifices" and not 100 "souls", I had a terrible idea. And like all my terrible ideas, I have to try them out to see just how absolutely abysmal they actually are.

There were plenty of petri dishes in that basement lab, and many of those cultures had grown exponentially to populations of over one hundred. There was nothing preventing me from using any of those in the ritual, other than Dr. Weiszmann getting perturbed when I'd tell him I "accidentally broke" a dish and disposed of it properly. And, of course, that assumed that my bizarre plan actually worked.

So I found a dish with the correct sample size, maybe a few cells over, and set it down in the center of the room. I drew a chalk circle after 6 feet around it and retreated to a safe distance, where I hoped the pressboard desk would protect me from any accidental acts of Incarnate Evil destruction.

I read the incantation off my phone, having found it on a website of dubious authenticity, which I made sure to open in incognito mode.

At first nothing happened. Then the petri dish started to glow an eerily reddish-yellow of a campfire with the smell of a can of rancid beans cooking. A few seconds later, I heard a loud pop like the bean can exploding because it wasn't properly vented.

The petri dish had disappeared, and in its place, there was a hole. Not a hole in the floor, mind you. Just a hole. In the air. In the space just above the ground. It was maybe two inches across and glowing red hot.

Curiosity got the better of me and I abandoned my flimsy sanctuary. I drew closer to the chalk circle, and then something, some thing, thrust itself through the hole. Eight inches of inglorious hell, tipped with a sharp claw, waggled around. I kept my distance.

Hair on my back already stood on edge screaming , but then the short hairs on my neck joined in the chorus with the demonic finger from beyond started to slowly rise into the air, dragging the hole with it. When it reached a height of about seven feet, the finger withdrew and a more horrifying thing took its place.

There was an eye pressed against the hole. I could make out a black pupil surrounded by red, but I could tell the entire ball was many times longer. Terrified as I was, I was still glad that I didn't have take in the sight of the whole thing.

"What have you done?" The voice was eerie and ominous. It repeated, "What have you done?"

"I-- I-- I was just reading about a ritual and --"

"--And you did it WRONG!" the demon chastised. "What sort of portal is this?"

I could barely speak. "It's ... it's ..."

"Come closer. I can't hear you."

The eye disappear to be replaced with what I hoped was an ear. I took a few steps closer to the circle when a long thing elastic piece of leathery flesh snapped out at me. A snakelike tongue brushed against my arm. I jumped away, screaming from the burning sensation. My entire arm reddened. The tongue rolled back like a party favor.

Having a terrible premonition, I launched myself over the desk just as it unfurled, but inside of tooting a horn, it spit and splashed buckets of acid where I'd been standing, contaminating and destroying every culture it touched.

I also heard the sizzle of my phone's battery being fried. It was followed by a "Gah!" and a Pop!

When everything was quiet except for the sizzling of burning pressboard, I dared to peek over the top. The hole in the air had vanished, only to be replaced with a more conventional hole in the floor just inside the circle. It was snake-shaped and seemed to cut deeply. The acid tongue had sunken down. Peering into it, I couldn't see how far down it had fallen. I wondered how much acid its glands retained and if that slimy worm was going to sink all the way back to Hell.

Originally published 6/8/2021

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