Reddit Writings: Old Gods and Dying Stars

Have a bunch of writings I'll be throwing on here soon! Also, the game I've been working on for 2 1/2 years is out! Check out Octodad here!

The old gods have abandoned us but demand worship. A new pantheon ascends, representing present day mortals. [prompt submitted by InvokingTheAncients]

Ashley lit a small candle before she rolled her makeup kit out. With each application of a powder, cream or glitter she thanked the Beautiful One. When she was done she blew the candle out and kissed the statue of the androgynous idol.

In a corporate meeting room a CEO places one thousand dollars in a dish. The CFO lights the stack on fire. Members of the board take out their cellphones and scream "BUY!" and "SELL!" at the top of their lungs while the green paper burns. With any help, The Powerbroker will bless their 3rd Quarter earnings. 

Inside a small barn in Kansas a mother shows her son how to slit the throat of a calf so it feels no pain. The two drag it through the fields, blessing the seedlings in the ground and invoking The Harvester.

Carlo places the gun against his heart. Outside, in the blasted ruins of a city with a name he couldn't pronounce, a battle rages. The sound of an Abrams treads encourages him to pull the trigger. The gun doesn't fire and he knows he is blessed by the Warrior, and will not die today.

*** The stars begin to fade after the jump ***

Reddit Writings: Established Universe Editon

Some reddit writing prompts  occasionally start with letters EU. This means that the question will be based in an already created world and the answer should take place in that world as well. I am hesitant when it comes to things that sound too much like fan-fiction on any level, but sometimes it's hard not to pass up an interesting idea with already established characters. So here are two EU questions and my answers.

The Predator arrives on Earth to find a hunt, and gets more than he bargained for... [prompt submitted by ForeverAloneExplorer]

Batista stood up from his crouch, whistled and placed his hat back on. The drop, drop, drop of blood was constant, eventually it would run out, but the pattern...

"Christ, is this city ever going to catch a break?" Batista, grabbed and sipped his coffee. 

"Well, we've ID'd the corpses." Deb made a motion to the three skinless bodies hanging upside down, tied to the basketball hoop with missing laces. The red, glistening corpses swayed almost imperceptibly. Miami heat was cooking the exposed muscles and nerves and the amount of bugs was staggering. They'd have to be cut down soon. 

"Geoffrey Ortega, Paul Raddisson and Nicki "The Shark" Alvarez." Deb continued, holding a hand to her mouth and nose. Small time hoods. I'd heard of Nicki before. Two suspected murder cases that he managed to get off of. He had done them, killed that old man and the woman. He was next on my list, but someone...something, beat me to him.

"Christ, Dexter, close your mouth before the flies get in there." Masuka nudged me and broke me from my thought. 

"Right. It looks like the victims were skinned with some sort of hunting knife. Done expertly. They were probably still screaming when the knife slid-" I began, but Deb choked, stopping me. 

"I'll wait for the report, Dex, but I need to get some air." Deb left and after a shrug Masuka followed. Batista sidled up close to me.

"What kind of monster would do this, Dex? Sure these punks may have had it coming but..." He wiped sweat away from his brow.

I know exactly what kind of monster would do this. My new friend. I tried not to smile, but the edges of my lips turned up anyway. A whole new game had begun and it was going to be out of this world.


*** Travel to a strange, new Gotham after the jump! ***

Reddit Writings 4

It has often been said that we are all one sentence away from insanity...

"What are you, but skin, blood and bones? Thoughts, feelings and emotions all tied up in a gooey, nature freindly disposable package. What makes you better than me? Different? You defend this city. They worship you. I prune this city and THEY HATE ME!"

"Why do I kill? Why do I maim, torture and use my cell phone in theaters?! That's an easy answer."

"We are alone."

"Utterly and terribly and wonderfully alone. Sure we say we have family, have friends and lovers, but what use are they when your drowning in an ocean? Maybe as rafts, until the sharks start circling. Then that's it! Bye bye. You're kaput and everyone forgets about you after a year. YOU DIE AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT!"

"I kill them to put them out of their misery. Sure they may beg for mercy, but I grant them the kindest mercy. The utter release from the fact that we are alone. "

"But people like you and me, we put a mark on this world. No one will forget us."

"And I know you'll always be there for me, two peas in a pod you and me! Two bats in the belfry!"

"As long as one of us is alive, we'll never be alone. HAHAHAHAHA"

(More after the jump!)

Reddit Writings 3

Flash Fiction: You come to realize you exist within a computer simulation. Things were not always this way. (250 words)

        "Did you know octopi have their intelligence distributed through their arms?" Murph asks as he taps away at his keyboard.

         "Yeah, I saw a video of that once. They put an octopus in a new tank and half it's arms reached out to explore while the other half moved towards a little hidey hole." Martha yells over the sound of machinery. The grinding of the gears and the cooing slide of the pistons were a racket, but they had a sort of music behind them.

        "Do you think any of those arms ever wonder about being attached to the octopus? Ever just want to pop-off and explore the little tank on it's own? Maybe slither up and out and realize that universe is bigger than just four glass walls and some colored stones." Murph leans back and squints really hard at his screen.

        It flickers and for a moment he can see Earth hanging in dark surrounded by stars. His home, where his body still is, moving, laughing, living.

       His job now, Martha's, everyone within, was to make sure the MACHINE ran smoothly. Like a farmer, it cherry picked minds from Earth. Scanned them and replicated them within itself. Thousands, maybe millions of minds given form to take care of and treat the MACHINE.

       "No." Carol shook her head as she tightened a bolt. "The tentacle will die without the rest of the body and the octopus will just grow a new arm."

      Murph returned to work.


(More after the jump)

Reddit Writings 2

Flash Fiction:"I have fallen but the Sun has not."
     Do you remember the Winter nights? The tales of Autumn and Spring? The lusts of Summer?

     Aye boy, you don't. You've only lived in the sands and the wastes. You've only felt the coarse kiss of the wind as she picks herself up and whips through the valley.

     Do you know of darkness? No. The last time you felt darkness you were in your mother's belly, but even then Light came through. Burning you. Readying you.

    This is where the chariot fell. There was a time he ran through the sky and true, real darkness came, and then the the sun would reappear, gentle and soft. Not now. Now the sun leers at us, turns us dark and sick. Drinks water from our bones.

    It is here the mighty hunter Orios came and claimed he could bring down any game here or in heaven. Hearing his hubris, the sun rider himself shouted challenge from the sky above.

    Orios took aim, and proved himself that day the world's greatest hunter. The chariot that pulled the sun came crashing down. The the great steeds dead and the god himself choking on his own divine blood.

    'I have fallen, but the Sun has not'

    A curse. For the sun has not set, and darkness has not come for one hundred years. The sun will not move, for the rider is dead.

(More after the jump)

Reddit Writings

Due to my crazy hectic schedule writing can be get hard. Just writing small things can be hard. Then I discovered Reddit's writing prompt subreddit! There users put up a short prompt or ask for flash fiction and the other users respond. Real simple. I've been writing some responses and I thought I'd throw them up here.

Check out two more after the jump!

An incredibly intelligent person is trying to tell someone something important, but is losing their extensive vocabulary. Fast.

     The letter sat on the table. A glass paperweight held it down against a breeze from the open window next to the desk. Andrew picked it up.

      We were doing great things, Andrew. Through our extensive research we'd found a remedy to not only Alzheimer's but a variety of other memory degenerative diseases that came with age. We would've been heroes, Andrew, but we fucked up.

      I don't kno how the it escaped the lab. The cure was less of a pill more of a virus. The literl fountain of young youth. The problem was that it regrass it made you younger too fast. The body stays normal, but the brain begins to dwindle

     I am sory Andy. we just wanted to be nice. we just want to fix the wurld.

     im so scared i

     Andrew put down the note and sat in the chair. He knew there was writing on the paper, but he'd forgotten how to read. Mom read to him, but that was usually at night, right before bed. It was still day.

     Andy began to cry.

Check out two more after the jump!

Church Candles

The sky overhead is slate gray. It's been that way for three weeks. The weatherman swears it's going to snow soon, but the clouds right now are just offering a vague threat. I stand outside on my balcony in the morning gloom watching bustling little people drive and walk to work. They move quickly and with intent. A briefcase or portfolio in one hand and a cigarette or coffee in the other.

Gotta get that fix in before work. I know the feeling. I grind out the stub of my cig and let the wind carry it down to the street. Sticking my hand into my pocket I find and pull out the nearly empty pack. One left. I pluck it out and put it in my lips.

If I need another I'd have to go inside and that would probably wake Jessica and she'd want to talk about last night and I...don't want to do that right now.

I hold the lighter up and try to spark it, but end up knocking the cig out of my mouth instead. I watch in abject horror as it tumbles to the sidewalk below. It rolls but then stops against a trash can. I look back at the apartment. Maybe I can dash downstairs and grab it. I wouldn't have to go into our room and risk waking Jessica. I decide it's a good idea.

The busy little bees give me strange looks as I come and poke around the trash with my sleeping clothes on.  Finally I find the cigarette and tug it out from under the can, but it catches and tears. Carcinogenic guts spill out and tumble across the sidewalk.

I'm about to swear and curse in anger when something about the torn cig catches my eye. On the inside tube, where the tobacco would be, is writing. I gently pull the rest of the now empty paper open and hold it close to read:

Kaslo Renila Zs'ta

Long live your glory and your word

Let this prayer reach you

Let its sound awaken you

Bring your fury and fire

Cleanse the world

We offer this vessel to you

It's a prayer. Like a church candle. Burnt in hopes that God...or something else hears it. I look around and see the workers buzz to and fro. Cigarettes hanging from their lips and their hands. All of them secretly praying to something in hopes that it will awaken.

How many packs is that? How often? My hands start to shake and the torn little thing flies away on the wind. What is the vessel? The cigarette? Or me?

Above me something in the sky swirls.