Tammy gripped the kinetic pistol with both hands. "Just like the VR, just like the VR, breath, and squeeze," she said to herself in between gasping for air. She could hear the banging on the door and knew she didn't have long; the half-window was cracking. Her colleagues were scattered, most were dead, and she was probably about to join them. As the window shattered, Tammy took a deep breath, stood up, turned around, and took aim. She could see the first of the gremlins clambering over through the broken pane. She imagined the goofy VR targets, took aim, and fired. With a squishy explosion, the head of the nearest gremlin exploded sending its body limply to the ground. "Holy shit....." She took aim again, breathed, and fired. BLAM, another head exploded. She didn't have time to think, so she repeated the process until every red-skinned mover in her immediate area lay still.

Fast forward, Tammy raced down the hallways clearing room after room. She didn't question her aim anymore, she only focused on doing what she could. She had a tail of guards and coworkers as she worked her way to the docks below. Turn a corner, run to the first door, listen, twist, aim, fire until clear, and repeat. She wasn't perfect, and her scrubs were slashed through red, but she kept moving. A few brave souls stuck with her while the rest took to the boats for safety, racing to escape the island. Tammy continued on, clearing the research of gremlins one by one.

As the final finger curled up into the monkeys paw I readied a shielding spell. A pretty standard shield of kinetic energy was probably about all I’d be able to muster given my current condition. I could’ve wished to be in perfect health again. I could’ve wished for the gods to forget that I ever existed and go home to rest. But no. Maybe it was the adrenaline after the battle with that damned vampire but I couldn’t think of anything better than to wish for the rest of the monkey. There’s always a cost after all.

A burst of Golden light radiated from the paw before a young man appeared standing in front where I’d dropped the paw. I’d wished for a monkey but this’ll do I guess. I dropped my shield.

“Heya little guy… you feeling alright?”

“Yeah. Just a little dizzy. And hungry. You haven’t got anything on ya do you?”

“Some Jerky I think?” I reached into my pocket passing him the small brown bag with the last of my rations in it.

“Thanks miss! So what’re you’re other two wishes?”

“What?”

“Well ya see, I’m Sun Wukong, but everyone just calls me Saul. Been ages since I’ve been back on Earth? What’s the year now?” Saul began chewing happily on his Jerky.

“2019 mate. And hang on. Sun Wukong? You’re the Monkey King? God slayer and destroyer of heavens?” I took a step back from the kid, slipping a hand into the pocket of my coat and taking firm grasp of my blasting rod.

“Ya won’t need that. You’re looking pretty rough as it is little lady. How bout I heal ya up?”

“I’ll pass”

“It’s been almost 900 years since I was last here. You lot get rid of those damn Romans yet? Last one I met ratted me out to Mercury and I had the whole damn pantheon bearing down on me quicker than a Druid on an earth elemental.” Saul laughed to himself for a second before turning to me, deadly serious. A look in his eyes like no man should even be capable of. “So look, I’m bound by contract to give you 2 more wishes before I’m free to do what I like. Make it quick I’ve got work to do.”

“You’re not gonna screw me over are you….”

“Nah you’re alright. You’ve done me a great service, uhh. I dunno your name lovely.”

“It’s Kate. Kate Stag. And I think you and I should have a couple of drinks and a nice long chat.”

So much told in so few words! This is how English teachers should motivate the importance of grammar.

If you want an example of some of my writing, here is a response to a prompt I responded to. I think that it really illustrates my inability to drive a plotline. Feel free to read it, ignore it or critique it.

"Please." He begs as the anticipate how he will taste. Then the man continues "Stop, you're so bad at singing."

You lean down pulling the man up and dragging your claws down his sides to keep him in place.

"I'm only bad because I have to be." You say drag out grinding noise of stones that is your voice.

You grab the sailor and use the rope tie him to a tree in a way that makes him have bend his arms backwards.

"You can't fight a siren. You can only die." You say while grabbing another sailor and tying his body to a flat rock to burning hot rock.

'Nice for torture, I should use this rock more often.' You think as the man screams from the heat.

You quickly tie up the other sailors and late at night you tie one to cooking fire.

You had a nice dinner for the rest of the week because of those sailors.

Interesting intro chapter. Will there be MOAR?

I have tried it! I'm not that good at it. I seem to struggle with driving plotlines, you know? I will just go on and on describing what the characters are doing. Usually walking. In a way, it is the complete opposite of the writing style shown by you on this post. I don't want you to interpret my "what the hell" as overly critical. I was fucking cranky. Sorry about that.

Edit: added link.

And a post on this sub about once a month.

You should try it. Even just throwing writing prompts helps.

Mix if a bunch of stories and concepts.

That was awesome

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All hail the new king! Thank you for the story, I enjoyed that one.

Hey doofus. Just a heads-up. You invented time travel. It's not as cool as it sounds.

Travelling back in time gives you massive diarrea. The further you travel back, the worse it gets! You should've seen that time you visited the dinosaurs, Woo-Wee! Oh right, you ARE going to see that. Might as well bring a couple of toilet rolls and clean underwear!

All kidding aside, you're going to do great, kid. Life has its ups and downs. It won't be easy but you'll hang in there! (I just KNOW you will, hehe.)

You'll get married to a beautiful wife, get kids, have your own lab, invent time travel... You won't be a too shabby polka dancer too! Well, you did learn from Anna Slezáková, the ORIGINAL polka mistress.

Just one last tip, always bring a towel (and some clean underwear!)

Cheers,

You

All set, enjoy!

Got a very Warehouse 13 vibe to it. Perhaps this is how one of the other Warehouses fell.

Oh, I didn't realize that was an option! Yeah, that would be great. I appreciate it!

Thanks a bunch! It's always a little scary sharing one's writing, so it's good to see folks enjoyed it.

Thank you. I was a little nervous posting since I am new. I decided to join because I am trying to get back into writing after 7-8 years of writer's block. Excited to check out this sub, as I love seeing the different approaches people take to the prompts.

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You know what? Fuck it, I like that you wrote something and posted it. I enjoyed reading it. Please continue writing.

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

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Yeah this was a Tumblr post years ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/tumblr/comments/hzjmm1/princes_prophecies_and_paradise/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

“Huh,” I said as I stared down at my body, checking for damage, “I should be dead right now.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for years, you insufferable idiot,” June yelled from where she stood behind a ray designed specifically to destroy half the world. She fired the laser at me again, hitting me directly in the chest.

The blast forced me into the mountain wall again, pushing me further into the hole I’d already created the first time I’d taken the full force of the blast. She raged at me between blasts:

“We,” blast, “are,” blast, “in a,” blast, “hyper realistic,” blast, “simulation,” double blast.

I held up my hands in a show of surrender. She hit me one more time before powering down the device and stepping from behind it. As I climbed out of the giant hole in the mountainside, she nonchalantly walked through the casualties from our battle.

Long ago, June had turned to crime. Her exploits had gained her the moniker “The Malevolence,” or just “Malevolence” if you were in a crunch. To me, however, she was June Wright, my little sister who had strayed from the path of justice our family had a long tradition of supporting. I was the fifth generation to proudly be called Captain Verity, and I had spent most of my time in the suit trying to bring my little sister to justice.

“Yes,” I grumbled as I stumbled out of the hole, “you keep saying that.”

“And I keep being right,” she yelled at me. “Look around John.” She pointed to the wanton destruction around us. “Tell me why we’re alive right now. TELL ME.”

“Well, I… well, maybe it’s the… hmm…” She was right. The power of the device she’d created should have cratered half the Earth in one blow. “I honestly don’t know, June,” I answered in defeat. “Maybe your weapon isn’t as strong as we thought it was?”

“Really?” She rubbed at her forehead and took in a deep, calming breath. “You really think that?”

“Well,” I winced at her hard stare, “no,” I lamely admitted.

“That’s right, no. The answer, John,” she began screaming at me again, “is no, and DO YOU KNOW WHY MY WEAPON DIDN’T WORK? DO YOU JOHN?!”

I slowly pulled my helmet off and let it fall to the ground beside me as I took in the scene before us. People were dead, hundreds of them. A whole forest had been leveled, and half the mountain behind me was gone, but we both were just barely hurt, and the Earth itself was fine. It should not have been fine.

“Because we’re in a hyper realistic simulation?” I weakly offered.

“BECAUSE WE’RE IN A HYPER REALISTIC SIMULATION,” she roared at me. Taking in another breath, she visibly calmed herself down. “God, when are you going to learn to actually listen to me? You never listen to me. It’s always, ‘Oh, but John is older so he knows more, and you should follow his lead,’ or ‘John is the oldest and will be a great Verity, and you’ll make a good sidekick just as long as you do what he tells you,’ or, ‘John knows what’s best.” She actually growled at me. “Well, look around, John, and tell me you know what’s going on.”

I slowly slid down to the ground and forced myself to think over the years to all the times June had tried to tell me we were in a simulation. When we were teenagers and our parents both died was the first time she’d tried to tell me. She’d given some valid reasons, but I was too caught up in grief and the determination to be the next Verity that I’d ignored her. I ignored her every time after that when she was my sidekick and she tried to show me our actual reality.

“I’m the reason you turned into a villain, aren’t I?” Thinking on it, it was clear now.

“Well, how else was I going to get you to listen to me? You sure weren’t listening to me when I was your sidekick,” she spat back at me.

We stared at each other for a long time in the silence of the destruction we’d caused, and then an idea hit me.

“June, how do you think we can get out of this?”

“God, FINALLY, he asks me MY opinion on things.” Looking up into the sky, she began screaming at the top of her lungs, “OKAY, WE GET IT NOW. WE’VE LEARNED OUR LESSON. LET US OUT OF HERE, PLEASE.”

I was going to ask what she was doing, but, before I could get the words out, the world around us vanished, and I felt a helmet being pulled of my head. Standing above me was the smiling face of my mom, and I could see my dad standing over June.

“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. How were they alive? “How?”

“Now, John,” Mom said as she helped me up, “we told you and your sister that, if you couldn’t learn to get along with each other, we’d find a way to force you.”

Dad chuckled, “I told your mom it’d take you a couple of simulated decades, but she didn’t believe me.”

“Yes, I owe your dad a special dinner tonight,” she replied with a laugh.

June took in a deep breath against her rising anger. “How long were we out?”

Our mom checked her watch. “Only about 20 minutes.”

We lived a lifetime in 20 minutes. We stared angrily at our parents. This was the last straw. They had crossed a line. When they left the room, June caught my arm before I could follow and pulled me to her. In a lower voice she said, “How would you like to be my sidekick?”

I raised an eyebrow and nodded, “Start of our villain arc?”

She nodded. “Start of our villain arc.”

He couldn't steal his gaze from it.

The eyes stared at him through the wire reinforced window as it experimented with its talon-like fingers in the lock. The skittering sounds of others running up and down the corridors punctuated only by quickly cut off screams. He didn't hear any of this though. He didn't hear the sirens screeching. He didn't hear the explosions in the distance. He could only hear the scratching at the door, then the clicking of the lock.

The clicking of the lock? As it unlocked?! As this...creature had unlocked the door! It could unlock doors?! Dr. Paorus' mind whirled with the implications for just a split second before the fear returned. The creature's hands slipped through the small crack and began prizing the door open, making light work of the upturned furniture.

Paorus reached for the pistol, it felt cold in his sweaty palms. He raised it towards the creature and it paused for a second. Head tilting as it clambered over a filing cabinet, it seemed almost as though it understood. The being's eyes narrowed and it lurched forward. Paorus squeezed the trigger instinctively.

Time slowed for a second as Paorus watched the bullet carve a hole in the back of the creature's throat as it flew towards him, maw wide. It twitched mid leap and collapsed in an instant in front of him. Then nothing. No death rattle, no blood, nothing. The creature lay face down, and then just... disintegrated.

Parous stood frozen until roused by a scream just outside his office. He looked at his pistol and decided in a moment. Paorus flew into action, he ran out into the corridor as Gail ran past, pursued. He turned to see her pursuer and again raised the pistol. He waited, heart pounding in his chest. The creature slowed, curious almost, then leapt.

Once again the bullet exited through the back of its neck, and once again it crumbled to dust.

"Adam?"

The trembling woman looked at Paorus confused. His eyes fixed ahead and he barked.

"Stay behind me!"