Instant Story

Flash fiction fresh from my fingers to your mind!

Challenge #04892-M143: False Fate

Some hold that the fates of all men are carved into stone. What happens when a miner breaks into a cave and discovers tablets seeming to record all events of the miner’s life up until that point and then details what is to come thereafter? -- Deathshead419

Some legends say that the Great Silver Dragon curled up and became the moon. Some say that she became the very world upon which all other life depends. Some legends say that all the destinies of all the lives are written upon the Great Silver Dragon's scales, and woe betide any who find so much as one...

Some legends will say anything.

But most legends have a mote of truth inside them, as the unfortunate Sapper Jaymes found out to his peril. He had been minding his own business, mining his claim and following a seam of interesting rock. At least until that very rock split open and he found a small chamber containing a stone like no other. It was covered with writing.

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Challenge #04891-M142: Live to Serve

Vichelle had known little in life aside from washing the laundry of her noble master’s family. She kept her head down, her ears plugged, and tried to act like a shadow in the night. But when she finds blood on the linens one time too many, a vision at the river tells her that she must do more… -- Deathshead419

Servants should never be seen or heard. They're meant to serve without thanks, without notice. Without merit. Silent as the walls,

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Challenge #04890-M141: Wanna Big Boom

Rather a long one, but what is the fascination of humans with explosives? -- Prompey

[AN: Long one?]

Humans like spectacle. Huge amounts of people working together. Everyday miracles. Teamwork to help some otherwise helpless creature. And big things falling down. They also love watching things explode, from a safe distance, of course.

From a certain perspective - everyone else - this is yet another example of Humanity's collective insanity. Most leave it at that.

Companion Xryk was curious enough to ask

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Challenge #04889-M140: Culture Shock

What are the bad things about the Alliance? What are the good things about the Greater Deregulation? And what are things both sides agree on? -- Anon Guest

[AN: That's a very good question]

Every utopia is someone's dystopia. The opposite holds true. Someone's paradise is someone else's hell. The Alliance has laws that are meant for the equity of all its citizens, including guarantees for health, welfare, and happiness. This also means that every citizen of the Alliance is under a

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Challenge #04888-M139: And Having Writ, Moves On

After a bout of writer’s block, an author of some renown has the spark return. Only, the events that the author begins penning begin to happen in real life. Horrified, the author tries to abandon the work. And yet, the tickle of imagination, the curiosity of what’s happening, and even the thrill of power keep calling the author back to the paper and ink… -- Deathshead419

Writers may not live and die by the words they write, but they certainly

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Challenge #04887-M138: Legends in the Flesh

Two centuries ago Wraithvine helped the folk of a river valley with a carnivorous fish problem. Imagine hir surprise to hear in a tavern on the far side of the continent that ze has helped them once again only a season behind and settled down in the valley with the prettiest child of the valley chieftain. Clearly this must be investigated at once… -- Deathshead419

Walk far enough and long enough, some legends say, and you will meet yourself coming the other

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Challenge #04886-M137: Go Back to the Fire

A devotee of Khasis and Gibil, the fire and the forge, arrives to give libations to the Divines. Only, the devotee becomes confused, as one God is singular non-binary and the other is a hypostasis of multiple divine aspects…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypostasis(philosophyand_religion)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYOUFGfK4bU -- Deathshead419

Offerings to gods can vary in substance, but agree on theme. Various deities all over Alfarell are offered various liquids to drink. Few take blood

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Challenge #04885-M137: Familiar Divinity

Word has reached Wothyn that his ravens did their duty, and gave the new Goddess Vykoria the dream of where his son was entombed. After [Insert Here] number of years, Thor has returned. The Pantheon may at last be able to reconvene…

Follows on from: https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04866-m117-dredging-up-blessings -- Deathshead419

[AN: Yeh nah not gonna put a number in there]

Wothyn, Thor, Freja, Tyr, and even Loki gathered in the mead hall specific to their shared legends. Given that

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Challenge #04884-M136: Testing Ground

After a long, winding journey, Wraithvine approaches a brand new settlement along a trading river for a well deserved rest. Only, the streets are unpaved, the carpentry is shoddy, and the only populace are scarecrows. Irritated, Wraithvine searches for “Mayor Bodembgin” to give a piece of hir mind… -- Deathshead419

The point was that there had been a village in this location. Or within the same idea of the location. Fresh water. Arable land. Excellent climate. Wraithvine found it by memory, but

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Challenge #04883-M135: Divine Real Estate

An older god. One who had been old when the world was new. From before even the time of the dragons, before the elves came into existence, whispered gently, and not unkindly, to Wraithvine. "If your body is ever destroyed, you, your home, and your cat, will be joining us in the immortal plains. So that your work in the world that you so love, will never end." -- Anon Guest

In the beginning, the legends say, there were Dragons. The Great

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Challenge #04882-M133: Taming the Wild Child

Wraithvine is trying to help a panicked child who ends up biting him in their terror. He does not pull his hand away, but rather, soothes and forgives the little one. -- Anon Guest

Of all the evils a modern world could commit, one of the top ten was dumping snare wire in the wilderness. Wraithvine considered it part of hir duties to find and destroy it whenever ze wandered through any part of nature. Judging strictly by the howling and snarling,

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Challenge #04881-M132: First Steps to Peace

Nine Princes and Princesses from across the realms receive a mysterious letter, that they must attend an important gathering of unspecified content; one to be held in a peaceful land which has no quarrel with any of the nobles. Indeed, the ruler there declares no knowledge of the invitations nor that he had ever heard of the sprawling palace where the nine gather with their servants and favorites. What unfolds next surprises everyone involved… -- Deathshead419

Eighteen letters. Each on high-class paper,

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Challenge #04880-M131: Bad Omens Rise

King Krivcol III had a brush with death at a young age. Now he relies upon astrologers to gauge his future, planning out every detail of his and his family's lives. But his growing paranoia with what's to come may be blinding him to problems around him in the here and now... -- Deathshead419

Many heads of state had advisors. Some had viseers, some had chancellors, come had cabinets of experts. King Krivkol Florentus Montgomerie Oralendo Montecroix, third of his name, had

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Challenge #04879-M130: Sad Beige Life

My parents were cold narcissists. As an adult, once they signed everything to me, I signed our entire solar system to the alliance. I have plenty to live on, my mansions, my gardens, and so much more. But now the halls are full of life and youthful laughter. It actually feels like a home, not a museum. My parents? They live in their wing, their own little world. I'm letting them live the remainder of their golden years in peace. Under watch,

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Challenge #04878-M129: Unexpected Rescue

They ran as fast as the wind toward Wraithvine and Bibrid, tackling both to the ground just as a magic arrow flies past the three. The arrow's power seared the being's back, the percussion caused bones to be broken. But, despite the immense pain, they said in a soft whisper to the two. "I'd tackle you again like this in a heartbeat, you're worth it." -- Anon Guest

Of all the strange powers to have from birth, Scramble's ability to freeze time

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