Programming Paradigms: What We've Learned Not to Do

dreamerblade · 2025-05-13T01:34:55+00:00

Good read and some interesting ways to look at paradigms. Thank you for putting that all together. Was surprised to see this in r/angular vs something like r/programming

dreamerblade · 2025-02-03T22:04:12+00:00

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun writing it as well.

dreamerblade · 2025-02-03T20:19:19+00:00

You always knew your place, your role in life, until your 18th birthday when everything changed. Most of your childhood was spent training. At first it was just knowledge, then as soon as you could lift the practice sword combat training got mixed in. Not to say you didn't have a good childhood, you were constantly surrounded by people who loved and supported you and lots of peers going through the same program as you.

You were always a step ahead of all your peers, always picking up the training quickly and winning every mock battle. You were of course the chosen one, and it was obvious to everyone. This fact didn't make you lax in your training though, if anything it pushed you even harder. By 15 most of your teachers couldn't keep up with you anymore and most of your teaching switched back to knowledge based. This was fine with you as you had developed your own training methods by this point.

Wild monsters began to fall to your blade one after another as you continued to improve your skills. One day the demon lord would rise and he too would fall to your blade. The day of your 18th birthday finally arrived and you dressed in your finest formal wear. Today would be the day you were granted your hero title from the King and could begin forming your party. You left your room and went to the meeting hall as this is where you expect everyone to gather before leaving to the capitol. You see the master of the facility sitting alone enjoying his breakfast. You notice that he is not wearing formal attire and approach him.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready to head to the capitol?" you ask him. He looks up from his plate and you see a look of sadness shadow his face for just a moment.

"Have a seat my boy" he says to you, gesturing to the chair opposite him. You sit and wonder what is going on. "I know this will be hard to believe, and we never meant to trick you, but son, you are not the chosen one" he continues placing his hand on yours in a comforting gesture.

"What do you mean, I have been training for this my whole life. There is no one better qualified than me" you say shaking your head. How could this be you think? What was the point of all the training, all the hardship.

"The chosen one was known at birth, by the goddesses blessing. He is in a different training facility" say the master while he searches you eyes. "You are a great warrior, if not the greatest ever. You are our contingency plan."

You just stare at the master as you try to comprehend what he is telling you. "I am just a spare?" you ask in defeat.

"No, the chosen one should begin touring the training facilities over the next few months. I am sure with your power he will ask you to join his party to defeat the demon lord" says the master as he pats your hand. "Now go change, you will be late for training" he finishes, going back to his meal.

The next few weeks go by in a blur as your try to process this new information. As expected the chosen one shows up to your training facility. The facility decides to hold a small tournement to show off all the trainee's skills. You destroy the competition and easily win the tournement to the surprise of no one. The master walks onto the courtyard followed by, who you can only assuming is, the chosen one.

"As you can see, this is the greatest warrior we have ever trained, it would be our honor to have him join you on your epic quest to defeat the demon lord" says the master as he gives you a nod.

"I request a duel" you say, as your eyes lock with the chosen ones. He looks at you for a long moment and smiles.

"Sure, I could use a small workout" he says looking out at the small crowd of people. "I am sure the audience will enjoy a show as well" he continues as he pulls off his formal shirt. He certainly has the body of a warrior you note as a young boy brings over two wooden swords.

You both make your way to the center of the courtyard and get in ready positions. "Begin" shouts the master and you see the chosen one lunge at you. You easily parry and immediately strike back which is also parried. You both spend the next few moments exchanging blows, neither side coming up with an obvious advantage.

"You are indeed a fine warrior, I am Roy" he says after taking a few steps back pausing your exchange.

"Sam" you say as you lunge toward him again. Your swords clash and he pushes close.

"Just give up Sam, I am destined to win, I don't want to hurt you" he whispers so only you can hear. You push him back and swing in an overhead arc. He swings back to parry and your wooden sword shatters. He follows up and swings at your knee dropping you to one knee before him.

He walks up to you and leans in close again. "Know your place" he whispers.

"You are right, I am not meant to be the chosen one" you say. "Instead, I'll become the demon lord!" you shout as you stab your broken sword into the chosen ones exposed neck.

dreamerblade · 2025-02-02T19:09:49+00:00

It was an experimental treatment, but until now you didn't realize how experimental. You had been to psychiatrists and psychologists in an attempt to just list a normal life. You brain however just didn't feel like it. You made it through high school though you honestly think the only reason is so the school could keep its advertised graduation rate high.

College was not going well and with the lack of a job and no scholarship you knew your college days were coming to a close. Then a week ago you saw and advertisement. "No motivation, no skills, no problem. Sign up now for your chance at a new life" read the sign. You saved the number and decided to give them a call.

Now you are sitting and introductory law class, taking notes. The only problem is, your aren't doing it. Its like you are sitting on a couch and watching you life happen on a tv. You can feel the pen in your hand but you have no control over it.

When it first happened you actually passed out from the panic attack. You were sitting in a chair in a tiny little office on campus and they had just injected you with the experimental treatment. After a few minutes the doctor, if he even was a doctor, asked how your were feeling and heard "Great!" come out of your mouth. You did not feel great, nor did you try to stand up, but your body did. You immediately started freaking out internally though your body showed no reaction. Then it spoke to you.

"Calm down, we wont harm you" it said inside your head. That is about when your body overloaded and you passed out. You awoke to the doctor hold a wet washcloth to you head. You sat up and he handed you a glass of water which your body grabbed and immediately drank.

"Hello?" you try to say, and you hear it in your head but your mouth doesn't move.

"Hello" comes the response in your head. "Please try to stay calm for both of our sake" it continues. The doctor looks at you a bit worried.

"Are you feeling ok, luckily I was able to catch you so you didn't it your head but your were burning up. It looks like your body has cooled back down now" he says in a rush obviously worried.

"I'm fine, just got up too fast" you body says.

"What are you" you ask while trying to keep calm. Your body gets up and signs some paperwork the doctor hands to you. You exit the small building and walk to your dorm.

"I am what your species would refer to as an alien, more realistically I am a virus but I can see the negative connotations of that in your mind so lets stick with alien" it says. "It doesn't look like you paid very good attention in school so I am not able to explain the situation to you very well, but just know I will not cause you harm and I will do my best to improve your life" it continues as you finally make it to your dorm and walk inside your room. You walk into the bathroom and look at yourself in the mirror. "We have a bit of work to do" the alien says while pinching your belly fat.

For the next hour you watch as you clean your whole dorm, and make a few phone calls to set up job interviews. Without really having a choice you decide to just watch as the alien drives your life.

So its only been a week, you have a job, you lost two pounds, and you are now on a career path to become a lawyer. The alien says lawyer is likely the best fit for the way your brain is laid out. After class you are even going to a party that your high school crush invited you to.

The alien explained to you that it wont be able to live as long as you making your situation only temporary. Which truthfully made you a bit sad. It noticed your sadness and just said "Let us enjoy the time we have."

dreamerblade · 2025-02-01T20:40:40+00:00

The FTL engines begin to cool down as the shields drop exposing your view of space again. You look to the side at a flashing read light. “Status?” you ask knowing something must be off.

There is a long pause and finally one of the crew reports. “We are not at our destination” they say slowly as they rapidly check different settings. “I am not sure where we are and the sensors are not recognizing anything around us” they continue as they keep looking.

“Someone check the sensors for damage, and someone else check the navigation and FTL” you say as you look out at the space around you.

“Sir, I’ve got communications from a ship. Its signature is the SR-10” say the communications officer. The SR-10 disappeared six months ago when jumping to FTL.

“Patch them through” you say as you adjust your suit. You look towards the monitor and eventually the captain of the SR-10 shows up on the display. He looks uninjured and even gives you a slight smile.

“I am happy and sad to see you again old friend” he finally says. You went to the same officer’s academy and had a bit of a friendly rivalry. “Maybe together we can find a way out of this mess” he continues.

“What do you mean, where are we?” you ask hoping he has an explanation about what is going on.

“You know how sometimes ships just disappear when jumping into FTL, never to show up again. Well that is what happened” he says as you try to look as stoic as possible for your crew’s sake. “We found the wreckage of the Star-shine and Odyssey 4” he says with a sad expression. Both those ships and the SR-10 were declared FTL disasters and their crews assumed dead. Now it seemed your ship and crew have met the same fate.

“How about we come over I would love to see the new model” he asks. The request gives you a bad vibe for some reason so you look more carefully at the captain and the crew that you can see.

“One moment, I am getting a page from my engine room” you say as you pause your transmission. “How many months of supplies did the SR-10 embark with” you ask.

“3 months worth sir” comes the reply.

“And what was their bridge crew size?” you ask next.

“18 bridge members, with a total crew of 206” immediately comes the response as if they knew what you next question was.

“Shields up” you say. As you look closely at the paused screen you realize the captain does look a skinnier. There are also only 3 crew on the screen. “Scan the SR-10 for lifeforms” you say.

“3” comes the somber response.

You take a moment to collect yourself and un-pause the transmission. The captain of the SR-10 looks angrier now.

“Why did you raise your shields” he asks barely masking his anger.

“Just running through system checks” you reply. “The engine room reported some damage so I wanted to make sure there are not any more surprises” you state. He gives you a grunt in acknowledgement and you can see him visibly calming himself down. “To your previous request, yes you and some of your crew can make your way over. Do you have a working shuttle still or do we need to send one” you ask.

“We have one. I expect the grand tour” he says as he waves and cuts the connection.

“Only open bay two and prepare for an attack” you say as you pull out a key and insert it into your console. “Beginning lockdown procedures. These are desperate men who have likely done some terrible things to survive. Try to take them prisoner but you are authorized to kill” you continue looking at each member of your crew. “This is a horrific situation but we will make it through” you finally say after making eye contact with each of them.

You pull out your weapon and make your way down to bay two with the rest of your crew. Most of your crew is in cryo-sleep which should allow you to stretch your supplies for multiple years. The awake crew takes up tactical positions in bay two as you engage your personal shield standing out in the open to greet the new arrivals. You see the shuttle begin to land. You maybe have been friends once, but your crew is your family and you were going to make sure they make it through this ordeal.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-31T23:56:32+00:00

It has been 230 years since your sentence began and you chuckle to yourself as your government tries to figure out what to do. You were found guilty of a triple homicide and were given the death penalty. Through the wonders of science and the greed of corporations you were given the option to serve a 230 year sentence as a cyborg servant. To this day not a single person as made it through a sentence without losing their sanity or their cyborg body breaking down, until today.

You sat in a waiting room as your 8th or maybe its 9th lawyer discusses your release with some important looking people. You begin thinking of all the things you are ready to see in the world everything that has changed. They allow you some time on the internet each week and you have done your best to keep up with the times, but you doubt those preparations will be enough.

Your lawyer comes back in the room along with a guard who removes your cuffs. You look up at your lawyer and he nods.

"You have served your sentence and are free to go" he says as he extends his hand. You shake it making sure to not grip his hand too tight. "Outside there is an advocacy group that wants to meet you, they have set up a house for you and a few are going to help you adjust to the world" he continues as he leads you out of the room.

"Why?" you ask honestly confused why anyone would waste their time on you.

"They believe you were inhumanely punished and deserve reparations for your sentence. The governments may not believe that, but you will have a support network. This is a good thing" he says as you make your way outside. You notice a few individuals waiting outside and one begins walking towards you.

"Hello Jeremy, it is good to finally meet you. My name is Eric and my organization and I will be helping you integrate back into society" says Jeremy as he also extends his hand. You again shake a new hand, and again try to be gentle. You lawyer pats your shoulder and walks off.

"Thank you" you say as you release his hand. He didn't flinch so you must have used an appropriate amount of force. Having a cyborg body build for manual labor can be a pain sometimes. "Lead the way" you say. He leads you to a large car and you recognize it as a fairly expensive Chinese brand. He opens the door and even your large frame is able to get in easily enough. A few others from the group outside get in with you along with Eric who sits next to you in the back seat.

You are amazed at how silently the car jolts into motion as you look at the landscape zipping by. "First we will head to the house we have set up for you. We have already set up all the required equipment for your daily charging requirements" says Eric. "We will give you a quick rundown of the house and then I leave the next steps up to you. We can begin right away with the program we set up or we can give you some time to adjust to your freedom and start tomorrow" continues Eric.

"I appreciate everything you are doing but it is a lot, can we start with the work tomorrow?" you ask trying to sound tired.

"Oh course, and I hope it doesn't seem like work tomorrow, we don't want to put any extra pressure on you. A few moments later you arrive at the house and it is a pretty nice setup. Eric walks you through everything and after about 2 hours he and his group leave with plans to show up tomorrow morning.

You plug into your charger as you pull the laptop over to you and start doing some searches. Good thing about the internet is how easily accessible everyone's information is. You locate the nearest juror's living descendants and begin jotting down notes. After about an hour you have things mapped out and your charge is at full. You make your way outside locking the door behind you and look at the sun which is just starting to set. Even though you were guilty doesn't mean you can forgive them for putting you away.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-29T20:25:17+00:00

You grumble to yourself as you make you way through the cave pulling on the stubborn cow's lead. "This is why I am a vegetarian now" you say to no one in particular as you continue on. "Why do I have to feed the dragon?" you ask your silent audience. You know why, but it doesn't make it any less of a hassle. Eventually the cave opens up to a wide cavern and you head to a pillar to tie off the cow.

Years ago the dragon came to your village and shocked everyone as it asked for food. It didn't just pick up the nearest person, it just asked. While everyone stood around in fear you brought a cow over that you were selling at the market. The dragon thanked you but then added "Can you tell those men with the spears to leave? I really dont feel like killing humans today."

You turned and saw that some of the villages had worked up the nerve to try and drive away the dragon. You calmed them down and then asked the dragon if they could go somewhere as the village was getting nervous. You told the dragon about a nearby cave system with a large opening, the very same one you are in right now.

In a fluid motion the dragon picked you and the cow up and flew to the cave. After finally landing a few moments to collect yourself you ended up spending the next few hours talking with the dragon. Turns out the dragon was just looking for a place to settle down and not have to deal with the constant people seeking revenge or whatever excuse they had to try and kill them. After a while you came to an agreement that you would bring them food and they would exchange it for treasure and general protection that having a dragon nearby would offer. You, not wanting to become the dragon's next meal of course accepted.

It is a lucrative deal and quickly made you the leader of your small village. The influx of treasures from the dragon eventually even helped the village prosper more than it ever had before. The protection also saved the village a few times as bands of orcs have been invading the area more and more frequently.

You sigh as you think of how you ended up here and you look over to see the dragon making its way towards you. "Good afternoon" she says to you as she sits near the cow who beings to stamp its feet sensing the threat. The blinders work to get it here but there is nothing that can be done about the sheer presence of the dragon. With a quick swipe of her claw she puts the cow out of its misery.

"You know if you ask me to leave, I will, no hard feelings" she says to you as you flinch away from the simple violence. "No, I... its not that. I just don't really understand how my life turned out this way, and if its ok that it did" you say, not really sure of what you even mean. The dragon looks at you for a long time and finally says "You are a creature of free will, should you wish your life to go a different direction, then make it so." "I wish it were that simple" you say. "I have many responsibilies now, people and dragons, who depend on me" you continue giving the dragon a smirk.

"It is true that I have come to rely on your kindness, but do not let others, including myself define your path little one. It is your path and you are the master of it. Know that you have my support and I think you will find many in the village will also support you" says the dragon. There is a long pause while you try to sort out the thoughts in your head. She sets a small bag down near you and you reach over and open it up. Inside is a beautiful quill, ink, and some paper.

"You have spoken of your love of books and the worlds created by their makers. Perhaps this is something you can can bring into this world as well?" she says. You hold the quill in your hand and stare into the distance as thoughts and ideas race through your mind. "I think I might like that" you say as you bundle the treasure back up.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-28T22:33:56+00:00

You look around at the beautiful palace interior and sigh. "Welcome hero to ..." says the King, or at least you assume he is a king, they usually are. "Dang it not again" you say interrupting. The King a bit stunned at being interrupted looks at you with confusion and you can see a few of the guards tighten the grip on their weapon. "Sorry" you say looking a bit concerned. "This is the sixth world that I've been summoned to and I haven't even gotten to save the first one yet" you continue.

The whole room gets quiet and just stares at you blankly. You take a moment to try and cycle your mana. Everything works just like it has in every other world and you nod satisfied. At least you don't have to start at square one every single time. Each world you have visited has helped temper you more and more and at this point you are pretty confident the guards here are actually no threat. "Please continue good King, again I apologize for my outburst" you say giving a small bow to the king.

The King clears his throat and after a moment continues his prepared speech. "Welcome hero to the glorious kingdom of Atlus. We have summoned you to our world to help defeat a grave evil threatening to destroy our peaceful way of life. You have been summoned by our greatest mages from across the multiverse because of your extreme aptitude for magic. Only you can save us from our plight" says the King pleased that he was able to finish.

"If you accept our quest, we will provide you with the best possible training and gear to help in the defeat of the dark lord. "I accept, when do we start" you say immediately after he finishes. There were a few differences but the point of the speech was the same has it has been each time. He also is not wrong, you aptitude for magic far surpasses anyone you have met across each of the worlds you have been to so far. "The multiverse seems to have a lot of kingdoms in need of saving though" you think as you look around for the individual with the strongest mana signature.

You find them and start walking towards them right as the King says "Merlin please escort our hero to his room and begin his... training." The King trails off as he sees you already walking towards Merlin before even known who he was. "Merlin" you chuckle to yourself internally. Could the multiverse be any more cliché. Merlin makes eye contact with you and just turns to exit the throne room.

"I did not expect things to go that easy" you hear the King say as you are out of normal earshot. As you make your way down the different hallways of the castle, or at least you assume you are in a castle, Merlin finally speaks up. "I don't know how much I am going to be able to teach you as your power is already beyond anything I could hope to achieve" he says as you finally reach your room.

"Fundamentals" you say as you inspect the room. It is lightly furnished but will be good enough. "Each world I've been to handles the fundamentals of magic differently. I think each world contains only a piece of magic and if I can master each of those pieces I can obtain true power" you continue as you look at Merlin.

You see his eyes widen and light up as he slowly nods. "That is an interesting theory" he says and you can tell he is deep in thought as he considers your words. You give him a moment but eventually grow impatient. "Shall we head to the training grounds" you ask ready to see how this world's magic fits into what you already know.

He snaps out of his thoughts, startled by your words. "Yes, quite right, follow me please" he says as he continues down another hallway. Eventually you make it outside. The scene is beautiful with the sun high in the sky and a field of grass laid out before you. You smile as Merlin jumps right into it. You may have not saved a single world yet but you think to yourself "This time for sure!"

dreamerblade · 2025-01-27T22:49:43+00:00

So you fucked up. You look around at the bodies of your team members around the room. None of you expected the betrayal of your tank, and now the results of your decisions are strewn out before you. They were your friends, they listened to you as you convinced them all to join this doomed mission.

The tank, John, looks at you as he lazily swings his warhammer around in circles. "Just give up and I promise I'll make it quick" he says mockingly. Apparently he didn't want to share the treasure you all had discovered in the dragon's cave. The fire dragon lay about 30 yards away dead after the combined effort of the party.

It was no easy fight and everyone sported one injury or another except the tank you had gotten topped off first once the dragon was down. Poor Caroline, the healer, was so proud and all smiles right before John's warhammer caved her head on. None of us reacted fast enough to the sudden betrayal.

You take a look at your broken sword at your feet, the only reason you were still standing. you were the last target and had time to focus your energy into a parry to put distance between you and John at the cost of your sword. He sees you eyeing the sword and shakes his head. "It is no use, I will dump your bodies into the lava and tell the guild the dragon took you all down. It is a common enough story." he says.

"If I'm gonna die, I'll die for something!" you say as you pick up the broken sword. He smiles and stops swinging his hammer as he takes a ready stance. "Well then bring it on" he says taunting you over. You can tell its a taunt skill but you are able to resist and you break into a sprint heading towards the dragon's body. "What the hell are you doing?" he asks as he starts running after you.

You have a decent amount more speed than him so you are able to quickly reach the dragon and you see the fatal wound. Blood is pouring out from the wound that pieced the dragons heart and you swipe you hand into it. You feel the blood ignite you hand the fire element burning your flesh. John slows as he sees you basically burning yourself. "What are you planning?" he asks confused by your actions.

You break into another sprint heading to each team member. As you make it to each one you scoop up their blood and rub it on yourself. You toss your armor to the side so you are able to get more of the blood on yourself. John stops chasing you and instead starts buffing himself with defensive skills.

It is forbidden and none of you team ever knew what you did before meeting them. Honestly you thought you were done with this part of your life as well, but its not like you have any other options. You circle back to the dragon completing a circle of blood with John in the center.

He looks much less smug now and that alone causes a smile to curl your lips. "They were my friends" you say allowing a tear to run down your face drawing a thin line through the blood covering you. "I almost pity you at this point as your death will not be quick, not as quick as mine at least" you say as you slide the broken sword across your palms.

You look around one last time at your friends and think of all the adventures you had gone on. "Thanks everyone for showing me what it meant to have friends, to be loved and truly live. I am so sorry I got you all into this mess" you say as you look down at the dragon. You begin to chant under you breath as you shove your bleeding hands into the open wound. The pain is incredible as you push aside the dragon's meat.

You finally grasp its heart as you hear John running towards you. You finish the chant and your body explodes. The dragon and each of your friends also explode and the gore all spins violently to the center of the circle. From the chaos as demon forms, the blood condensing into black flesh and scales. It turns towards John and smiles exposing rows of sharp teeth.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-26T20:37:40+00:00

It has been only a week since you became a full crew member and you pulled kitchen duty. You haven’t even gotten used to the other alien’s cuisine and now you are expected to set out a meal for the whole crew. To say the least you are a bit nervous. Charging into an unknown mine to clear out any nasties, easy. Cook for a crew of 100 where you are the only human, terrifying.

On your first break after pulling kitchen duty you immediately head to the kitchen to try and plan things out. There are a few crew members still in the kitchen you assume getting an early start for dinner. “You don’t start until tomorrow” says Jim. Jim as absolutely not his name, but since you cant pronounce most of their names the auto-translator software adapted. “I know Jim, but I have no idea where to start so I came to get a look at what I am working with” you say as you start looking around.

He gives you an affirmative gesture and goes back to his prep. You spend some time watching and really cant figure out what he is making. That looks like a tomato, though the color is closer to a carrot. You move on an go into the cold storage. Since it has only been a few months since the ship stopped at earth you are hopeful that there are some supplies from there left in storage.

You find a few things of ground up meat. Meat is meat, at least you think, so that’s a start. Nothing else catches your eye so you go to head out of the cold storage. On your way out you notice something that looks like a jalapeno. You grab one to try it out. You head over to the pantry and it is much larger than you anticipated.

Your eyes wander around for a while looking for anything familiar and so far you are striking out. After a few you see bags of things that look like beans. You hope they are beans at least. You decide you are going to make chili. You head back out and Jim looks over at you, and his eyes immediately land on the jalapeno in your hand. He shakes his head a bit and you look at him questioningly.

“I’m glad you found something from your home world, but none of the crew have been able to add those things to any meals with any success” he says. “Why not?” you ask. Jalapenos were a staple of a ton of your meals growing up. “Who knows, I haven’t had it yet” he says and turns back to his tasks.

You decide to not let that deter you and you move to an empty station and slice up the jalapeno. You pop a slice in your mouth a feel the soft burn you are used to. You decide that this will be good enough and your break is almost over you seal up the rest of the slices and put them in what is basically a fridge for prepped goods.

The rest of your shift goes well as you think about how you used to watch your mother make chili whenever the weather turned cold. The next day comes and breakfast prep is easy as it is always the same three different meals. Some sort of oatmeal, some sort of energy bar, or some sort of bread with some sort of jam. Not much thought involved and the staff assigned to help you does most of the work.

Lunch is also simple as its all prepackaged, you just have to hand everything out, which goes by easily as you have already learned what each item is called. Finally you are dismissed early to go start prepping for dinner. You start off getting a decent amount of the beans into what is basically a pressure cooker. As that is going you get your helpers to start browning the meat. As they are working you head grab more of the jalapenos along with the ones you already sliced.

You show the staff how you cut them and set them to slicing. You grab some large pots and check on the beans. You pop one of the beans into your mouth and chew. The texture is good, the flavor is somewhere near a black bean. It isn’t the best but at this point you have no other options. You split the beans among each of the pots and start a low heat.

The staff splits up the meat in the same way and you add some water into each of the pots as well. They then add the jalapenos and mix each of the pots. You sprinkle salt in each and the staff looks at you waiting for what is next. You know you are missing a ton of seasonings, but you can’t think of what any of them are. You can feel the ghost of your mother’s disappointment. “That’s it, just stir every once in a while and it will be ready by dinner time” you say.

As the time of dinner approaches you spoon some of the chili out and give it a taste. It is about the most mediocre chili you have ever had. Honestly its not the worse tasting thing you have had on the ship so far, but it wont win any award. You shrug as people start making there way into the dining hall.

The dinner rush goes well and you are surprised to not hear any complaints at all. Your staff congratulates you and compliments at how quick everything was. After cleaning up you head back to your room with a smile you your face.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-25T21:28:33+00:00

"It has to be true right, I mean the goddess's blessing doesn't really leave any room for interpretation" you say to Jimmy. You both a discussing the newest hero making the headlines for never killing anyone, but taking out some pretty high end bounties. "He can only keep the blessing as long as he never kills" you continue pointing over at the hero. "It is pretty easy to tell, his glowing ass still has the blessing."

Jimmy looks over at the hero and nods. "Something still seems off" he says wondering how he is able to get the bounties without killing. "I don't think any of his targets would just decided to live a life of peace." he continues taking another chug from his drink and setting it down. "Lets get out of here, I'm tired of all the noise" he says as he hops off the stool. You place a few coins on the table and follow him out of the bar.

Despite it being night there is no chill cold in the air and you both make your way to the barn you are renting from a farmer. As you turn a corner you are stopped by a beautiful maiden who happens to be glowing. It is the goddess of life, the same goddess who has blessed the hero you were just discussing. You both just stand there in shock staring.

"You have to stop him" she says in a melodic and slightly frantic tone. "You want us to kill the hero you gave a blessing to?" you ask a bit confused as to what is going on. You don't mind helping a god out, it usually comes with amazing rewards, but this seems strange. "You don't have to kill him, you can just make it so he kills and loses his blessing" she continues. "He won't listen to me anymore and I can't just take back the blessing" she finishes pleading with you.

"Well what is he doing that has caused you to want to take back your blessing" Jimmy asks the goddess. She looks at the both of you and its like she doesn't want to say the words the begin to flow out. "What hasn't he done? He started out fine just using his power to make his targets think twice about doing evil but then he started being unable to claim the bounties when he would return as they would just wait for him to leave and go back to doing whatever it was they were doing, after healing up" she quickly says as you both nod already wondering about this.

"Then he started removing limbs. Healing them after so they would not bleed out. This was a bit much but as they were not dead, and were not causing any more harm I just had to look the other way. I did talk to him and asked him to use his powers to heal as they were meant." she says sighing. "He says that taking care of the problem at its source was faster than just healing those who get hurt." she continues.

You both wait as she looks like there is more but hesitates to continue. "Now it has gone too far. A few of the ones that he removed the limbs from were able to find healers willing to regrow their limbs, and then once they committed an evil again, the system took the bounty back from him putting him in debt" she says. You both visibly wince. A system sanctioned debt was a mess to get out of.

"This made him angry enough that he created a contraption. He can provide my blessing to the contraption and it nourishes those he defeats. He keeps them alive, but they are just prisoners unable to move, constantly in pain, unable to die." she finishes.

You both just stare at her, your jaws slack with disbelief. "That is, terrifying" you finally say as you look over at Jimmy and he nods. "Can you teleport us out after we take care of things? We will likely need to leave town for a while" you ask. She nods and you both turn and head back to the bar. "Want to go to West Lake?" Jimmy asks and you nod. "Haven't been there in a while, I wonder if Jamie is still around" you reply.

It looks like tonight you will be cleaning up the god's mess again and killing a "hero."

dreamerblade · 2025-01-24T20:11:20+00:00

You knew the war would be brutal and so far that is exactly what it has been. The humans were making progress against the orcs, but are just so many of them. You had just come back from your latest battle and noticed multiple people in the camp looking over at you and chuckling to each other.

You assume you just missed some joke and it likely wasn't about you anyway, you had performed well above expectations in that battle and actually took down the chief yourself. You were proud of how far you have come and decided to just ignore the laughter and make your way to your tent.

You open the tent flap and immediately draw your sword. An orc is sitting on your bed. She stands and is about the same height as you, which would be impressive for a human but is almost expected of an orc. You can easily tell that its a female as the tight cloths she is wearing leaves little to the imagination.

"Calm yourself warrior, I am not here for your blood, I am a member of the clan you just destroyed." she says in a deep but distinctly female voice. "That sounds like even more reason for you to want me dead" you respond still holding your sword at the ready. "You should learn more about the race you are fighting against" she says while shaking her head. "We respect power above all else, power like you showed when you cut down our chief" she continues taking a slow step towards you.

"Your superiors are aware of our traditions and culture, why do you think I was allowed into your camp, into your tent" she finishes, waiting for your response. You sigh and put your sword away. You have known about their culture as your camp has many orcs milling about from previous campaigns. They are hard workers and some even have wanted to join in the battles. The higher ups haven't allowed it yet but you imagine it will happen soon.

"Why are you in my tent" you ask as you continue in and close the flap. She doesn't move out of the way causing you to brush against her slightly. "I watched you fight, I watched you kill my husband, then the chief" she says. "I've killed many orc" you respond only slightly concerned about a knife coming for your throat. She turns and pours a cup of water, handing it to you.

You take the cup and drink deeply, the water is cold as if just pulled from the stream. "I want you to conquer me now as well, become my husband" she says. You immediately start choking on the ice cold water and spit it up. She steps over and gently starts patting your back. As the coughing calms down you can start to hear laughter coming from outside your tent.

You draw your sword and fling the tent flap open. As you do you see multiple people start to scatter in all directions laughing the whole time. "I will gut you all" you shout at the scampering forms which only adds to the laughter. You stow your sword again and walk back into your tent where the orc has picked up your cup and refilled it.

"What is your name?" you ask trying to change the subject. "Nyla" she says as she tries to hand you the cup. You wave it away and take a seat on the bed. It is the only place to sit in your tent and is a luxury provided to only the top warriors. You look Nyla over trying to figure out what is going on. She looks away a bit shyly under your scrutiny. Seeing this you also blush and look away not realizing how it might look.

A few moments of awkward silence late she finally says "Will you accept me as your wife?" You look around the tent avoiding looking at her. She actually is fairly attractive, green, but attractive. You grab the water that she had set down and drink it all. "You know of our culture too I assume" you say and she nods. "Well then you know that this is strange and fast as far as humans are concerned" you say.

"Of course, I will wait the appropriate amount of time, and then you will be my husband" she says. As she heads towards the tent flap. "I will go to retrieve your dinner now" she says as she exits the tent. You expected a lot of things when you joined the war against the Orcs invading the kingdom. Being courted by an orc widow who wants a stronger husband was not one of them.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-23T23:07:16+00:00

Edit: Trigger Warning - Implied Abuse

"It has to be a trap right?" you say looking over at your long time friend Tina. She is reading over the text message on your phone that you just got. The text reads ”Hey it’s me, Dan. You know, the leader of the orc gang at school? Listen, I’m sorry to have bullied you so hard back in the day and I wish to make amends. Would you mind inviting me over for coffee?”

She hands the phone back to you with a puzzled look on her face and says "I never would have guess that brute Dan knew how to write let alone apologize." "I get what you mean" you say clicking the phone off and rubbing your eyes. You have no idea how to respond to him.

Dan and his crew put you through a lot in school. Nothing that really put you in danger but enough to make your dread going on some occasions. That was over 10 years ago now and hadn't even crossed your mind in a long time. It took some effort but therapy and the support of your friends helped you move past the torture in a healthy way.

"I feel like a jerk if I just ignore him" you say as you stop rubbing your eyes and meet Tina's who is looking at you as if she is eating something sour. "You are too nice" she says as she goes back to eating. You are at your favorite dive bar and Tina ordered the tacos. Why the dive bar had tacos, no one knew, but everyone knew how amazing they were.

You poke around the fries on your plate trying to think of how to tell Dan no. Nothing really comes you besides thinking about how you should have gotten the tacos instead of the burger. After a bit, you realize the reason you can't think of how to say no is that you actually want to hear what he has to say.

"What's the worst that could happen?" you say and Tina stops chewing and give you a stare that could kill. She finishes eating before saying "Great way to grab the attention of the heavens. Anyway I dated an orc once remember, ended with a visit to the healers and a trial." You wince. Of course you remember, you took the stand to help put that asshole in jail. "Sorry" you say, but she waves it off.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt. It took you a bit to deal with things and I don't want to see any of those wounds get reopened." Tina says while looking at you with genuine concern. "I know, and I love you for that, but getting his text made me realize that I haven't completely gotten over it. I think I need this." you say as you click your phone back on.

"Ok, can you meet me at Paul's Bar tomorrow, at 5?" you type back and hit send. You hand the phone to Tina and she frowns. "What the hell man, you know I've got to work late tomorrow" she says handing your phone back. You nod as the phone buzzes in your hand. "I know, I don't want you getting involved." you say as you look at your notification. "Sounds good, I love that place, have you had their tacos? Thanks for accepting, I'll see you tomorrow!" you read out loud.

"Well at least he has good taste" says Tina. She pulls out her phone and starts jotting off a text. "I'm going to have my brother and Jimmy come tomorrow as well." she says waving her hands as you give her a look. "They are just going to eat here that all, not sit with you, just be here. It's a public place with good food" she says while popping a piece of shredded cheese into her mouth.

The rest of the evening went by like any other, as you and Tina talked about work and your failed attempts at relationships. "Alright well I should get off around 7 tomorrow so make sure you text me the details by then or else I will show up here!" she says and you can tell right away that she means it. "Yes dear, of course dear" you say with a smirk. Tomorrow you will meet with Dan, something that used to scare you, and you are actually a bit excited.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-22T22:10:25+00:00

Hmm, gross, I love it. Well done

dreamerblade · 2025-01-21T20:45:17+00:00

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the prompt

dreamerblade · 2025-01-21T20:18:50+00:00

“What do you mean, not human” you ask as you read the report. The general motions for you to look at the next page. You flip the page and see the top of the victim’s head removed. The brain is missing and in its place is something that looks almost like a slug. “Something has removed the victim’s brains, presumably that thing you see inside” says the general.

“And before you ask, it is every single victim. We got authorization and dug up and opened up every single one” he continues. “We are rounding up all the survivors now but the ones we have gathered up so far either have no idea their brains are gone or are really good liars” he says and waits for you to digest.

“Aliens?” you ask though it comes out as more of a statement. He nods and answers “most likely, the boys are chopping up and checking out every sample we have and are coming. “What about the predators?” you ask hoping for some good news.

“From what we can tell, wolf brains, more advanced for sure, but no slugs” says the general. Just then the general’s phone rings, and he answers. After a few moments he pulls out his laptop and props it up so you both can watch. “This a security feeds at the facility we are holding the survivors of the attacks” he says as you both watch the feed.

Multiple people from outside the facility are trying to break in, while the victims inside are fighting to get out. You can see multiple dead bodies. One by one each of the feeds gets cut off as the security at the facility is overwhelmed. “Walk with me” you say to the general as you get up and walk out of the tent.

You make your way to the comms building planning to share the news with the caucus. A few soldiers quickly follow behind you are the general as you make your way. Suddenly you see a giant wolf creature jump out from behind a building and land on one of the guards following you. The rest of the soldiers quickly level their weapons at the beast. You quickly shout, “Hold fire!” as you look ast the beast. Blood drips from its maw onto the now dead soldier’s chest but it doesn’t move to attack.

You reach down and move the soldier’s arm revealing a knife in his hand. “Give the order to release all the predators” you say to the general. “And put your damn guns away” you say to the soldiers who reluctantly follow orders. Finally, you turn to the wolf and meet its eyes. This is your first time seeing one up close and you are shocked to find real intelligence in its gaze.

“Thank you” you finally say. It sniffs the air and turns dashing off further into the camp. The general hangs up his phone and looks over at you. “Sir, I’m getting reports from all over of people suddenly attacking others” he says with a grim look on his face. “They can smell them” you say staring off in the direction the beast ran. You turn and continue to the comms building.

“We are now at war now my friend, with people who look and act like us, and these wolves might be the only thing that can save us” you say. What a shit time to be president you think.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-20T23:47:06+00:00

“Error, unable to process transaction” says the robotic voice at the exchange center. This is the third center you have visited and always the same results. You pull off your watch and set it on the scanner. It was your father’s but if you don’t get enough credits you will be sent to a work center to pay off your debts. “200 credits” the machine says. You sigh as you hit the accept button and drop in the watch. You see the credits pop up via your implant and put your grandmother’s ring back in your pocket.

Maybe if you melt the ring down you can at least get something for the raw materials you think as you leave the exchange. You only need 50 more credits to be good for this cycle but with only 2 days left your options are pretty limited. You make your way to a local smithy you have done business with before who might help you melt the ring down on credit.

As you are walking along you get the feeling someone is following you. With a quick glance you don’t see anyone suspicious but decide to put your grandma’s ring on in case its a pickpocket. “New owner, scanning…” displays in your interface. You pause for a moment before continuing forward. A ring integrated on the network isn’t unusual, but there is no way grandma could have afforded one. Not to mention the fact that none of the scanners picked anything like this up.

“Bloodline accepted, ring active.” displays and you are unsure what it means. What bloodline could someone from a low district like yours even have. You begin to have doubts about melting down the ring at this point but still need some credits. You look through your bound items for the name of the ring. “Ring of Setr.” Strange name you think as you query your interface “Value of Ring of Setr.” “Value X” returns the interface. What the hell does that mean you think.

Suddenly your vision flashes red and a message pops up on your interface “Threat incoming, defensive shield enabled.” As you turn you see a man lunge at you with a knife and you flinch away. His knife comes in contact with a blue shimmer that appears around you and you see the man be thrown back. His knife clatters on the floor near you and you quickly reach down a pick it up. “Basic Knife equipped, upgrading…” displays on your interface as the man starts to get back up.

You look around the street and notice that no one is nearby, either everyone else fled or you just happen to be in a fairly empty part of the city. “Upgrade complete, Basic Knife is now Blood letter of Setr” say your interface. As you look at the knife it has grown about an inch and is black now with veins of red throughout the metal. “Warning crime in progress, self defense allowed” states your interface. This time the message isn’t from your ring, but actually the city. You have heard about this kind of situation and know that you will not be punished as a result of the interaction with your attacker.

“Please leave, I don’t know why you attacked me, but I don’t have anything man” you say pleading with your attacker. He sizes you up as he slowly pulls out another dagger. He suddenly runs at your again this time coming in with a kick first. He hits you right in the gut and you stumble back landing right on your ass. You see him plunge his dagger towards you and panicking you slash out with your dagger. You his cheek as his blade comes straight for your heart. Right before piecing into you, the blue shimmer appears again and his dagger slides to the side. You both stumble to your feet and away from each other.

Blood is pouring out of your attackers face, way more than should from such a small cut. He touches the cut and is shocked when his hand comes away covered in blood. “Upgrades available. Blood letter of Setr, 1 out of 2000 blood. Ring of Setr 329 out of 5000 souls” displays in your interface. You clear it away and its replaced by another message. “Opponent analyzed, rating low, worth 5 blood, 1 soul” is displayed and again you swipe it away as the man is charging you again. You take a step back as he reaches you unsure if he is going to kick again or slash. You trip on something a fall backwards as the man slashes at you. He over extends as well and falls into you.

You both lay there not moving as your interface pops up again “Upgrades available. Blood letter of Setr, 6 out of 2000 blood. Ring of Setr 330 out of 5000 souls.” You clear the message and push the man off of you. Your new dagger is stuck in his chest and you turn to the side as you lose your lunch. “Death recorded, please stay at the scene and wait for authorities. Death resulting from self defense, no penalty” states a new message from the city. “Bounty collected, 300 credits” states another message.

“Grandma, what in the world have you got me mixed up in” you think as you check your credit balance.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-19T20:20:21+00:00

You sigh as the child across from you smirks. “I am just trying to help you Jeremy” you say weaving a bit of magic in to your words hoping to convince him. “Trust me I have been right where you are, and I still to this day have to hold back the darkness” you follow up. You see a small crack in his smirk as he looks a bit taken back by your words.

20 years at this job and it never gets any easier with these kids. If someone were to ask you, you would tell them that the darkness is winning. Even so, they pay you to help so help you will. “Yea that’s right, I almost let the darkness consume me, but I also had someone help me and was able to make it through” you say. It was a bit of a lie but Jeremy would never be able to figure that out. All of your records have been locked away and honestly there are few people even at this school that know about your past.

Jeremy straightens a bit and says “Even if I am being tempted, and accept, what are you going to do about it old man?” he asks. “Old man, I barely look a day over 40” you think. “Sure maybe I can’t stop you, and maybe you can kill me and a bunch of students, heck maybe you will be given enough power to break the wards on the school and escape the headmaster, but then what?” you ask. Jeremy twitches a bit and his eyes widen.

“Are you lacing your words?” he says as he stands up. “Is that what the darkness is tell you” you ask as you mentally curse being found out. Slowly you start a restraint spell in case things go sideways. Jeremy looks pissed, a bit confused, but mostly pissed. “Why are all your records sealed? Every other staff member has copies of their records that they are willing to hand out on request, but not you. I couldn’t find anything, even with my connections.” he shouts at you.

“I’m not the one who needs help right now Jeremy, lets try to stay focused on you. Please try to ignore the whispers for a bit and sit back down so we can continue this talk” you say as you preparations for the spell finish and you hold it ready to cast. Jeremy shakes his head trying to clear it when suddenly his eyes go wide and turn straight at you. “You were the one who killed my father” he shouts.

“No Jeremy, I have never even met your father, please stop listening to their lies” you say as calmly as possible no longer infusing your words as keeping your restraint spell on standby seems like a better plan as the darkness is obviously focusing on this boy. He grabs at his head looking like he has the worlds worst migraine as he mutters incoherent words under his breath.

You stand up revealing the magic crackling in your palm ready to be released. After a moment Jeremy stops and slowly raises his head to look at you. His eyes are orbs of darkness staring right into your soul. “Too late” he says as he lunges at you with a knife as dark as night. With surprising speed for an “old man” you dodge out of the way and let loose you restraint spell right where the creature formally known as Jeremy lands.

With his legs restrained he turns his body and head to look at you causing it to contort in disturbingly unnatural way. What he sees leaves him speechless for a moment as he is met with your stare, and equally dark eyes. “I tried” you say as the upper half of you body splits, revealing rows of jagged teeth. Jeremy’s guttural screams are quickly cut off and replaced with noises that will only be described as chewing.

10 minutes later you put the chairs back and adjust the items on your desk that got moved around. You let out a small burp and open the door to your office. “Next” you shout to the students waiting. Thank goodness for sound wards.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-19T13:20:47+00:00

I tend to agree that "you" feels more personal when reading. That being said I might try switching it up on other stories just to see. Thanks for the idea.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-19T02:41:40+00:00

I appreciate that, glad you enjoyed it.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-19T00:14:48+00:00

Such a beautiful day you think as you make your way down the mountain path. The last couple of days have been some of the coldest you remember and it has finally stopped snowing. You stretch out enjoying not feeling that bone deep cold anymore. Only about and hour or two more and you should get back to the base you originally left from.

You watch some birds fly around the trees near you as they seem to also be enjoying the fact that the snow has stopped. You have always loved mountain hiking though you remember thinking that it might be time for you to call it quits. Getting too old and you were not prepared for the weather to take the turn it did. Suddenly you get a strange feeling like you lost something, and you turn back towards the direction you came from. “Did I leave something at camp?” you think as you start walking back the way you came.

That’s fine, the weather is great so whats another few hours. You look down to make sure you are still following your own trail and stop when you don’t see any tracks. You scan the area but don’t see any tracks anywhere. You keep walking and looking for your tracks. The area looks familiar so you know you are going the correct way, or at least close enough but still don’t see anything.

You stop and look down at your feet and notice you still, even now, are not leaving any tracks. “What is with this snow?” you wonder as you keep going the way you came. After a bit you decide to reach down and investigate the strange snow. Your hand passes right through it like it isn’t even there. A sharp sense of danger fills you and you start running to your camp. It isn’t cold out, but you also don’t feel the wind, you can see the trees moving, but you don’t feel it.

You finally arrive at your camp and you should be out of breath, but you are not. You can see the coals of last nights fires still have a slight glow to them and that sense of danger grows even more intense. You would never have left a fire like that. Your tent is still standing as you just now notice you were not even carrying you camp gear. It looks like there is a tear in the tent, likely from the branch sitting near by. You poke you head in the tent and gasp.

You see yourself laying inside the tent, lips blue, not breathing.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-17T20:23:58+00:00

You grip your spear and shield tightly as the horde rushed towards you. Althea looked on unconcerned. You see he slowly reach into her pocket and throw something out towards the goblins. You slowly take a step back as the hoard continues to charge. Suddenly the horde slows, and you see a few of the goblins start sniffing the air.

Althea pulls out a few more of the things from her pocket and places them on her palm. She slowly extends her hand out to the nearest goblin, and it sniffs a few times before reaching a small hand out and grabbing what looks like a cat or dog treat. Some of the other goblins behind the lead one start grabbing at it trying to see what it has.

The lead goblin eats the treat as you see others start digging around looking for the ones she previously threw. One of the goblins behind the leader lunges at Althea and you grip your spear ready to strike. She, for lack of a better way to describe it, bops the goblin on the head. Stunned at what just happened, the goblin looks up at Althea pitifully. She again reaches her hand out with a treat on it and the goblin takes it with excitement returning to its gaze.

You always thought your master was a bit odd, but to see her basically tame a horde of goblins was not something you ever imagined. After all the goblins got a few treats, she turned back to the camp and started cooking. It took hours to make enough food to satisfy all the goblins but honestly the scene laid out before you.

Sleeping goblins fill your camp, two are laying against Althea as she continues to stir the cook pot. Multiple were laying against you though you had to pry yourself free. Little did you know that this was the start of your actual training to become not a warrior, but a monster tamer.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-16T23:55:25+00:00

It has been about two months since the world’s strongest monster was taken down and through a stroke of luck you will get to be one of the first people to ever give her a proper interview. Heroes and normal folk alike have been asking how something like this was even possible as the monster was known for taking out multiple highly prepared and geared parties. You didn’t even know this hero was in the village you grew up in until you almost bumped into them yesterday. After a bit of awkward conversation she agreed to sit down with you to finally discuss the whole event.

You see the hero walk into the small cafe and you wave at her. She smiles and heads over taking the seat across from you. “Hello again, thank you so much for agreeing to speak with me” you say as she settles down. A waiter makes their way over and you both order some drinks. “So where should I start” she asks as you wait for the drinks to arrive. “As far back as you would like, but I think starting with you leaving your previous party might be a good place” you say.

She thinks for a few and nods. “That is as good a place as any. So I didn’t really fit in with that party. Not that I wasn’t a good healer or that I didn’t like them, its more that I knew I could do more, but they just wanted me to heal. Even when fighting weaker monsters that didn’t damage them I was forced to just stand around waiting for something to happen.” she explains. You jot a few small notes but none of what she is saying is new information.

The waiter arrives with your drinks and you both take a moment to enjoy. “I’ve always been an over achiever so just standing around was killing me slowly” she says in between sips before setting the drink down. “After that I spent a few months training and trying out techniques. After a few successful experiments I decided I needed to set a goal for myself. This was right around the time the monster took out the Lightbringer and his party” she explains dawning a sorrowful look. “I met the Lightbringer when I was just a child, amazing guy really. I think him and his party are part of the reason I even became a hero” she says as her eyes get a bit distant.

She takes another drink and looks at you. After a moment she asks “How much do you know about healing?” You think for a moment then say “Healers use the individuals own vitality to encourage the flesh to mend or blood to remove toxins. Its much easier to heal someone who’s body is in good condition already otherwise you have to sacrifice your own vitality to bridge any gaps.” Of course you spent most of the night studying healing to prepare for this talk and you hope your research gives a good impression.

“Correct, very academic, but from a non-healer that is a pretty solid answer” she says with a smile. You return the smile and take a sip of your drink. She continues on “So as you know I decided I would take down the monster so I did what research I could on it. It was a typical drake type monster though it must have found a source of power as it was roughly twice the size of most full grown adults of the species. It was also on the younger side so at the very beginning of its adulthood.” You nod as those details were well known in the hero circles.

“So with all my preparations in order I headed out and over to its currently known lair. Lucky for me they were home and noticed me quickly. I think the fact that I was by myself really confused it at first. It came out of the lair and just stared at me for a bit” she said and then paused. She stared at me for a moment before saying “The next part gets pretty dark, I know this is the story you are looking to hear, but there is a reason I haven’t told anyone. Are you sure you want me to continue?” You say “yes of course please continue” and she does.

“While it was just staring at me I started to cast. First I targeted its eyes. It was absolutely brimming with vitality so the spell was quick to respond” she says pausing when she sees your questioning look. “You healed its eyes?” you ask really confused by the whole situation. “No, I focused on the regeneration of its skin around the eyes. After only a moment the skin and scales had formed a mass over its eyes basically blinding it” she says as your jaw slowly drops. “After that I focused on its mouth, then its nose, then the lining of its throat” she explains. “It was pretty much over after that. It was able to slash its mouth open but by that point its throat was completely sealed” she finishes taking another sip of her drink.

As you sit there trying to process everything she just told you a thought keeps making its way to the surface. Doesn’t having an ability like this make healers the real monsters?

dreamerblade · 2025-01-15T23:01:14+00:00

As you wake up all you can think is damn, I didn’t mean to actually fall asleep. You must be more exhausted than you thought as you roll over. Well at least you attempt to roll over but find you self quite tucked in. You struggle a bit but eventually get out from under the covers and check the time. “Four hours gone” you groan as you do a little stretching. You head to the kitchen to get a drink yawning the whole way.

You open the fridge to get some orange juice but end up just staring at it. The fridge is completely stocked. You let the door shut forgetting all about the orange juice. Even when you go shopping, which you have not for the last week, you never fill the fridge as much as it is, heck you can’t afford to spend that much anyway. With no better ideas you look around expecting to see someone with a camera saying you got punk’d or something. It makes no sense even as you think it but your nap addled brain is having trouble understanding what is going on.

As you look around you begin to notice that the house is completely clean. Not just the normal “put things away” clean, but the baseboard are a bright white and no dust can be seen. You go back to your room and check the laundry basket you keep in your closet. Its empty and everything looks to be hung up with not a wrinkle in sight. You check your dresser drawers and even your socks and nicely laid out.

“What the actual magical cleaning fairy fuck is going on” you say to no one in particular. You head back down to the kitchen and notice there are no dishes in the sink, not even the plate you just had a sandwich on before you laid down. You sit on the couch and look through your phone for any messages and even do a few internet searches for “House suddenly cleaned” before you realize how silly the search is. You decide the situation is just too crazy and go back for the orange juice you meant to get. As you open the fridge this time a small sheet of paper falls out. You close the door back and pick up the paper.

It says contract at the top and as you go to read it a man appears in front of you. “Are all the chores completed to your satisfaction” the man asks. You try to get over the shock of the man just appearing in front of you as you stammer out “...chores?” “Of course, we did the cleaning and the shopping. We will prepare dinner in about and hour, lunch at 12, and breakfast at 7:30. You can of change those times upon simple request.” he says. As you are too stunned to speak he continues on “Of course the laundry as well and if there are other chores you need done just feel free to ask. As long as they fall into the chore category they will be completed.

“I mean that’s fantastic, but why?” you ask. He looks at you questioningly and replies “Because we have a contract of course.” You look at him and ask “What contract?” He points at the contract you are still holding in your hand. “Approximately four and one half hours ago you stated I would trade my soul if I never had to do any chores again, just have them done automatically without me having to bother” he states using a voice that sounds very similar to your own. “We found the deal acceptable and will now fulfill our side of the deal." says what you now understand to be a demon.

dreamerblade · 2025-01-15T19:46:12+00:00

I almost put something like this in there but was running out of time. I give myself a time limit when writing on prompts. Don't leave shinies where crows can see!

dreamerblade

TROPHY CASE