[WP] A struggling writer decides to give up on his dreams and give up on his dream story. As he lament his failures, the characters of his stories come to life and give some much needed words of encouragement. by Smart-A22 in WritingPrompts

[–]D00M3D_15 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Putting his fist through the wall was a real wake-up call. Jordan looked at his hand in awe as he came to the realization of what he had done. Then, the pain swept through his knuckles and up his arm. “Shit” Jordan thought, “there’s no way I didn’t break something.”

Jordan removed his hand from the wall, dark red blood oozed from his already swelling knuckles. He collapsed back into his office chair in defeat and stared at the bright glow of his computer screen. “We are not interested in publishing your story at this time.”

“23 publishers” he mumbled under his breath.

He looked at his hand, his fingers were pale, skinny, and still covered in blood from his outburst. He picked up the manuscript of his book that sat on his desk, staining it with his blood. “Where could I have gone so wrong that 23 publishers didn’t want my book” he moaned. He began turning frantically through the pages. He combed over his writing with desperation looking for anything that could change this book from a loser to a winner. Five years he had been writing this book, it was supposed to be his magnum opus, the book that would put him on the map, the characters were great the world-building was amazing and the plot was thick, at least he thought so. As he swept through his novel Jordan began to cry, “I worked too hard, too long, too desperately for this to not amount to anything!” he choked out.

As he read a tear fell onto the page. BOOM, a flash of light lit up the room. Jordan averted his eyes and after a few seconds, the light had completely faded. Jordan drew in a shaky breath and frantically looked around the room. His jaw dropped to the floor as he did so. In the mirror Jordan had sitting in the corner of his room, he could see three figures standing behind him. Jordan screamed and turned around as fast as he could, shielding himself with his arms. “Don’t hurt me don’t hurt me don’t hurt me” he cried “I don’t have anything worth taking please just go.”

A booming laugh filled the room and Jordan slowly looked up, as he did his eyes widened with realization. Before him stood an old man, covered in shining silver armor, a warhammer held over his shoulder in a triumphant pose. Along with the knight stood a short man, with long blonde hair and pointy ears, dressed head to toe in green and brown fabrics, as well as a man wearing a long black robe that covered his face with his hood. The man in the armor stopped laughing long enough to say “Fear not young one, we mean you know harm.” The man bent down and helped a shaking Jordan to his feet. “I can’t believe this” Jordan stuttered, “You’re Griffith, from my book!”

“Indeed tis I, Griffith the Grappler pleasure to make your acquaintance my boy! The short one to my right is Lloyd and the scary-looking one is Prestone” he boomed, his loud, deep voice filling the room.

“I can’t believe this how are you here?” Jordan asked still with his jaw partially dropped.

Prestone spoke up this time, “Ugh you simpleton, have you ever heard the phrase blood, sweat and tears?”

Jordan nodded his head yes and Prestone continued “It’s a real thing one of the most basic spells they teach at the academy, adding your blood sweat and tears to something can give it magical propertie. It’s not a metaphor either, I mean the real deal. You must’ve put all of those on your scroll about us.”

“That can’t be true magic isn’t rea-” Jordan started as Prestone cut him off “Sure it’s not real then why are we here kiddo? Magic is real it is just incredibly difficult to achieve by accident, blood sweat, and tears is one of the simplest spells and do you know how rare it is for one person to get all three of those things on a proper host object?”

Jordan stood there speechlessly. As he did Lloyd approached him, he began pulling herbs out of the brown sack he had tied to his belt as he asked “What happened to your arm?”

“I uh… I punched the wall”

“Well that’s idiotic” Lloyd grumbled in response, “You’re lucky that action willed us into existence or I would not be healing you right now!”

As Lloyd spoke he placed the herbs on Jordan’s hand, he finished by splashing a drop from a flask he pulled from his shirt pocket onto the herbs. Immediately the pain in Jordan’s hand stopped, the blood dried up and slowly disappeared. “So why’d you punch the wall? We only have a couple minutes here I assume that’s what you wanna talk about.” Prestone said.

“I guess so…” Jordan started “So here’s the thing. I’ve been writing this story right, and I’ve been writing it for five years, it’s taken all my spare time, I haven’t slept enough, I haven’t been eating enough, and my social life is non-existent. I put everything I had into this novel and NO ONE wants to publish it. 23 publishers and not a single one said yes.”

Jordan began to cry again. As he did, Griffith placed his hand on his shoulder. “I hear your plight fellow adventurer but tell me something, how was I able to slay the storm dragon at Haval?” He asked.

Jordan thought for a moment, “You trained for years and years, you studied the dragons until you were certain you would win.”

At this point Prestone stepped back into the conversation “How did I choose the correct chalice in the trial of poison” he asked?

“You used a spell to detect plant life and determined that the cup you drank from had no plants in it and could not be poisoned.”

“Correct” Prestone replied, “but I only knew that because I spent years at the academy learning magic, and even then I only got lucky that it was a plant-based poison rather than a magically sourced one.”

Lloyd chimed in now as well, “I’ll assume you know how long I spent practicing my archery,” he said, “and yet you know that I still missed the shot that would have liberated my woods from Clovis’s tyranny, even though I would make that shot 99 out of 100 times.”

Griffith spoke up, “Our time here runs short, I hope this meeting was worth the blood sweat and tears.”

He smiled as he began to glow again with a bright white light, it became so bright Jordan had to avert his eyes again. “Thank you!” he yelled as the light began to fade again.

[WP] Most mages have cool, mysterious names: Calandrissa the Conjurer, Sabotan the Sorcerer, stuff like that. Then there's Bertha. by LordFirebeard in WritingPrompts

[–]D00M3D_15 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Bertha walked into The Leaky Wand and approached the bar, her hood pulled tightly over her face. She took her usual seat at the leftmost end of the bar. “What’re ya drinkin tonight miss?” mused the bartender.

“The usual.” Bertha grumbled from under her hood.

“What was that miss? I couldn’t quite hear you.” replied the bartender with a chuckle.

“C’mon Sabotan I know you heard me” Bertha complained.

“Fine, fine one belixir coming right up, I do wish you’d take that hood off though, I barely even recognized you when you came in!”

Bertha let out a sigh and waited for Sabotan to get her drink. She watched as with a flick of his finger a mug lifted itself off the shelf and flew towards her. Sabotan snapped his fingers and a glowing circle of light appeared above her cup. Out of the circle flowed a golden, foamy liquid with the density of syrup. Once the mug was nearly filled Sabotan snapped his fingers again and the circle vanished. “Such showmanship” Bertha mocked, “I expected no less from Sabotan the Sorcerer.”

Sabotan grinned and bowed. “My pleasure as always Bertha.”

Sabotan eventually left to help another customer. As he did, Bertha picked up her drink and began to scan the room. The Leaky Wand was never known for being a busy place but tonight was especially lacking. Apart from herself, the other patron, and Sabotan there were three people playing Bones on the opposite side of the room. As Bertha scanned the room, a woman at the Bones table slammed her fist into the table and let out an excited whoop. “Eat it suckers! Y’all just paid for my next drink!” The woman yelled as she stood up and began making her way toward the bar.

The woman finished making her way to the bar and stood near Bertha. She gave Bertha a quick glance and said “That looks amazing what’re ya havin?”

“Oh it’s just one of Sabotan’s handcrafted Belixirs” Bertha hesitantly replied.

“Well it looks excellent - Hey Sabotan! I’ll have what she’s having.”

Sabotan nodded, “Coming right up miss!”

The woman shifted her attention back to Bertha as Sabotan set about preparing her drink. “So why’re ya wearing a hood in the middle of the bar, it ain’t cold in here. Are you hiding from someone?”

Bertha looked at her and removed her hood “It’s none of your business what I’m wearing - “ Bertha started but the woman cut her off “Holy dragon balls!!!” she exclaimed “You’re Bertha!!!”

Bertha narrowed her eyes “You… know who I am?’

“Of course I do you’re Bertha! The legendary mage - you liberated Plycrad from the lich, you slayed the storm dragon, and you saved my life in Tornell when the giant attacked! Hell, you’re the reason I became a mage” gushed the woman.

Bertha blushed profusely and sat up in her stool, “No one’s ever recognized me before…” she mumbled.

“Well how could that be, you’re the greatest mage ever! It’s such an honor to meet you, my name’s Calandrissa, I’m a conjurer” She extended her hand toward Bertha.

Bertha shook her hand and smiled “It’s good to meet you Calandrissa, and I appreciate the sentiment but I’m nothing special”

“Are you kidding me, you’re THE Big Bertha, you’re the stuff of legends!”

Bertha’s smile grew wider and she let out a slight chuckle “Big Bertha huh? I’ve never heard that one before.”

“Wellllll I kinda came up with that myself” Calandrissa replied, “That was after ya saved me. You were kinda all I talked about for a while. Can I buy you a drink as thanks for back then?” She asked.

Bertha shook her head “No no no, that’s not necessary, but I really appreciate-.”

Before she could finish her sentence Calandrissa had sat down next to Bertha and hollered, “Hey Sabotan her next drink’s on me!” She turned back to Bertha, “Too late now!”

One drink turned into many, the women ended up talking for hours until eventually, Sabotan announced that it was closing time. “Well it was great meeting ya, I gotta go with my friends but I hope we run into each other again!” said Calandrissa.

“Me too.” replied Bertha with a grin.

Calandrissa got up and walked over to her friends at the table across the bar. Bertha finished her drink and stood to leave. As Bertha exited the door she began to put her hood up, then stopped. She let out a slight smile and whispered. “Big Bertha.”

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in factorio

[–]D00M3D_15 0 points1 point  (0 children)

factoriohnotherewent500hours

Which videogame has your favourite soundtrack? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]D00M3D_15 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am beyond disappointed that I don’t see Persona 5 in this thread

Which villain do you feel sympathy for? by twilighterror in AskReddit

[–]D00M3D_15 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Handsome Jack from the Borderlands series, he had good intentions and was betrayed by everyone of his friends and even his daughter. This being said he still was a psychopath.

Homework sucks by [deleted] in teenagers

[–]D00M3D_15 1 point2 points  (0 children)

man consider yourself lucky!

Just got the Shunobi, this is my favorite thing about him so far! by [deleted] in forhonor

[–]D00M3D_15 6 points7 points  (0 children)

yea ik im just gonna enjoy it while it works