heatherlouise

(496 words)

I remember many years ago asking mother where we came from and her telling me the story of the stork brining the baby in a bundle. At the time I of course believed her, but now I know the truth. We are not babies of the storks, or of any sort of bird for that matter, but of the sky. Yes, we are the generation of sky babies.

After spending years researching this, hard toil and sweat put into it, I found out the truth. Now I will pass down my wisdom to you, so that in future generations when your little girl asks where she came from, you can tell her honestly.

At the beginning of time the only the world was without life. Nothing roamed the dusty lands and the vast expanses of sea remained empty and lifeless. That was until one day, around the middle of what we call March, there was a meteorite shower, raining little balls of rock down onto our earth. The sky rained for weeks, until all of the oceans was coated with these rocks, for the floated you know, and all of the earth was the mucky black colour of the meteorites. Now for weeks after these balls remained, floating on the water and resting upon the ground, until one day the first rock began to vibrate.

Now, in the space of a thousand years the rest of the rocks also began to vibrate, some only slightly so that you would need a microscope to see it, and other so much that they shook the ground. Some planted themselves into the ground, digging deep and spreading roots of trees into the earth. Others hatched, and gave birth to cats, and fish and tigers and pigeons and beetles and every other animal that we have here today.

One day, many years ago, a dog came along, searching for some food for it to eat. Smelling something deep below its paws, it began to dig and dig and dig. For days it dug, turfing up dirt and roots and little long lost plants, until it reached a silver rock. Carefully lifting the rock out of the hole with its teeth, the dog ran home to its cave with it.

In the cave three hundred dogs lived, the only dogs that lived on the world. The dogs kept the rock warm for years, looking after it and tucking it up in a bed of leaves and sticks. After many years the rock began to vibrate, and the first ever human was born from within. Then another jumped from the rock, and another, until finally there were twenty seven, five inch tall humans running around the cave. The dogs cared for the humans as they grew to our height and bred, hunting food for them and keeping them warm within their cave. And from this story we learnt the origin of the humans and also why dogs are now mans best friends.

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~ HεαтнεяLøυιѕε

Charlie_Eleanor

It was before the great mountains erupted from the land’s surface, before the ocean’s waters came to play on the sandy shore, and before the sun and moon danced in the sky that they found one another. The darkness saw the light long before she noticed him. Quietly he treaded behind her until he was close enough to smell her warmth. Her scent was intoxicating and beckoned to him in a way unfamiliar. Swiftly he attempted to envelope her in his arms, but she jumped away and turned to face him. Something about his soothing eyes persuaded her. Slowly she reached out her hand to touch his face, but it was at that moment that the darkness began to consume her. She did not care. The light loved him too much and allowed him to infiltrate her being. Gently he searched out the corners of her soul, and the land began to grow dim.

The beasts of the land watched in awe as the sky erupted in their love making. A sparrow, the Prince of the world, began to sing a dirge for the dying light. Two tears rolled down his beak and fell to the ground. They landed on the earth and began to moisten the soil. Slowly, figures began to form in the small puddles. They were unlike any other animal; no fur grew from their white skin, they towered above the land on two legs, and they spoke with the strangest of sounds. The sparrow, seeing what his tears had created, spoke to the humans in their own tongue;

“Hear me humans. Look to the sky and see how you have come into existence as the dark attempts to consume our mother, the light. I therefore charge you as the keepers of the light and darkness. It is your destiny; the struggle to keep them apart. Ne’er shall they consume one another or our world shall end, and all that you hold dear will be lost. Fear not. I send you not unprepared. To you, woman, I give this gift of magic. And to you, man, I give the strength to wield this great weapon.”

As quickly as the sparrow spoke the words a wind blew about the woman and she was given the powers of magic, and the man reached into the earth and arose holding a great sword.

“Now it is time for you to embark on life’s journey. There will be a day when you will fail, and this world will end. But, when the battle is through and the darkness overpowers the light I will show you the way to a new land where we can live in peace with one another. Farewell my children. It is time.” The man and woman turned toward the horizon, and began their never ending battle of protecting the light.

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AA

I saw the bastard with my own two eyes. I even helped him. And now, everyday I get complaints about it. I get so many letters complaining about the existence of those annoying experimental creatures, I can’t get anything done around this damned place. My title might as well be changed from Species Alteration Supervision Specialist to Universal Complaint Manager.

I hate it. I’ve got to talk to the Mother Office about finding someone new for assistance. Of course, they’ll probably claim that I’m the only one who can manage these “important complaints” because I’m the only living witness of Level 3 Clearance or higher to the experiments on 2H00. Once they explain that to me, they’ll feel justified in giving my old job away to some new young ambitious fuck, so on second thought, I won’t be writing that letter after all.

But I’ll tell you the story anyways, since you’re so damned curious by now. As ridiculous as it sounds, it was a seed actually that started the whole thing. I was apprenticing Jaktar Noos, (who is now the next big thing at the Mother Office) and we were studying the growth of the Hum-Fle seed. As it turns out, the seed, when altered from a gas to a solid state, grows like crazy. The damned thing doesn’t stop. And when we tampered with it, we found that it can be grown into anything in a solid state, including humans and all those other less successful projects on Testing Ground 2H00.

I know, you’re probably being really critical of me referring to humanity as successful, but when you look at all the other crap that came out of 2H00, you have to admit, those foul creatures have the most potential. And I’m sorry, I really am. I had no idea they would be so damned kind natured, but they’re giving us some hope. I mean, they may not all be cruel or evil but there are some pretty corrupt ass holes on that planet. And, the more we intervene and allow them to have “revolutions”, the better they’re getting about being hateful. As for the rest of what has come out of there, I say we call Code 2 on their asses, especially those damned canines. But give humanity some time and they might eventually become corrupt enough for universal communication.

Until then, I’ll be answering all the complaints about how sweet those creatures are acting. My theory is, every time they do something nice, someone somewhere starts writing a letter of complaint. And I have to handle it, while that bastard Jaktar Noos, takes all the credit for the humans like Hitler and blames me for the fucks like Gandhi. I used to tell myself I’d be Jaktar’s boss some day, who am I kidding, I quit.

Jiieden

“In the beginning was not nothing, for absence is naught but nonsense. What was there? Everything that was or could actually be – and that is the maelstrom of possibility from which we arose.
Anthropic explanations are non-scientific, and they satisfy none of our genuine curiosity. Still, if we envisage an infinite infinity of possible worlds, we can find ourselves an infinite number of times. Why are we here, then? Because we were – because we are possible.
Commit these sophisms to the flames; they answer nothing.”

“In the beginning was something Creating, such that we were Created by their agency. This is a process, and we could consider it to go on even now – we were not Created, but we are being Created. This constant labour is surely the product of divine love-“
“-or divine comedy. Or divine sadism. Let’s pass beneath His Numinous splendor in silence, shall we?”
“Very well,” he says in a voice thick with distaste.

“In the beginning was a singularity, which existed without time or space in the sense we know them. We were made as star-dust, the chance and insignificant product of the making of the universe; the shuddering explosion of that point into the Big Bang-“
“No,” says the student, “if time did not exist, how could it possibly start? And the anthropic principle beckons again – why us, here? This does not satisfy my ego, nor the sense of fate we all feel.”

“Then, in the beginning, were the gods who had dreamed themselves to be. Odin or Zeus - the Patriarch breathed, and life flooded over the world like flowers after a desert storm, for in his breath was his seed. We sprouted from his seed, and we were made especially, setting us up above the other billion creations of his Will. We were given meaning by his dream, and we are given it still.”
“What of the woman?”
“She was not forgotten. She was the origin, the partner and the betrayer. She was guard of the hearth and home, the hag and the whore. She was the object of ownership and worship. She was sex and sin and sorrow.”
“This is a myth, correct?”
“Yes, but it is a true story. It is the true story of the social world, a history of how we punish, control, discipline, of how we order the world. It is the story of dominance, over man and nature and nurture. Our origin was the beginning of control, and this is a true story.”

“I do not agree,” says the student, “for if it is myth, then it cannot be true.”

“I see I have little to teach you. Which fable do you believe then?”

The student smiles, and stares up at the starry night, and holds his father’s hand.

“There is no beginning.”

MiloDaePesdan

500 words (including title)



Dark Children

The wail rose from the dragon graveyard. Mariasha left her demon companions scavenging the carcass of a behemoth, and spreading her wings soared above the desolate expanse of a land given to eternal night. She searched the debris of bones below and heard the cry once more.

Her heart palpitated with strange emotions. What is this thing? It hurt. Not since a great Rift tore open the sky in the war between dragons and demons did she feel such a hot and fiery sensation sear her breast. She hissed, raking claws across her scaly chest to tear the emotion away.

Mariasha gave up. The wounds closed, but the heavy feeling remained.

The wail again. There, by the dragon skull! She tucked in her wings and dived.

She touched down, and the cold shot up her footclaws and up her spine. Mariasha closed her nose slits at the dry stench of powdered bones and ash. She clung to the skull's hollow eye-socket for support. Slippery glass from past infernos winked with the reflected light of the massive scar in the heavens.

Urgency overcame her. Panic next. Time's running out. The cries became thin, weak, and Mariasha swiveled her ears to pinpoint the source quickly.

A kick from her powerful legs upturned the skull. There, in a horrid pulpy mass of rotten flesh, a pale little thing with no horns or scales squalled in despair.

Mariasha picked it up by a stubby limb. She poked it with a claw and drew the digit back, fascinated by the crimson liquid dripping from the slight cut. It's so soft. Fragile, like a demon's wing, because all it took is a careless slash to ground her forever.

The little thing shivered and the cries ceased altogether. Realization struck. It's dying.

For a moment Mariasha contemplated rending the thing apart. Anything from the enemy must be destroyed. But--

Painful emotions scorched her chest. Nothing short of her own death could get rid of it.

Heat, the creature needed heat. Horror gripped Mariasha's gut and a wash of icy fear made her shudder. Why her? Why of all her people must she die? She'd done nothing wrong. But the Goddess decreed all demons die in time.

Unfurling her wings once more, Mariasha cradled the creature to her breast and flew towards the Rift.

She could feel countless eyes on her back. The demons watched, enjoying the demise of one of their own with malevolence born from ennui.

Mariasha dove into the Rift. Her nerves sang with the fire and the light as it burned her skin. Goddess, how it burns! Her wings disintegrated, the scales fell from her body, but all she could think of was holding that precious little thing close to her heart.

The light overwhelmed her. She closed her eyes for a long time.

"Mariasha? Can you hear me?"

In sweet astonishment she opened her eyes.

"We're the first ones, Mariasha. There will be others. Even the shadows are not wholly dark."

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sipsake

500 words

I have heard the old ones tell a story of how Onari became angry with her husband M’katu and from this, man was formed.

M’katu roamed the heavens creating worlds of fire and clay. Onari followed behind, quenching the fiery rock with her water and breathing air into the sky. And where Onari passed, life would spring from the earth. But with no fire, the life soon died. M’katu saw this and laughed at his wife.

“I build flaming worlds to dispel the darkness, yet my wife does not think I work hard enough. Her waters flow and leave cold stone, so that I must continue to labor. Best that I had no wife to trouble me.”

“May your labors never cease!” cursed Onari. “I create beauty where you create nothing but heaps of flaming dung!

“You have made puddles of water upon my great works. I molded each from the clay of my bowels and used the mighty fire I posses to burn them and make them strong. No my wife, what you create is of little importance.”

With these words, Onari vanished into the darkness.

The Great God M’katu saw the harshness of his words. He began to search the heavens for Onari. Finally, he saw her alone in the darkness. He called to her, but she would not look at him. He sang to her with tender words, but there was no reply.

“Onari, my wife, I have searched the vast darkness fearing that I might never find you. You who are more precious to me than all the worlds I have created. I thought long while I searched and have brought you a gift. It is unique among all things.

Onari looked up as M’katu held forth a flaming world. It shimmered with blue light and it was the most beautiful of his creations.

“As I created this world for you, Onari, I put a piece of my heart-fire within it so that it will forever stay warm. I give this to you. Spill your water upon it, breath your air across it and let us both gaze upon the beauty you create.”

Onari took the world in her hands and her waters fell upon it. She breathed across it and life sprang forth upon the world. And the life and beauty of the world continued to grow.

And as they stood over the world, they became as one. And the seed of their union rained from the sky. And wherever the seed fell, the Wintaka, the first people appeared and were naked.

M’katu and Onari loved their children and showed them how to make fire, how to burn clay to make it strong, how to water crops to make them grow and how to hunt game to provide meat and clothing.

The Great Ones so loved their children that they continue to watch over them. The fiery M’katu drives away the dark and the soft Onari watches her children at night.

This I have heard.

seawings

They swarmed, getting more and more energized as the level of excitement grew. The motion had started slowly, twisting and turning they became aware that the time to depart was near. Numbering in the millions they churned in the host. The heat grew as the motion increased; eventually into a rhythmic and harmonic beat...everyone was ready.

Now in sync with the host...the hostess was also preparing for the release…a single recipient awaited, also made aware of the change about to occur. Nurtured over time, heated, and bathed in warmth and ready to meet one of the host’s swarm… she waited.

Heat rising, the motion increased to a fevered pitch, everyone was waiting for the final moment when all would explode in unison…a dizzying moment when everything lost the sense of time and could only release their senses to the moment. The moment had arrived.

Y had waited his entire life for this moment; tumbling with the masses he surged forward to meet his destiny. Unable to direct his course he was swept along with the swarm, through an ever smaller tunnel, until they finally erupted into a larger universe. Dark and warm they were driven by their internal guidance system toward their destiny.

The swarm spread out and rushed along a predetermined course, each being pushed and shove, they jostled for position. Soon the weaker one began to tire from the exhaustive heat, the pressure to succeed, the speed of travel and dropped behind or veered away, like fighter aircraft shot from the sky, from the course.

Soon Y was one of the few remaining and again the passageway became more constricted and difficult to navigate, more dropped away. Y now struggled with fatigue, the difficult journey and was now driven by instinct as he battled forward.

Y was now alone…all the others had dropped away. No longer aware of his surroundings Y continued on, resolute and determined in the knowledge that his journey was soon to be over.

X saw Y coming…a solitary soldier having survived the intense heat of battle, he relentlessly surged forward. X prepared herself for their inevitable meeting. Y saw X and immediately knew that he and he alone had reached the goal…with renewed energy he rushed forward, meeting Y they joined as one.

The preparation, the journey and the final meeting had been exhausting, exhilarating and cosmic in its process…like the creation of the heavens, a great deal of heat and motion came together to create life.

One life had just been created. Soon another X would meet her Y and they too would create a life, which in time would join as one and repeat the creation of yet another life.

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starStuff

(i hope its not too late to submit this)

Sapianius lay in the dim room staring wonderingly out the window into the dense cluster of stars that hung just a few light years away. A clump of chalky powder burned in a nearby chalice, filling the room with Essense of Hydrogen. Out there, were so many civilizations. Most think they are alone. The few civ's aware of each other utilized Sapianius as their ambassador for his...talents. Its interesting, seeing the wide variety of lifeforms, but none like the one he saw on--

A sharp knock startled him out of his mind. He screeched girlishly and squinted in the darkness. "Over here" a deep voice called. "Do not fear," another voice this time more high pitched. "The time has come," the voices droned deep and powerful yet high and melodic, "for you to fulfill your galactic duty." He knew that voice well. The Overlords of the Galaxy.

He relaxed, but feigned a little fear, "Y-yes m-my lords? How c-can I be of service to your m-majesties?"
The voices spoke, sometimes alternating and sometimes in unison, "You go by many names." "You have many talents." "We have a problem, on a planet in the farthest reaches of the galaxy." "You were there, millenia ago." "Sapianius, it is your duty to provide us." "With your knowledge."

They paused and spoke as one, "What the hell happened on Earth?"

He scoffed under his breath, "Y-yes your majesties!" He stood and noticed a thick volume on his desk. The dust covered pages were blank. It wasn't there before. "Fuck their 5 million page essay. I travel light." He closed it with a cloud of dust and disappeared onto the moon of a nearby planet. The memories came back, and he scratched in the book briefly. The day after the next the Overlords returned. He handed them a folded sheet of paper. Their expressions compounded quickly from question to anger.

"Haiku?" they cried, "Haiku!?"

He recited:

a long journey made
the human race a bakin'
our lab was busy

on the third rock from
with the wild they howled and roamed
conscience can't handle

embarrassed we were
backs we turned and thrusters burned
extemporaneous

"What is this garbage?" the Overlords enraged.
Smirking to himself, Sapianius replied, "You didn't like my story? It pretty much sums it up. I also wrote a sonnet--"
"It is not what we asked for," they voices boomed.
"Apologies," he groveled, "I spent a some time having a jolly cup of tea with a black hole. The tides must have clouded my thinking a bit."
"You mock us!" they roared, "You shall be punished." "Asteroid slingshot." "How about pulsar torture?"
"NO!" he was genuinly scared, "Please, give me another chance!"
"Tell us." "Why did you abandon the human experiment?"
"Because they were not fit for our purposes," he stated, "they became violent, destructive and fell to submission of religion and superstition. They were uselss. So we left them to their own."

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Please read and critique my Novella-in-Progress, tentatively titled:
The Gadon Stone
Prologue
Chapter 1: The Library

Chapter 2 is in the works. These are posted in the Critique and Advice forum here.

eggo

Here's mine,

Leftovers for Dinner-499 words

Thanks for the great prompt.

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http://vagabondagepress.com/81101/V1I6SS1.html

silverwriter

Locked. Finally. I'm a slacker.

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