So You Think You Can Write | Creative Corner

@Dragonartist24

Cenea hiked her backpack up her shoulders a little higher and trudged towards the school building. She didn't want to be late for class, and the bell was going to ring any moment. She sighed at the group of kids rallied around the door.

"Who is it today?" she asked, leaning towards the paper taped there in interest.

"Ollie," one of the girls next to her whined. "I wanted to be chosen this time! Next week's quiz is going to be the worst."

Cenea shrugged, "Maybe you can volunteer?"

"It's not the same and you know it!"

"Whatever." Cenea slipped through the crowd and shoved the door open, "It was probably because he was late and I'm planning on making past my eighteenth birthday."

She strode past the alter, glancing at it and the boy strapped down already. Perhaps the elder gods would be pleased with the sacrifice for the week. Perhaps they wouldn't and they'd pick another child. Either way, she had gotten her math homework done for once and Cenea was expecting a blood pudding dinner because of that when she got home.

Maybe they wouldn't go light on the blood tonight.

SocialBookWorm

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July 15, 2018 19:34:51

@Dragonartist24

Cenea hiked her backpack up her shoulders a little higher and trudged towards the school building. She didn't want to be late for class, and the bell was going to ring any moment. She sighed at the group of kids rallied around the door.

"Who is it today?" she asked, leaning towards the paper taped there in interest.

"Ollie," one of the girls next to her whined. "I wanted to be chosen this time! Next week's quiz is going to be the worst."

Cenea shrugged, "Maybe you can volunteer?"

"It's not the same and you know it!"

"Whatever." Cenea slipped through the crowd and shoved the door open, "It was probably because he was late and I'm planning on making past my eighteenth birthday."

She strode past the alter, glancing at it and the boy strapped down already. Perhaps the elder gods would be pleased with the sacrifice for the week. Perhaps they wouldn't and they'd pick another child. Either way, she had gotten her math homework done for once and Cenea was expecting a blood pudding dinner because of that when she got home.

Maybe they wouldn't go light on the blood tonight.

@Dragonartist24

Credit for inspiration to hello-kitty-senpai on tumblr

The thing in my house was not a cat anymore, and maybe it never had been.

I had heard a meowing on my front porch early in the morning, as I was sleepily sipping my morning coffee. I had stumbled to the door, and outside I saw what looked for all intents and purposes like a small, calico cat.

It was cold outside, so I had let it in.

It had rubbed up against my legs, purring. I don't know whether it was the slight grating noise in its purr or the not-quite-silky feel of its fur against my bare legs, but the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Attributing it to the cold, I quickly shut the door.

As I returned to my paper and buttered my toast, the cat watched me intently, a strange, intelligent gleam in its eyes. Then it meowed loudly, and I realized it was really very skinny.

"Oh, you must be starving!" I said, and put down my toast. I went to the fridge, pulling things out and setting them on the counter as I looked for something a cat could eat. Finally I found a half-eaten can of tuna that I had been using to make tuna salad sandwiches. I scrapped it into a clean bowl and set it on the floor.

"Here you go," I said, and went back to my newspaper, toast and scattered foods forgotten.

I tried to ignore the small, strange sounds at the edge of my hearing. Slurping, almost, or maybe crunching - then a grinding noise, like metal on metal!

I flung down the newspaper to see a circular maw in what had been the cat's face, With spinning, serrated, oversharp teeth. I screamed and backed away, and it jumped up on the table, sauntering towards me in that peculiar way that only cats do - but this wasn't a cat, and maybe it never had been.

It sat in front of me, not quite cat-shaped, and started licking its paw with a forked tongue, and grooming itself.

FeralFaeborn

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July 15, 2018 22:25:59

@Dragonartist24

Credit for inspiration to hello-kitty-senpai on tumblr

The thing in my house was not a cat anymore, and maybe it never had been.

I had heard a meowing on my front porch early in the morning, as I was sleepily sipping my morning coffee. I had stumbled to the door, and outside I saw what looked for all intents and purposes like a small, calico cat.

It was cold outside, so I had let it in.

It had rubbed up against my legs, purring. I don't know whether it was the slight grating noise in its purr or the not-quite-silky feel of its fur against my bare legs, but the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Attributing it to the cold, I quickly shut the door.

As I returned to my paper and buttered my toast, the cat watched me intently, a strange, intelligent gleam in its eyes. Then it meowed loudly, and I realized it was really very skinny.

"Oh, you must be starving!" I said, and put down my toast. I went to the fridge, pulling things out and setting them on the counter as I looked for something a cat could eat. Finally I found a half-eaten can of tuna that I had been using to make tuna salad sandwiches. I scrapped it into a clean bowl and set it on the floor.

"Here you go," I said, and went back to my newspaper, toast and scattered foods forgotten.

I tried to ignore the small, strange sounds at the edge of my hearing. Slurping, almost, or maybe crunching - then a grinding noise, like metal on metal!

I flung down the newspaper to see a circular maw in what had been the cat's face, With spinning, serrated, oversharp teeth. I screamed and backed away, and it jumped up on the table, sauntering towards me in that peculiar way that only cats do - but this wasn't a cat, and maybe it never had been.

It sat in front of me, not quite cat-shaped, and started licking its paw with a forked tongue, and grooming itself.

@Dragonartist24

Here, have a piece written in my sleep-deprived state.

In a small town in the Midwestern United States, a very mundane area of the country, the people born at the local hospital had various demons following them. I attempted to capture a collection of something so normal that has never been witnessed by people in California because the state was detached from the country about twenty years ago. Haven’t heard from them since.

That girl, on the street, she has a floating cat demon following it, looking all white and fluffy and really nice. But if you tried to pet it, it would turn black with red eyes and have a huge jaw full of sharp, jagged teeth and it would eat your hand off in one swift gulp like a piranha.

That boy, on the street, he has a thunderstorm demon always follow him. He cries a lot and the rain comes down on his face and it makes loud noises so he has to be homeschooled and sometimes he gets zapped by lightning.

The old man, the one standing there waiting for the crosswalk to blink the bright, white man, has a thousand tiny bee demons following him. They buzz a lot and don’t sting but they don’t really do anything to benefit society. When will they get a job? Why don’t they act like regular bees and spread pollen around?

This town is so horribly mundane it’s boring.

I can’t wait to see a town where everyone has twenty eyes all over their body! Won’t that be cool?

You know, I feel like a demon attached to me while I spent my time in this town. It’s really big, like bigger than the state of Texas, and it growls a lot and has tried to kill me in my sleep at least seven times so now I have to sleep with one eye open, which I don’t know if you know, but that’s really freaking hard!

hume

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July 15, 2018 22:38:43

@Dragonartist24

Here, have a piece written in my sleep-deprived state.

In a small town in the Midwestern United States, a very mundane area of the country, the people born at the local hospital had various demons following them. I attempted to capture a collection of something so normal that has never been witnessed by people in California because the state was detached from the country about twenty years ago. Haven’t heard from them since.

That girl, on the street, she has a floating cat demon following it, looking all white and fluffy and really nice. But if you tried to pet it, it would turn black with red eyes and have a huge jaw full of sharp, jagged teeth and it would eat your hand off in one swift gulp like a piranha.

That boy, on the street, he has a thunderstorm demon always follow him. He cries a lot and the rain comes down on his face and it makes loud noises so he has to be homeschooled and sometimes he gets zapped by lightning.

The old man, the one standing there waiting for the crosswalk to blink the bright, white man, has a thousand tiny bee demons following him. They buzz a lot and don’t sting but they don’t really do anything to benefit society. When will they get a job? Why don’t they act like regular bees and spread pollen around?

This town is so horribly mundane it’s boring.

I can’t wait to see a town where everyone has twenty eyes all over their body! Won’t that be cool?

You know, I feel like a demon attached to me while I spent my time in this town. It’s really big, like bigger than the state of Texas, and it growls a lot and has tried to kill me in my sleep at least seven times so now I have to sleep with one eye open, which I don’t know if you know, but that’s really freaking hard!

@Kesler

I loved the amount of description in your story. It really helped get the point across, and likening exercise to torture was really clever.

@MysticalScribe

I have had wasps nest in the porch of my house for two to three years in a row, and when I finished reading your story I kind of shivered (which is a good thing). I also like how natural your dialogue seemed (something I have trouble with myself), and the blunt description of having an allergy reaction.

@Egwu

I loved how you managed to convey how natural the monsters were to Hubert, but at the same time made sure the reader remembered that they were monsters (hope that makes sense). Giving them normal/nonthreatening names was a pretty clever idea in making them seem more mundane, and Goose getting stuck was a nice contrast to Ethel being creepy.

@SocialBookWorm

Cenea was fun to read about. You did a great job in making the sacrifices seem natural. (The girl wanting to get sacrificed to skip a math test made me laugh.)

@lessthan3

The first line in your story really caught my interest. Seeing a perfectly normal animal and then realizing it’s not normal (and maybe not even an animal) has to be one of my favorite horror tropes. Giving the monster cat-like qualities was a great idea, and it helped enhance the creepiness.

@humanityxpeople

You did a great job showing how normal the demons were to everybody, while still managing to give off a slightly creepy tone. The different descriptions of all the demons were really cool to read about, and I loved the ending. Making the character so uncaring about nearly dying seven times was a great addition.

The winner is MysticalScribe and the runner-up is lessthan3

Kumie

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July 16, 2018 07:55:14

@Kesler

I loved the amount of description in your story. It really helped get the point across, and likening exercise to torture was really clever.

@MysticalScribe

I have had wasps nest in the porch of my house for two to three years in a row, and when I finished reading your story I kind of shivered (which is a good thing). I also like how natural your dialogue seemed (something I have trouble with myself), and the blunt description of having an allergy reaction.

@Egwu

I loved how you managed to convey how natural the monsters were to Hubert, but at the same time made sure the reader remembered that they were monsters (hope that makes sense). Giving them normal/nonthreatening names was a pretty clever idea in making them seem more mundane, and Goose getting stuck was a nice contrast to Ethel being creepy.

@SocialBookWorm

Cenea was fun to read about. You did a great job in making the sacrifices seem natural. (The girl wanting to get sacrificed to skip a math test made me laugh.)

@lessthan3

The first line in your story really caught my interest. Seeing a perfectly normal animal and then realizing it’s not normal (and maybe not even an animal) has to be one of my favorite horror tropes. Giving the monster cat-like qualities was a great idea, and it helped enhance the creepiness.

@humanityxpeople

You did a great job showing how normal the demons were to everybody, while still managing to give off a slightly creepy tone. The different descriptions of all the demons were really cool to read about, and I loved the ending. Making the character so uncaring about nearly dying seven times was a great addition.

The winner is MysticalScribe and the runner-up is lessthan3

@Moonwater @AwkwardAngel @Tacodoodle @coyearth @nemodave @Jadebird @favvn @Crazyraspberry @helforestwitch @SeaSweptDreams @Winterreise @agateflame @Rosoidela @REDandYELLOWZ @PhoenixMiko @ErinQuotefinder @Holes @Midgardian @fabro @Dragonclaw101 @MissFortune17 @Lolliipop @luckgandor @frootz @Gannet @Sky93 @riseandshine @WithoutBounds @Artificiary @Slayborn @demonslayr62 @Xayxayx @SpiderLondon @Lastwords @Sillywinter @Aphelium @elainexcupcake @PurpleHibiscus @inn @Astomnus @bcrush @Saraceaser @dragonfarmer @Drusha @MisfitsLanding @elthemar @StillInvincible @FireMaster101 @Crumbleless @Oranitha @Tempestral @humanityxpeople @Chrisondra @Karika @Skyeset @PixieKnight3264 @Mypilot @SamIamLuvDov @tsugumi @Reiyn @TheElfDruid @Adaris @Synzia @Elroth @inthestars @Retof @SocialBookWorm @uhhjoyce27 @Luca20 @unsolved @KnightVanguard @Lightshadow101 @changelingstar @Stoat @MusicalAnimac @StormDragon21 @lessthan3 @Draxia @Solstices @quilliper @frostt @Ketsui @Restless @misericordieuse @fitz @Arithelia @SkyTreader197 @AzulineDream @KhajiitHasWares @pharmakraken @Crysi102 @Cevanari @CloverGaming @Auraelia @MultiFandomist @melbelletrend @LapisDragon17718 @saltyy @ArcticFire @Willowfrost10 @Scorpicat10 @HuskyLove @Jennaflare @SpectralRose @Scile301 @Mochaccino @Gusted @Awe @MajesticalNoodle @LadyRandomizer @SashaFiredrake @Dragonartist24 @Alvis @Monkorpio @Zozilla @ImagineIf @Hawktalon @PopatoPips @Shaide @Read @Stormwing27 @sane @Holi @feralchungus @Permyriad @RainingAcid @Toonetta @Sharpjay217 @Xumbre @globetrottr

Yay thank you for the win! Everyone else did awesomely as well!

Prompt: You are a Mythical Creature who has never seen a human before. But one day, while you're going about your day, you stumble across one, the first human seen in thousands of years.

Edit: Oops forgot about the deadline! Thanks to humanityxpeople for reminding me!

Deadline: July 23, rollover :)

MysticalScribe

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July 16, 2018 14:30:35

@Moonwater @AwkwardAngel @Tacodoodle @coyearth @nemodave @Jadebird @favvn @Crazyraspberry @helforestwitch @SeaSweptDreams @Winterreise @agateflame @Rosoidela @REDandYELLOWZ @PhoenixMiko @ErinQuotefinder @Holes @Midgardian @fabro @Dragonclaw101 @MissFortune17 @Lolliipop @luckgandor @frootz @Gannet @Sky93 @riseandshine @WithoutBounds @Artificiary @Slayborn @demonslayr62 @Xayxayx @SpiderLondon @Lastwords @Sillywinter @Aphelium @elainexcupcake @PurpleHibiscus @inn @Astomnus @bcrush @Saraceaser @dragonfarmer @Drusha @MisfitsLanding @elthemar @StillInvincible @FireMaster101 @Crumbleless @Oranitha @Tempestral @humanityxpeople @Chrisondra @Karika @Skyeset @PixieKnight3264 @Mypilot @SamIamLuvDov @tsugumi @Reiyn @TheElfDruid @Adaris @Synzia @Elroth @inthestars @Retof @SocialBookWorm @uhhjoyce27 @Luca20 @unsolved @KnightVanguard @Lightshadow101 @changelingstar @Stoat @MusicalAnimac @StormDragon21 @lessthan3 @Draxia @Solstices @quilliper @frostt @Ketsui @Restless @misericordieuse @fitz @Arithelia @SkyTreader197 @AzulineDream @KhajiitHasWares @pharmakraken @Crysi102 @Cevanari @CloverGaming @Auraelia @MultiFandomist @melbelletrend @LapisDragon17718 @saltyy @ArcticFire @Willowfrost10 @Scorpicat10 @HuskyLove @Jennaflare @SpectralRose @Scile301 @Mochaccino @Gusted @Awe @MajesticalNoodle @LadyRandomizer @SashaFiredrake @Dragonartist24 @Alvis @Monkorpio @Zozilla @ImagineIf @Hawktalon @PopatoPips @Shaide @Read @Stormwing27 @sane @Holi @feralchungus @Permyriad @RainingAcid @Toonetta @Sharpjay217 @Xumbre @globetrottr

Yay thank you for the win! Everyone else did awesomely as well!

Prompt: You are a Mythical Creature who has never seen a human before. But one day, while you're going about your day, you stumble across one, the first human seen in thousands of years.

Edit: Oops forgot about the deadline! Thanks to humanityxpeople for reminding me!

Deadline: July 23, rollover :)

Basically Redoing my Clan's Lore- for the third time.

Last edited on Jul 16, 2018 15:12:20 by MysticalScribe

@MysticalScribe Hey, I noticed you forgot the deadline on your post.

hume

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July 16, 2018 14:35:46

@MysticalScribe Hey, I noticed you forgot the deadline on your post.

The story of my people is ingrained into every mer who swam in these waters. It is used as a horror story to subdue naughty little merlings, stories of humans descending from the land to snatch bad merchildren as they slept, curled in their kelp beds. But it was also used as a warning, to flee far, far away if humans were ever seen again.
They had supposedly died out centuries ago, but no mer has forgotten what they did. How we were slaughtered by the humans, who came to take our jewelry and our skins, displaying our babies, encapsulated in their eggs, as trophies. We were put in tanks, contained in barely-survivable water that burned with every inhalation. Only few escaped.
And now, they're back. Their old technology, boats and divers flooding our waters.
Their figures, their spindly legs and cold masks burn their shape into my eyelids every time I blink.
I don't know if we'll ever be safe again.

globetrottr

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July 16, 2018 14:46:10

The story of my people is ingrained into every mer who swam in these waters. It is used as a horror story to subdue naughty little merlings, stories of humans descending from the land to snatch bad merchildren as they slept, curled in their kelp beds. But it was also used as a warning, to flee far, far away if humans were ever seen again.
They had supposedly died out centuries ago, but no mer has forgotten what they did. How we were slaughtered by the humans, who came to take our jewelry and our skins, displaying our babies, encapsulated in their eggs, as trophies. We were put in tanks, contained in barely-survivable water that burned with every inhalation. Only few escaped.
And now, they're back. Their old technology, boats and divers flooding our waters.
Their figures, their spindly legs and cold masks burn their shape into my eyelids every time I blink.
I don't know if we'll ever be safe again.

@MysticalScribe

((Sorry, it's a little long.))

I plunged through the woods, feeling twigs snap under my paws and whip at my legs and face. Adrenaline tore through my veins as I allowed the full moon to fill me with its power. I stopped at the edge of a cliff. Feeling very cliche, I whipped my head back and let out a deep, resounding howl.
Life was great for me. I'd been stuck in wolf form for as long as I could remember, but I didn't care too much. As a human, I was weak and frail, but as a wolf, I could kill anything that made me mad. Having been stuck as a wolf for so long, I couldn't quite remember what it was like, being human I mean. All my memories from that time were fuzzy and clouded. It made sense, I hadn't been human for hundreds, maybe even a thousand years. I had seen the mer people spread to the oceans. I'd seen the centaurs hunt down the last of the humans. I'd seen the destruction of those creatures who tortured me so. I had kept my distance from it all though. I didn't need anyone messing things up for me. I didn't them making a mess of what I had made of myself. I was the alpha of a pack. I was the king of the woods. Everyone knew to stay far away from what I owned.
I let out a deep breath, watching the puff of steam burst from my lips. I loved the fall. I turned away from the cliff and started to trot back towards my den. Suddenly, I heard something crunch to my left. I didn't recognize the scent. I got low to the ground and let out a deep growl, alerting whoever it was that I would attack. The sound got closer to me. In the moonlight, I could see the creature fully.
It was a human boy.
I growled more. I wasn't afraid to kill the human if I had to. He smiled at me and bent down. He reached out his hand towards me. "It's okay." His voice was like sunshine breaking through the clouds on a rainy day. "I'm not going to hurt you."
I took a step towards the human. I didn't want to, but I couldn't stop my body. I took another step. How could I? Humans hadn't been around for a thousand years, humans had bullied me for being a werewolf, they had poked me and prodded me, they had kidnapped me and experimented on me. Yet, something was drawing me towards this boy, as though he was something special, something different. Before I could stop myself, I was sitting in front of the boy, staring up into his emerald eyes.
He put his hand on my head, between my eyes. "You're a lot nicer than the other werewolves around here." He let out some nervous laughter. "Or maybe you're just a big wolf." He knelt on the ground and scratched my ears. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" I nodded. "So you're a werewolf then. That means you're kind of human." I shook my head. I was nothing like them, nothing like those monsters. He furrowed his brow at me, trying to figure out how I wasn't 'kind of' human. He shrugged. "Can you not turn into a human?" I blinked a few times. I hadn't turned into a human in so long, I wasn't sure if I could anymore. I suppose I hadn't tried to either. If I did, the others would've surely devoured me. "You don't want to turn into a human, do you?" I shook my head. The boy sat heavily in the dirt and draped his arm over my shoulders. "I get that. It's not easy being us. It's almost impossible to get anywhere with those centaurs hunting us down. It's difficult you see, those of us who are left, we are not who you mythicals remember us to be, but we cannot escape our past. There's not very many of us left. I fear we may go extinct soon. Well, unless there's other humans around here somewhere."
Why was the human being so nice to me? Or rather, a better question, why was I being so nice to him? For some reason, I felt so comfortable. I laid down with my head in his lap and just listened to him talk until I fell asleep.
I woke up very cold. I could feel the rough fabric of the boy's shirt under my cheek. He was lying on the ground, asleep, with his arm still draped over my shoulder. I carefully pushed his arm off of me and sat up. Something didn't feel quite right. The woods were colder than I remembered. I looked down at my... hands?
I pushed up from the ground, startled. To my horror, I was human again. I was exactly how I remembered myself, short, pale, and skinny. I knelt on the ground next to the boy and shoved him. He groggily woke up.
"What did you do to me!?" I yelled.
He sat up quickly. "I-I didn't do anything! I swear!" Without thinking, he unclasped his cloak and threw it over my shoulders. The cloak, which only went down to his knees, dragged on the ground on me. "Keep this on. It's freezing out here. You'll get hypothermia if you walk around here naked."
"Answer my question! I know you did something!" I was mad, but I was also very grateful for the cloak, it was very cold.
"Please keep it down. If anyone hears you, we'll both be in trouble."
"Answer me!"
He grabbed me and forced me to look at him. "I'm not lying to you. Now, could you please be a little quieter. I don't want anyone to try to kill us."
I took a deep breath. "Well then, what now? We're both human, in a place where being human is illegal and I don't know if I can purposely turn into a wolf again."
He released his grasp on me and took a step back. "You must travel with me. You don't look like you could handle yourself in a fight, I don't even know if you could run all that fast. I can protect you and keep you safe."
I frowned. Memories of being human were flooding back to me. The pain of the others making fun of my physical short comings. The fear they had when I killed one. I wanted to be around that boy, for some reason, I was drawn to him, but I didn't want to be around other humans. "I don't want to go back to your people. I hate humans."
"You don't hate me."
"I know."
"Okay, then you and I will travel together."
I mulled over the prospect. "Alright. We'll travel together. Before we go, what's your name? I don't want to just refer to you as 'human'."
"My name's King. What's your name?"
I couldn't remember my human name anymore. I figured he could call me what the others did. "I'm Alpha."
With one swift movement, King picked me up and threw me onto his back. "Well then, Alpha, looks like you and I are going to be together for a long time."

Reiyn

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July 16, 2018 15:58:44

@MysticalScribe

((Sorry, it's a little long.))

I plunged through the woods, feeling twigs snap under my paws and whip at my legs and face. Adrenaline tore through my veins as I allowed the full moon to fill me with its power. I stopped at the edge of a cliff. Feeling very cliche, I whipped my head back and let out a deep, resounding howl.
Life was great for me. I'd been stuck in wolf form for as long as I could remember, but I didn't care too much. As a human, I was weak and frail, but as a wolf, I could kill anything that made me mad. Having been stuck as a wolf for so long, I couldn't quite remember what it was like, being human I mean. All my memories from that time were fuzzy and clouded. It made sense, I hadn't been human for hundreds, maybe even a thousand years. I had seen the mer people spread to the oceans. I'd seen the centaurs hunt down the last of the humans. I'd seen the destruction of those creatures who tortured me so. I had kept my distance from it all though. I didn't need anyone messing things up for me. I didn't them making a mess of what I had made of myself. I was the alpha of a pack. I was the king of the woods. Everyone knew to stay far away from what I owned.
I let out a deep breath, watching the puff of steam burst from my lips. I loved the fall. I turned away from the cliff and started to trot back towards my den. Suddenly, I heard something crunch to my left. I didn't recognize the scent. I got low to the ground and let out a deep growl, alerting whoever it was that I would attack. The sound got closer to me. In the moonlight, I could see the creature fully.
It was a human boy.
I growled more. I wasn't afraid to kill the human if I had to. He smiled at me and bent down. He reached out his hand towards me. "It's okay." His voice was like sunshine breaking through the clouds on a rainy day. "I'm not going to hurt you."
I took a step towards the human. I didn't want to, but I couldn't stop my body. I took another step. How could I? Humans hadn't been around for a thousand years, humans had bullied me for being a werewolf, they had poked me and prodded me, they had kidnapped me and experimented on me. Yet, something was drawing me towards this boy, as though he was something special, something different. Before I could stop myself, I was sitting in front of the boy, staring up into his emerald eyes.
He put his hand on my head, between my eyes. "You're a lot nicer than the other werewolves around here." He let out some nervous laughter. "Or maybe you're just a big wolf." He knelt on the ground and scratched my ears. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" I nodded. "So you're a werewolf then. That means you're kind of human." I shook my head. I was nothing like them, nothing like those monsters. He furrowed his brow at me, trying to figure out how I wasn't 'kind of' human. He shrugged. "Can you not turn into a human?" I blinked a few times. I hadn't turned into a human in so long, I wasn't sure if I could anymore. I suppose I hadn't tried to either. If I did, the others would've surely devoured me. "You don't want to turn into a human, do you?" I shook my head. The boy sat heavily in the dirt and draped his arm over my shoulders. "I get that. It's not easy being us. It's almost impossible to get anywhere with those centaurs hunting us down. It's difficult you see, those of us who are left, we are not who you mythicals remember us to be, but we cannot escape our past. There's not very many of us left. I fear we may go extinct soon. Well, unless there's other humans around here somewhere."
Why was the human being so nice to me? Or rather, a better question, why was I being so nice to him? For some reason, I felt so comfortable. I laid down with my head in his lap and just listened to him talk until I fell asleep.
I woke up very cold. I could feel the rough fabric of the boy's shirt under my cheek. He was lying on the ground, asleep, with his arm still draped over my shoulder. I carefully pushed his arm off of me and sat up. Something didn't feel quite right. The woods were colder than I remembered. I looked down at my... hands?
I pushed up from the ground, startled. To my horror, I was human again. I was exactly how I remembered myself, short, pale, and skinny. I knelt on the ground next to the boy and shoved him. He groggily woke up.
"What did you do to me!?" I yelled.
He sat up quickly. "I-I didn't do anything! I swear!" Without thinking, he unclasped his cloak and threw it over my shoulders. The cloak, which only went down to his knees, dragged on the ground on me. "Keep this on. It's freezing out here. You'll get hypothermia if you walk around here naked."
"Answer my question! I know you did something!" I was mad, but I was also very grateful for the cloak, it was very cold.
"Please keep it down. If anyone hears you, we'll both be in trouble."
"Answer me!"
He grabbed me and forced me to look at him. "I'm not lying to you. Now, could you please be a little quieter. I don't want anyone to try to kill us."
I took a deep breath. "Well then, what now? We're both human, in a place where being human is illegal and I don't know if I can purposely turn into a wolf again."
He released his grasp on me and took a step back. "You must travel with me. You don't look like you could handle yourself in a fight, I don't even know if you could run all that fast. I can protect you and keep you safe."
I frowned. Memories of being human were flooding back to me. The pain of the others making fun of my physical short comings. The fear they had when I killed one. I wanted to be around that boy, for some reason, I was drawn to him, but I didn't want to be around other humans. "I don't want to go back to your people. I hate humans."
"You don't hate me."
"I know."
"Okay, then you and I will travel together."
I mulled over the prospect. "Alright. We'll travel together. Before we go, what's your name? I don't want to just refer to you as 'human'."
"My name's King. What's your name?"
I couldn't remember my human name anymore. I figured he could call me what the others did. "I'm Alpha."
With one swift movement, King picked me up and threw me onto his back. "Well then, Alpha, looks like you and I are going to be together for a long time."

Last edited on Jul 16, 2018 20:46:04 by Reiyn

@MysticalScribe

R’shalubeth had walked through the Universe, when it was nothing but dust and void. He had seen stars bloom into existence, and then wither or snap away. He had seen rock collide and break and melt until asteroids and meteors had fallen away. He had witnessed planets, full of poison and heat slowly cool, turning into rock or gas, and, sometimes, liquid. He had stood by as small, crawling organisms, barely visible, even to his keen eyes, had taken over planets. He had watched them evolve, into wriggling, more easily-seen creatures. He had watched as they cycled through evolution; getting bigger and bigger - and dying easily and easily.
When the wriggling things had gained sentience….that had been interesting. Some of them had been able to see him, and comprehend him, and they had bowed and worshipped at his claws, feeding him with blood and fear. They had drawn crude images of him; ragged scales rising out of his back, large, caterwauling shadows haloing his head.
Eventually, some had stopped scraping and bowing. They had attacked him, and in his anger, he had risen to his true height and power. Using his anger, R’shalubeth had focused all of his shifting, seething attention at the wriggling crawling things and obliterated them. He made the sky turn angry, bruised purple, and the land shift and break. All liquid had turned into festering, maggot-infested cesspools, and acid rained down from the heavens.
When he had finally calmed down, there had been nothing left. R’shalubeth had felt a momentary pang of guilt and sorrow (if you could call it that; his kind did not have much in the way of feelings, other than fury), before making himself smaller again. He was surprised by the amount of weariness he felt as he once again surveyed the ruined landscape. He could not, he decided. Have any more temper tantrums. After a few moments of scouring the landscape for any more life, R’shalubeth concluded that sentience in smaller beings was a sham, and promptly went to sleep. His anger had taken a lot out of him.
As he slumbered, the land tentatively started to regrow. Ruined earth slowly smudged together again. The atmosphere slowly cleared itself of toxins. The planet was still ruined and without life, but it did not look as if some eldritch being had ripped it apart.

R’shalubeth woke up slowly. His shifting eyes blinked and rolled as he shifted. What had woken him? Cautiously, he forced his form into small ribbons and burrowed through the earth. The planet had recovered, he noted. Perhaps some lifeforms had started evolving again? They’re small consciousness touching his? He cautiously sent some tendrils ahead, to observe the disturbance.
There was a thing. It was small and strange, but well-made, even if one small nudge from him would tear and rust it to pieces. The thing was hollow inside, with clear material providing a view outside. R’shalubeth was fascinated. The thing did not seem harmful right then, although he sensed that it had the possibility to be.
He hurried the rest of his body up towards the surface to look at it more closely. Shivering slightly (it was so strange), R’shalubeth encircled the thing, sniffing and observing it. His fascinated reverie was interrupted by a high-pitched, odd-sounding squeak. Startled, R’shalubeth looked around and then straight down, at the small life-forms. They were similar to his worshippers, but not.
They wore strange, circular orbs around their head, tinted dark on one side, blinding red on the other. Instead of woven plants and skinned animals, they wore unnatural, unnerving coverings that sealed them up completely. There was that odd sound again, and R’shalubeth strained to find out why it sounded so wrong. He realized, after a couple seconds, that it was because they were speaking through strange devices, attached to the insides of their orbs, that distorted their voices.
“What the hell is that! Bob, tell me that isn’t an alien. Tell me!”
“Holy - holy - I - I - Sharon - “
“Tell me -!”
R’shalubeth wrinkled his nose at their confusion and distress. He could smell the acrid, musty chemicals their bodies were producing in response to their emotions. It was not pleasant.
“Is something wrong?”
R’shalubeth tensed. There were only two beings; where had that third voice come from?
“There’s some sort of...of demon-alien-monster thingie. I though you said this planet was uninhabited!”
“What?”
This was wrong. R’shalubeth growled and snapped his teeth at the unseen being. What was eluding his sight? There was another high-pitched shriek from the two, interrupting his hearing. He snarled, a vicious low sound, in an effort to make them shut up. Instead, the two lifeforms got louder if that was even possible. Annoyed, R’shalubeth swatted at them, feeling a small measure of satisfaction as they whipped through the air, landing a few mountains away. He watched carefully, but they did not make a sound.
Satisfied, he continued trying to find the source of the other voice. It was silent. Had he accidentally thrown the invisible speaker into the air? Grumbling, R’shalubeth stretched a little, until he was face-to-body with the two lifeforms. There was an annoying, grating sound, coming from the devices in their orbs. The voice was silent.
Feeling vaguely uneasy, R’shalubeth straightened up and went back to the thing. Perhaps the voice was hiding in there.

Kumie

576

153

843

2257

July 16, 2018 20:18:09

@MysticalScribe

R’shalubeth had walked through the Universe, when it was nothing but dust and void. He had seen stars bloom into existence, and then wither or snap away. He had seen rock collide and break and melt until asteroids and meteors had fallen away. He had witnessed planets, full of poison and heat slowly cool, turning into rock or gas, and, sometimes, liquid. He had stood by as small, crawling organisms, barely visible, even to his keen eyes, had taken over planets. He had watched them evolve, into wriggling, more easily-seen creatures. He had watched as they cycled through evolution; getting bigger and bigger - and dying easily and easily.
When the wriggling things had gained sentience….that had been interesting. Some of them had been able to see him, and comprehend him, and they had bowed and worshipped at his claws, feeding him with blood and fear. They had drawn crude images of him; ragged scales rising out of his back, large, caterwauling shadows haloing his head.
Eventually, some had stopped scraping and bowing. They had attacked him, and in his anger, he had risen to his true height and power. Using his anger, R’shalubeth had focused all of his shifting, seething attention at the wriggling crawling things and obliterated them. He made the sky turn angry, bruised purple, and the land shift and break. All liquid had turned into festering, maggot-infested cesspools, and acid rained down from the heavens.
When he had finally calmed down, there had been nothing left. R’shalubeth had felt a momentary pang of guilt and sorrow (if you could call it that; his kind did not have much in the way of feelings, other than fury), before making himself smaller again. He was surprised by the amount of weariness he felt as he once again surveyed the ruined landscape. He could not, he decided. Have any more temper tantrums. After a few moments of scouring the landscape for any more life, R’shalubeth concluded that sentience in smaller beings was a sham, and promptly went to sleep. His anger had taken a lot out of him.
As he slumbered, the land tentatively started to regrow. Ruined earth slowly smudged together again. The atmosphere slowly cleared itself of toxins. The planet was still ruined and without life, but it did not look as if some eldritch being had ripped it apart.

R’shalubeth woke up slowly. His shifting eyes blinked and rolled as he shifted. What had woken him? Cautiously, he forced his form into small ribbons and burrowed through the earth. The planet had recovered, he noted. Perhaps some lifeforms had started evolving again? They’re small consciousness touching his? He cautiously sent some tendrils ahead, to observe the disturbance.
There was a thing. It was small and strange, but well-made, even if one small nudge from him would tear and rust it to pieces. The thing was hollow inside, with clear material providing a view outside. R’shalubeth was fascinated. The thing did not seem harmful right then, although he sensed that it had the possibility to be.
He hurried the rest of his body up towards the surface to look at it more closely. Shivering slightly (it was so strange), R’shalubeth encircled the thing, sniffing and observing it. His fascinated reverie was interrupted by a high-pitched, odd-sounding squeak. Startled, R’shalubeth looked around and then straight down, at the small life-forms. They were similar to his worshippers, but not.
They wore strange, circular orbs around their head, tinted dark on one side, blinding red on the other. Instead of woven plants and skinned animals, they wore unnatural, unnerving coverings that sealed them up completely. There was that odd sound again, and R’shalubeth strained to find out why it sounded so wrong. He realized, after a couple seconds, that it was because they were speaking through strange devices, attached to the insides of their orbs, that distorted their voices.
“What the hell is that! Bob, tell me that isn’t an alien. Tell me!”
“Holy - holy - I - I - Sharon - “
“Tell me -!”
R’shalubeth wrinkled his nose at their confusion and distress. He could smell the acrid, musty chemicals their bodies were producing in response to their emotions. It was not pleasant.
“Is something wrong?”
R’shalubeth tensed. There were only two beings; where had that third voice come from?
“There’s some sort of...of demon-alien-monster thingie. I though you said this planet was uninhabited!”
“What?”
This was wrong. R’shalubeth growled and snapped his teeth at the unseen being. What was eluding his sight? There was another high-pitched shriek from the two, interrupting his hearing. He snarled, a vicious low sound, in an effort to make them shut up. Instead, the two lifeforms got louder if that was even possible. Annoyed, R’shalubeth swatted at them, feeling a small measure of satisfaction as they whipped through the air, landing a few mountains away. He watched carefully, but they did not make a sound.
Satisfied, he continued trying to find the source of the other voice. It was silent. Had he accidentally thrown the invisible speaker into the air? Grumbling, R’shalubeth stretched a little, until he was face-to-body with the two lifeforms. There was an annoying, grating sound, coming from the devices in their orbs. The voice was silent.
Feeling vaguely uneasy, R’shalubeth straightened up and went back to the thing. Perhaps the voice was hiding in there.

I had this idea as I read the prompt! I hope you enjoy it! This is 933 words.

Waiting

It was a cool morning that day, softening the world's edges with a misty embrace of early spring. The moss of the copse's verdant floor cushioned me, my great clawed digits prodding into the thin veil of water that was a pond near the center of the trees. My eyes were heavy in that early morning, everything was. My bones ached, my scales itched and scratched, and my muscles were numb. It took much of my strength just to widen my paled eyes to face the world once more, but I had managed somehow. Straining my eyes up away from my scaled and horned snout, I spotted a murder if I had ever seen one; dozens of crows and ravens far above. They covered the trees and circled in the sky far over my mass. I could almost see their individual forms, but my eyes were white with blinding age. My eyes were the worst part of that day.

Even as the milky haze slipped away from the grove of trees, the birds of death did not abate. They were getting bolder and bolder as I lie there half asleep. I still had a good puff of flame or two left though and had a spiteful chuckle here and there, but soon, even my literal fire had burned out. I coughed thunderously but could summon little more than sparks. That newfound inability to summon something so innately dragon reminded me of a time long gone, the time of my youth. As I reminisced, a flicker across the pond ahead of me caught my clouded eyes. A shape I had believed long gone. Focusing as well as I could without moving my stiff neck, I took a gander at the form on the mirror-like liquid. I licked my leathery chops but my mouth felt full of wool. As my head settled, I set my eyes once more to the water.

A man was what I had seen. I remembered them fondly in that moment. Men were strong and willful like the greatest of dragons but they were small and factioned. I had remembered she who had first seen me as a whelp, a women with hair like molten stones. My scales had barely taken on their golden sheen yet. I was embarrassed. The man on the water was not the woman in the woods though. He was older than the woman, perhaps within his adolescence. A flaxen scrap of cloth waved from the man's neck and he carried a makeshift spear as he stared back at me through the water. I couldn't turn my head to see him in the air, but he could see me. Perhaps he was waiting like the crows were. I wondered fondly with a deep grumble of a cough if there were other men nearby. I hadn't seen one in centuries, not since I was first learning to fly.

There were many men on their paths of tar within those first few years. There were many sick and hungry ramblers. Dragons fared better but were not exempt from man's suffering either. Many dragons could not tolerate the choking air or the loss of nourishment. Others fled to the distant corners of the world. I fled from humanity and from the woman with crimson hair. I couldn't watch them fade away like the others could. I meant to come back with everything they could need, but they were gone when I had returned. I had lamented that day for so many moons that I had lost track. I never found the woman, but I had found a lake with fish. It was bigger then, I had though as I rested my claws into its warm shallows.

The man watched me further, or perhaps he watched the water like I. I closed my eyes and then opened them shakily, a heavy, shallow breath escaping my leathery lungs. I coughed then, a sputter of racking shocks to my frame, wisps of smoke pour from my flaring nostrils. I stretched my shaky wings as far as I could, catching some warmth from the sun above through trees. The scattering birds created a ruckus but I heeded them not. My joints burned as I held them out. My shadow cast across the pond, obscuring the man as he stepped away from the pond. With a last ember of strength, I turned my neck to see the man. A series of creaks and a sensation not unlike a knotted muscle accompanied the strained movement. There was no man.

I looked across the mossy clearing looking for the man. Had he ran or was he out of view yet? I had the distinct feeling that I shouldn't be able to return my head to the water any time soon, but I had done so anyway. With great effort, I turned my head once more, my heart thundering in my head and a fire in my spine. I dropped my head in the sandy mud as soon as its comfort became reachable. There in the water was the man again, close enough to see his head of dirty, lemon hair. The man would have to get back to where he had come from soon for sure. Maybe he had a woman waiting, like I had. I wish I had moved faster, gotten to her sooner that day. I couldn't stay away from the pond then or now, but maybe she's waiting for me now too, like the crows high above. I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly as my wings relaxed to the ground.

I hope so...

Gula

139

50

160

1106

July 17, 2018 06:49:08

I had this idea as I read the prompt! I hope you enjoy it! This is 933 words.

Waiting

It was a cool morning that day, softening the world's edges with a misty embrace of early spring. The moss of the copse's verdant floor cushioned me, my great clawed digits prodding into the thin veil of water that was a pond near the center of the trees. My eyes were heavy in that early morning, everything was. My bones ached, my scales itched and scratched, and my muscles were numb. It took much of my strength just to widen my paled eyes to face the world once more, but I had managed somehow. Straining my eyes up away from my scaled and horned snout, I spotted a murder if I had ever seen one; dozens of crows and ravens far above. They covered the trees and circled in the sky far over my mass. I could almost see their individual forms, but my eyes were white with blinding age. My eyes were the worst part of that day.

Even as the milky haze slipped away from the grove of trees, the birds of death did not abate. They were getting bolder and bolder as I lie there half asleep. I still had a good puff of flame or two left though and had a spiteful chuckle here and there, but soon, even my literal fire had burned out. I coughed thunderously but could summon little more than sparks. That newfound inability to summon something so innately dragon reminded me of a time long gone, the time of my youth. As I reminisced, a flicker across the pond ahead of me caught my clouded eyes. A shape I had believed long gone. Focusing as well as I could without moving my stiff neck, I took a gander at the form on the mirror-like liquid. I licked my leathery chops but my mouth felt full of wool. As my head settled, I set my eyes once more to the water.

A man was what I had seen. I remembered them fondly in that moment. Men were strong and willful like the greatest of dragons but they were small and factioned. I had remembered she who had first seen me as a whelp, a women with hair like molten stones. My scales had barely taken on their golden sheen yet. I was embarrassed. The man on the water was not the woman in the woods though. He was older than the woman, perhaps within his adolescence. A flaxen scrap of cloth waved from the man's neck and he carried a makeshift spear as he stared back at me through the water. I couldn't turn my head to see him in the air, but he could see me. Perhaps he was waiting like the crows were. I wondered fondly with a deep grumble of a cough if there were other men nearby. I hadn't seen one in centuries, not since I was first learning to fly.

There were many men on their paths of tar within those first few years. There were many sick and hungry ramblers. Dragons fared better but were not exempt from man's suffering either. Many dragons could not tolerate the choking air or the loss of nourishment. Others fled to the distant corners of the world. I fled from humanity and from the woman with crimson hair. I couldn't watch them fade away like the others could. I meant to come back with everything they could need, but they were gone when I had returned. I had lamented that day for so many moons that I had lost track. I never found the woman, but I had found a lake with fish. It was bigger then, I had though as I rested my claws into its warm shallows.

The man watched me further, or perhaps he watched the water like I. I closed my eyes and then opened them shakily, a heavy, shallow breath escaping my leathery lungs. I coughed then, a sputter of racking shocks to my frame, wisps of smoke pour from my flaring nostrils. I stretched my shaky wings as far as I could, catching some warmth from the sun above through trees. The scattering birds created a ruckus but I heeded them not. My joints burned as I held them out. My shadow cast across the pond, obscuring the man as he stepped away from the pond. With a last ember of strength, I turned my neck to see the man. A series of creaks and a sensation not unlike a knotted muscle accompanied the strained movement. There was no man.

I looked across the mossy clearing looking for the man. Had he ran or was he out of view yet? I had the distinct feeling that I shouldn't be able to return my head to the water any time soon, but I had done so anyway. With great effort, I turned my head once more, my heart thundering in my head and a fire in my spine. I dropped my head in the sandy mud as soon as its comfort became reachable. There in the water was the man again, close enough to see his head of dirty, lemon hair. The man would have to get back to where he had come from soon for sure. Maybe he had a woman waiting, like I had. I wish I had moved faster, gotten to her sooner that day. I couldn't stay away from the pond then or now, but maybe she's waiting for me now too, like the crows high above. I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly as my wings relaxed to the ground.

I hope so...