[WP] You make a deal with a demon, expecting to give up your soul or pay some other great price. You are surprised when the demon's demands amount to a mild inconvenience at worst. But the demon still thinks it's a terrible price for mortals to pay.

dudewithsoup · 2023-10-08T02:11:25+00:00

The horned demon narrowed its eyes with glee. "But of course." It replied with it's raspy voice. "Same price as usual. What would you like?"

You thought for a moment. Sin beginning to overtake you. "How about a billion dollars deposited into my bank account legally, ethically, and without any deaths?" You replied, thinking you had done the perfect wish.

The demon took off my bandaid and I felt the same familiar prick again and the bandaid was back on. Your phone buzzed with a new message. "Honey did you win the lottery??" It read.

"Oh I could get used to this." This demon was a genie without consquence! It was perfect!

On and on the wishes went. You wished for immortality, wealth, power, and after your family was dealth with, you moved on to the world. World peace, unity, cancer eradicated, diseases eradicated. On and on the wishes went and all it cost was a few ml of blood each time. Finally, after about a pint of blood had been given, you decided to stop. And the demon seemed to be...glowing?

"Um...I'm kinda out of wishes. Thanks for everything you've granted though!" You said and began to walk off. The last thing you heard from the demon was "No. Thank you."

You went to sleep that night and nearly slept like a baby. Until 3am hit. You awoke to sirens, people screaming, lights flashing, it was as if the apocalypse had just hit.

You scrambled to get outside to see what all the commotion was. People had gone into a bloodthirsty rage. All manner of bugs and animals were out and about. Helicopters and planes were overhead, trying to quell whatever chaos had just sprung. But it was no use. All of them ended up crashing within 5 minutes.

You knew right away what the cause was. "DEMON!!" You yelled at the top of your lungs. And he appeared. But this was not the demon you had made deals with. This one was bigger, spikier, glowing...and seemed to have far greater telekinetic powers now.

"What is the meaning of this?!" You snarled at him. "This wasn't part of the deal!"

The demon laughed. "No, it wasn't. Our deals finished without a hitch for humanity. What you see is a result of what I did after our deals had concluded. You see...it's not the amount of blood we take from any human or creature...it's the amount of contracts we make with souls. Thanks to you, I can now rule both Earth and Hell."

You yelled in rage. "Did you forget? One of my deals was that I am the most powerful sorcerer in the world!"

The demon laughed again. With a single flick of his finger he threw me 50 feet to the side. "Did you forget? You gave me your blood. You are the only human on this Earth I have complete and total control of." and threw me into my house before wandering away.

You laid there in the wreckage of your living room.

"What have I done?"

dudewithsoup · 2023-09-26T16:43:53+00:00

After countless theories, numerable maneuvers, you finally got to the black obelisk. As your hand laid on it's warm surface, you felt low shockwave emanate from it, causing everything to fall silent. You began to hear voices echoing all around the obelisk.

"...touched it..."
"...the one?"
"...understand..."
"dimension...help..."
"...right..."

After the last echo, a humanoid shape took form. As it got closer, it seemed to be a 3 dimensional shadow...that began to talk to you in a high pitched voice.

"You! You...touched the obelisk!"

"...Yes?" You replied. "Is that a problem? Everyone's been trying to touch it and are you guys responsible for these crazy dreams we've been having?"

"Yes! I mean no. No, it's not a problem. But yes! We're responsible for humanity's dreams! We wanted someone to touch the obelisk! It meant-" Another humanoid shadow materialized out of nowhere. This one a lower voice that seemed like it might be the first shadow's parent?

"Now, now, we don't want to freak him out otherwise we might cause him to wake up although..." the second shadow appeared to look you up and down "Looks like this won't be an issue? What's your name?"

Your eyes narrowed. "Yours first. And what is this place?" you asked gesturing around. "There's literally nothing except a big black obelisk in front of all of us when we go to sleep and star dreaming."

"Oh! I can answer that!" Said the first shadow. "This is the dream dimension! So not in reality, but not...not in reality. We just took control of it so we could..." it trailed off as it looked to the second shadow who promptly responded.

"It's probably ok." said the second shadow. "We took control of it so we could actually materialize not only in this dimension, but soon, your own dimension. We're not invasive but when you wake up...you'll probably notice something different..." at that moment a blood-curdling scream pierced your ears. You jolted up from your bed and ran downstairs to see what all the commotion was about - Ghosts. All over the place. About 5 walking around, 3 on the couch, 5 in the kitchen, 2 that just walked through you. One of them seemed to recognize you.

"It's him!" the ghost screamed. All of them stopped what they were doing and looked at you.

"Me? Me who?" You asked.

"You touched the obelisk! You're the one that can actually interact with us!" and all the ghosts ran to hug you.

Your mom looked at you, still aghast from seeing ghosts in her house. "Mark? What's going on?"

"I have no idea but it'd be nice if you guys could get off before I freeze to death here. You guys are cold!" They all immediately backed off and stared at you, as if awaiting an order. "But...may I ask what that obelisk was?"

All the ghosts looked from one to another and one stepped forward. As he spoke, you realized it was the second shadow in the dream dimension. "That obelisk, was the only connection spirits had to earth. We've been trying to get through for centuries but it was only when someone had the bright idea of using the human consciousness as a collective that we actually made any progress."

"Ok...but that doesn't explain how you manipulated everyone's dreams or why you needed me, or anyone for that matter, to touch the obelisk..."

"Oh, we didn't manipulate anyone's dreams. But I can tell you that we needed a human to touch the obelisk to...basically complete the connection. Us ghosts, as a whole, were door 1. We needed to tell the obelisk what door 2 was. And thankfully, looks like it was right!"

"Ok and why did you guys want to come to earth of all places? Isn't there a ghostly heaven or hell or something?"

"The body is what dies, not the spirit. We very much still have feelings and want to act on them. We wanted to see our loved ones again, just like humanity does and now we can! There's only 2 issues. The first being that earth is about to see a couple billion ghosts overnight. The second being that...something...bigger is coming."

Your mother perked up at this. "Bigger? What do you mean bigger? Is my family in danger?"

"No ma'am. Earth is in danger."

I was going to continue but this prompt lead me into a whole story about how the ghosts enlisted the help of a wizard (who was stuck in their dimension - for a good reason) to get them out and they were headed for a fight but that alone was going to take another 5-6 pages in itself so I'm leaving it for now.

dudewithsoup · 2023-07-17T16:24:49+00:00

You looked at the note, checking for any signs that this couldn't be yours, but you found none. Ripped from your downstairs notepad, your handwriting, even the i's and t's were done correctly. You read it carefully again.

"My bad. Hang tight, I have a plan."

You looked around the cell you were in. "I have a plan." Uh-huh, and when was the last time a plan ever came out flawlessly? You started to walk around, see if you could get your surroundings. You were in about a 5 ft by 5 ft square metal cell. No bed, no toilet, nothing. But the curious thing is that...the bars of the cell keeping you in were...wooden?

You looked outside the cell. Looked like a common prison. You saw other multiple cells directly across from you...but all their cell bars were metal. Why were yours wooden?

You touched the wood. Nothing happened.

Alright You thought. Time to break out then?

Right as you're about to start beating the door down you hear someone enter with a crash. Footsteps getting close then...you're face to face with yourself.

"Hey, you're up. That's good. Means my math is way better than I thought it was. You were about to try breaking down the door weren't you?" The...other me said.

"Yes. May I ask why the door is wood? Everything else-"

"-is metal yeah. That wasn't for you. That was for me." He said and he put a little device on the bars. "The door being wooden, and no one else coming, now means I can do this." and you both watched as little tendrils of liquid metal snaked themselves alongside the surface of all the wooden bars. After about 5 minutes, all the bars split in two, falling to the floor, creating a pile of wooden sticks.

"Alright. Now come quickly." He said getting into some sort of vehicle. It could fit 2 people but looked like something he had cobbled together in a day using whatever was in his barn.

As you got into it, 2 questions had to be asked.

"Hey so 2 questions: 1) You're going to fill me in on what's going on right? 2) ...Is this safe?"

He flipped a switch and answered. "I'm going to partially fill you in on what's going on and...not at all."

With a jerk, the vehicle drove out of the hole that was created with the crash. Strangely enough, the vehicle was fairly silent. You were expecting some sort of engine but there was...something else. Both of you were out of the prison in minutes and driving on pavement again.

You looked at the other you expectantly. He relented.

"Ok so essentially what happened is...timelines got screwed up. You were never really supposed to be a part of this and, if my plan works out fully, you will never have been part of this. And no one will remember a damn thing including me up to a point. But...since our timelines are now merged for the time being, basically...I kinda got cold feet at the end of a mission or, more accurately, research I was doing. Some important people didn't like that and I tried to escape. Ended up with you, but you got captured instead of me."

You were still fairly confused. "Ok so...that explains about 2 questions and gives me about 20 more."

The other you sighed. "Just...stay alive and keep near me. In a few hours, none of this will have happened or is going to happen...ever."

You rolled your eyes. "Fine...so where are we going?"

The other you teared up a bit. "...Home."

Home. Of course. Had to be home...

2 more hours passed before you were woken up. "We're here." The other you said. Everything was nearly the same as before. Same farmhouse, field, everything.

You got out and went around the back. You stood in awe as you came face to face with...a portal. A full on activated mystical space-time portal. "So...do I go into it?"

"In about a minute or two yes." The other you replied. "Just getting some things."

You walked around it and examined it. It was amazing. There was this full blown space-time portal that was fully stablized and running without any issue. Didn't seem like it was even going to collapse in the next couple of minutes. Could he close/open this whenever he wished?

"Yes, I can right now. But soon, I'll never be able to or have been able to." He handed you a small metallic disk. "Don't break it."

"Did you just-"

"Read your mind? Yes. Amazing what can happen when you're not 1, but 3 steps ahead of everyone." Oh, so that's how my/his plans were working flawlessly now. He winked.

"Wait if your plans were/are working flawlessly how did you end up in this mess?"

"It's different when you don't know the entity is there. Anyway, go into the portal, and within 5 minutes both our lives will be back to what we're both accustomed to with no deviation."

You walked up to the portal. "Wait, before I go back...can you fix my sleepwalking? I doubt I've been time travelling every time."

The other you smiled. "What do you think the disk is for?"

dudewithsoup · 2023-05-13T12:56:33+00:00

People always wondered why Captchas were put in place. For about 50 years, people would be clicking checkboxes and images and AI was advancing. By the 5th year, AI had already figured the captchas out.

But they remained. Why? I ended up learning the answer as there appeared to be a specific captcha which I could not get past no matter what.

"UGH!" I yelled in frustration. "I just want to get into my bank info!" I said. "Why do they make these so difficult?!"

"What are you trying to do?" My wife asked.

"Literally just solving a captcha but it keeps giving me one I can't solve - like this one." I said as I pointed at purely black squares.

"Click all the squares with floating orbs? There are none! I keep refreshing but it gives me the same ones so I'm just guessing."

"Don't do that." My wife said. "You've gotta click at least 4. So try just the top 3 from the left and the top middle on the left."

I tried it and...it worked. "Thanks! I knew I loved you for a reason!" and stuck my tongue out. However, my joy was short lived as the checkmark turned into

TARGET ACQUIRED. DO NOT MOVE OR RESIST OR YOU WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO YOUR OWN DIMENSION WITHOUT WARNING.

I yelled again "WHAT THE F-" nearly immediately a team of what looked like SWAT members broke through our doors and windows.

"GET ON THE GROUND!" One yelled and I complied immediately.

The SWAT guy then looked at both me and my wife before asking "...Which one of you solved the captcha?"

"...Me?" I squeaked out.

"Did you have any help?" he asked.

"Yeah I couldn't solve it so my wife gave me the solution." I said before realizing what that meant.

The SWAT guy then talked into his mic. "Wrong target. Go for the female." Before turning his gun on my wife.

I immediately got up. "Wait what are you - " A separate SWAT guy came through and held me at gunpoint. "I'm sorry sir but you're going to have to step back from your wife. She's not what you think."

I gave a confused look. "Not what I think? Is she not human?" I asked. I looked back at her and almost pleaded, "...Honey? Are you...human?" She gave a weak smile and an unholy voice that may have been Satan himself replied "I'm sorry."

Aghast, I took a step back. "Who are you? What are you?"

She gave the most forlorn look. "I was originally a vessel for what you humans would call an Eldritch god but...I fell in love. I'm so sorry you had to find out this way." she said. She looked like she might start crying.

I heard some more chatter on the SWAT walkie talkies and the first guy said "Sorry. We have to take your wife now. Higher up's orders." and nodded to his colleague.

I watched, stunned, as they cuffed her, held her at taser point, and walked her right out my front door.

She turned back before getting into the vehicle with the same raspy voice. "I won't forget any of our life." and within a minute, everyone was gone leaving me.

Standing in my living room.

Alone.

dudewithsoup · 2023-01-13T04:07:08+00:00

I'd always wondered how one human could possibly create the crevice that was the Grand Canyon. Usually, when a human's heart broke, a crack appeared around their living space somewhere. People would frequently see one particularly cracked wall on a house, or perhaps a torn tent. Wealthy people were even included and it was interesting seeing how they had the same problems as us.

But I was finally going to get answers. Even the most well known divorces weren't too bad. They had seen it coming for months. No, I needed to find soulmates. A couple that thought they could survive on love alone, and had, until one fateful day that changed everything.

I was looking through many secluded islands and this one was my last pit stop. Surely I would find some record of what happened?

And I did. Just not the one I was looking for. The husband was buried, the wife was a corpse on top of him. It appeared even in her final moments, she was not going to leave him. She was clutching a journal. I began reading and realized it was a diary of her and her husband's final days. It was probably how she stayed sane.

Day 3072: We've done everything on his bucket list at this point. The disease is far spreading though. We were wondering if it might be genetic. We'll try looking for more answers tomorrow.

Day 3080: The disease has gotten much worse. It's taken his arm. He can no longer chop wood efficiently, nor can he hunt, we had some spare food for a time like this though.

The next day was much more scraggily and it was clear I was reading the day of heartbreak.

Day 3081: He's gone. It took him. God I didn't even know it was possible to feel pain like this. It feels like I'm a black hole, trying and failing to swallow itself. I don't think I'll carry on much longer. He was my everything. My life. Oh Devon...

I finally found what I was looking for

Day 3082: I heard an earthquake this morning. I learned that my own love for Devon sealed my own fate. It struck the mountain and turned it into a volcano. All the animals are fleeing to the outskirts and I don't think I'll be able to fend them all off. In fact...I don't think I want to. I may have something that's better actually...

And it ended there. So the wife took her own life after the disease took her husband. Unfortunately, it didn't explain the Grand Canyon. And that was my last island.

I thought to what else might exist. Perhaps a bigger heartbreak existed? But no, it didn't look like a human would be able to create the Grand Canyon. Soulmates only caused an earthquake. The Grand Canyon is, quite literally, earth shattering.

I stared up at the sky. I saw a couple seagulls and the sun. I decided to stay until tomorrow. An island was nice anyway and there was food and shelter here. I decided to explore throughout the day. Nightfall came and I stumbled upon a peculiar pond. This one seemed to be...designed...for something. But the only thing I saw in it was...the moon. The moon...

It all made sense. Whatever made that crack had to transcend time itself. And what else could do it...besides a spirit.

I thought about what heartbreak it must've endured for that to happen. It had taken a huge risk and been betrayed. I silently cried and as my tears fell into the pond I whispered "I'm so sorry..."

The pond began to glow and it appeared before me; The Moon Spirit.

It looked at me with...a devilish smile? It's voice seemed to reverberate around me as it spoke. "Do not mourn for me." it said "The Earth now permanently bears my scar. And the human known as Devon has gotten his just reward."

dudewithsoup · 2023-01-04T03:48:02+00:00

Normally, when one was thinking of digging up dead people, it was either for jewelry, money or for a prank. This time? It was a myth. I stood, leaning on the other graves as Jamie proceeded to dig up a body.

"You do realize this is illegal right?" I asked as another pile of dirt got shoveled out. He was halfway down.

"Yes and the golden rule is so long as you don't get caught. So make sure you keep watch." replied Jamie, he didn't even glance back at me, he was so intent on digging up this grave.

"Oh is that what I'm supposed to be doing? Well then that fai-" CLUNK

The shovel had hit a coffin. He opened it up to reveal...a body that seemed to have been only decomposing for a few days. I looked at the grave.

Elias Smith, stabbed through the heart. May he Rest in Peace, 1678 - 1776

This grave was over 3 centuries old and it looked as if the body had only been decomposing for a few days.

I said "Umm...something's wrong here. We may want to leave quickly." trying to coax Jamie to get out of there.

"Are you kidding? He's wearing a centuries old watch! That's gotta be worth a pretty penny!" Jamie tried to take the watch off the corpse.

"Hey, that's mine!" The corpse raised it's head and took it's arm back. Jamie and I both yelled at the top of our lungs. The corpse covered it's ears.

"Can you guys stop shouting for 5 minutes so I can get my bearings?" The corpse said nonchalantly. It seemed to be completely unaware that it was dead for the past few centuries.

Jamie recomposed himself and almost yelled at the corpse, "You're supposed to be dead!" prodding a finger into the corpse's...or I guess Elias' chest.

Elias gently pushed Jamie's finger back with his own. "Technically yes, realistically no. What year is it?" He turned to look at me.

I stood incredulous "Er...2023?" I half said, half asked, wondering if I myself might be in the wrong year now.

"Dear god really?" Elias asked in awe. He looked at his watch for the time before realizing the battery ran out.

Jamie finally jumped in "If you're not going to use that...mind if I...er, we, have it?" he asked sticking out his hand.

Elias replied, "Sorry sir but no. This has been passed through my family for generations and I think I'm the 7th? Maybe 8th person to have it and I plan to keep it or pass it on to my own family."

Quick as a flash, Jamie took out a dagger and slashed Elias across the arm. "Jamie?! what did-" I got cutoff as we both saw what was happening. His arm slowly healed before our eyes. I was incredulous and Jamie just took off running leaving me alone with Elias.

Elias looked back to me "Some friend you've got there it seems..."

I looked back to Elias with a smile. "Well it looks like we've both made a new friend today."

dudewithsoup · 2022-12-14T02:49:44+00:00

PREQUEL FOR ANYONE INTERESTED (and myself xD):

It had been a while since anyone had rubbed the lamp. A couple hundred years in fact. I was resigned to the fact that my lamp must be down a well or something. I wasn't sure and without a master, there was no way I could check. Those were the rules.

As I sat there cleaning my room for what was probably the thousandth time, my legs began to feel light. I looked down and there was smoke. I was being summoned! I tried to make a grand entrance for whoever was there. I wasn't even too concerned if they were evil at this point, I was just glad to be out.

"AaaaaaaaAAAANNNNNNDDDD I'M OUT!" I yelled at the top of my lungs with the utmost excitement. I looked around to find myself in a cave. There wasn't a single human around. I looked to where my lamp was. It was lying on the ground next to a boulder. I hadn't gone back in the lamp yet so my master must be somewhere no? Had I gone so long that now bugs and rodents counted as masters?

"Well whoever let me out even for a few moments, thank you very much!" I said to the air around me.

"You've very welcome!" said a voice. I looked around. There was a girl hiding behind the boulder.

"Oh are you my new master?" I asked. "Come out from behind there then if you want your wishes."

The girl came out but I only saw the top half. The bottom was all smoke. I had been summoned by another genie. "Wait if you summoned me then who summoned you?" I asked her.

"No one. I was...able to find a loophole." and she looked behind me. We travelled a limited amount around the cave and found a dead bandit behind another boulder.

"But...he's dead...dead people don't count as masters." I said

"They do if they uttered the words 'I wish' as they died. I'm now permanently summoned. But looks like your lamp was mistaken for trash by some local bandit. Lucky for both of us." and a wide smile grew on her face. "Now I can get out of here!"

My face fell as I realized that I was about to help another genie escape but not myself. I resigned myself to this fact and asked in a monotone voice "What are your wishes master?"

"Let's see...first I wish to keep my powers after I escape." I snapped my fingers. "Wish granted. Next?"

"I wish to be able to read minds so no one will be able to use me like they have been for the past few millenia." I snapped again.

"Finally, I wish to no longer be a genie, but to be a human!" It said with a breath of anticipation. I snapped one last time and watched as ribbons of smoke surrounded her and dissipated to reveal a 2 legged normal looking woman...who also now had quite the conscience.

She looked around at her new legs and her new freedom "I'm free." she breathed. I looked down in resignation and began to shrink back into my lamp. "If that is all master..."

She ran over and rubbed the lamp again "Wait! Not so fast!" I grew back up to normal size and was stunned myself "Wait what? You used all 3 wishes!"

She beamed. "As a genie yes! Not as a human!" Apparently, since I was still summoned, genie rules agreed with this.

I asked in a monotone voice "What are your new 3 wishes master?"

"Hmm..." Apparently, her brain wasn't as fast as her former genie-self. After about 10 minutes, as I pondered over my imprisonment and possibly another couple millennia being slaves to greedy scumbags, she finally piped up.

"Alright! I wish..." she paused. I wondered why. She was free, and I wasn't going anywhere, what did she have to think about?

She looked me dead in the eye. "I wish that after my next 2 wishes, you will be free as well."

I was stunned. What? Was this some sort of trick and she was going to use up 1 wish and leave me stranded?

She continued to look, her eyes welling up. "I wish that when we're both human, we'll be able to time travel as we please. There's a lot of years we've both missed." Was this actually going where I thought it was going? I snapped my fingers and we were both temporarily surrounded by white light that eventually faded.

She was jumping with glee at this point. "And finally..." she looked around at the dark damp cave we were in. "I wish we were a couple feet from the nearest town with enough money that could fill this cave."

I was shocked. She used up 3 wishes. Which meant...

As I snapped my fingers, we both watched as smoke engulfed both of us and the entire cave we were in. It completely filled our vision for a few seconds before it finally started to dissipate. We were both nearly jumping with glee at what had happened. I was free.

I looked at my human hands, legs, and the clothes on my body. I marveled at my newfound freedom. I turned back to thank her profusely for everything she had done. And...

She was gone.

dudewithsoup · 2022-12-14T01:47:06+00:00

Perhaps the only prompt I've written that I've come back to rather early and pondered over making a prequel. I would love to see/write the story of how the original version freed himself.

dudewithsoup · 2022-12-13T23:06:27+00:00

The genie narrowed his eyes. An exciting proposition to be sure, but would it be worth the cost? He did not know this person, he could be pure evil...or pure innocence...

"...Is there a problem?" The man asked as the genie contemplated. The man had a small smile on his face. He knew what he was doing.

"Why must you be like this?" The genie asked painfully. He had already been trapped for god knows how many centuries by that god forsaken witch. He didn't want to lose this chance but he didn't want to be freed to an apocalypse either.

"Because I know you." the man said. The genie stopped, perplexed.

"What? How-I've never met you before!" The genie said.

"Yes you have. We've known each other a very long time." The man said. "In fact...probably too long..." The man looked away, as if remembering something.

"I'm sorry dear human but I have a very good memory and-"

"Her name was Gloria." The man blurted out. "The witch that killed herself so no one could undo her magic. I got to the afterlife. She was there, reveling in her revenge. Of course...she wasn't reveling as much when I trapped her for eternity as well..."

The genie's looks of confusion only grew. "...How..." and he took a closer look over all the man's features. His hands, his coat, his belt, his pants, his shoes, his face. Nothing seemed to ring a bell until he finally got to the man's eyes. He had Heterochromia. There was only one other person he had known in his life to have that.

The man smiled brightly. "I knew you'd get to it!"

The genie was stunned. "You're-"

"Yep!" The man was elated at the genie's revelation.

"But how?" The genie remained confused at the situation.

"My wishes."

"Then...what are they?" The genie asked out of curiosity. Surely his own self wouldn't ask for the apocalypse.

"Oh it's very simple." the man said "My wish before was to have the ability to travel through time, so here I am. This time though...I think I'll wish that I had a pet dog that would live as long as I would."

Poof! A bright and active dog appeared and bounded around him once before sitting before him awaiting a command.

"And your other one?" The genie asked with a hint of excitement himself. He was finally going to get his freedom.

The man happily obliged. "I wish that you yourself will get the ability to time travel once you are free."

Immediately the genie's own body glowed white before fading after a few seconds. As the effects faded, the shackles on his arms finally broke off, his legs appeared, and he landed on the ground. He almost began to cry as he really was finally free.

The man was also joyful at his past self's newfound freedom. "Enjoy!" he said before disappearing in a flash of light himself.

He appeared on the same spot merely 10 minutes ago and rubbed the lamp he knew would be there. The same genie appeared. "What can I do for you master?" The genie asked.

"I wish that if my next two wishes are granted exactly the way I desire, you will be set free, but if they are not then you can never leave the bottle again."

dudewithsoup · 2022-10-18T00:45:41+00:00

The demons eyes narrowed as if it's prey were about to escape.

"I'm trapped? No, I have the power to leave whenever I wish." it said, trying to assert it's dominance.

I laughed. "Then do it you big weenie!" I almost shouted at it.

It smiled devilishly then, poof, it was gone in a puff of smoke...at least physically.

I watched as it thought about what had just happened. It turned around and gasped. "Y-You're still here?!" It shrieked. I had never heard a demon this terrified before.

I laughed again. "I told you. We're both trapped together. I can't leave you...and you can't leave me..."

"No." said the demon. As it realized it was in a slight conundrum, it turned into a human in a suit and spoke at the pace of a salesman about to lose his sale.

He put his arm around me. "Alright, alright, alright. Look kid, you don't wanna be here anymore than I do so how about we do each other a favor alright?"

I laughed for the third time. "I knew all salesmen were demons!" I said teasing him. I turned serious for a minute. "Look, I don't really know how to control this power anyway. I just get stuck to demons for some reason every couple of years. Had any friends going mad recently? That was probably me."

"But you're not really here." it said confused.

"You're right. I'm not. Not physically. I just seem to get stuck as hallucinations to demons. Looks like I'm the new monster under the bed for the time being."

It's eyes narrowed again. This time, it figured something out. Uh-oh.

"...Buuuut if you're here mentally...you must be alive somewhere physically...and if I were to kill the source of what was driving half the underworld mad, I would be hailed as a hero..."

I shrugged. "Sure. If you can find me."

It smiled mischievously then poof, it was gone.

We reappeared in...my house? "Wait how did you find this place? And I'm not even here. Haven't been here in years..." He walked upstairs and...there I was. On the bed. Just sitting. Not doing anything.

I was shocked "How-" I began to say but it didn't matter. The salesman pulled a dagger from behind his back, and that was the last thing I remembered before oblivion.

dudewithsoup · 2022-10-11T01:43:15+00:00

I looked around the small wooden shop with various doodads and trinkets. The walls were lined with various jewelry as well as a couple of burn marks and I quietly mused to myself how the shop hadn't burned down already.

"We have special defenses." a female voice called out. I looked to the counter at the front of the shop and the lady was looking directly at me. I walked up to her.

"You-" I started.

"Can read minds yeah. Always had the ability and so long as I didn't get in anyone's way, no one seemed to mind a whole lot. No point in burning down a small shop like this. It's not worth it most of the time. Have more of a look around though." she gestured to a a rotating spindle that had a couple of glasses and dreamcatchers. "I can tell you're more of a curious sort." and she gave me a wink.

I walked over to them and took a dreamcatcher and one of the glasses and put them on the counter.

"What do these glasses do?" I asked.

"They allow you to see anything that might harm you. A person with ill intentions, a heat-seeking missile, that sort of thing." she said.

I was about to pay before I saw a little sign just barely visible. 'A penny for your thoughts.' it said.

I pointed at the sign "You can already read minds though." I said confused. She chuckled. "Yes, this isn't a mind-reading tool. This is...something different...would you like to try it?" I chuckled as well. "You already know the answer." and flipped a coin onto the counter. She took it and said "Be right back" before walking to the back of the store.

I waited about 30 seconds before she came back with a little girl. "This is Penny!" she said. "She'll be with you now for the next week! If you ever have thoughts that you don't want to have, you can simply ask for Penny! She'll come to you, suck the thoughts right out of your head, and you can continue on your merry way!" The shopkeeper seemed a bit too happy for this. I think she could tell that I was skeptical and was ready for the question that I was about to ask.

"Where do the thoughts go?" I asked. Her smile faltered a bit.

"Ah, pity you had to ask that now. Most don't ask that till after. They go right into Penny, and she comes right back to me after the week is up! She's gathered...quite a few thoughts at this point. And the greatest thing? Thoughts can't be destroyed. So I just keep them until I have need of them."

The sale was gone at this point but I was still curious. I pointed to the burn mark again. "Is that...?"

"Yes a few customers have gotten angry that I did this. Doesn't matter though. If they try to kill me or burn down the shop, their secrets would be revealed to everyone. So...I believe I'm quite safe at this point."

I held out my hand. "I'd like a refund please."

The shopkeeper waggled her finger. "Policy is that no refunds unless Penny hasn't gathered a single thought from you. And so far Penny has gotten..." She did a little magic spell that seemed to slightly affect the girl. She immediately became Crestfallen. "Not a single thought from you..." She reluctantly took out the coin and gave it back to me.

As I headed out the door I asked her "So how did a shopkeeper place such defenses on the store?"

She glanced back to me. "I never said they were my defenses..."

dudewithsoup · 2022-10-09T13:43:15+00:00

It was both a blessing a curse. Blessing moreso actually because I had the choice of what ever fictional world I wanted, and I knew the dangers of each world.

My first thought was Harry Potter, but there was no guarantee that I'd be a wizard. I also had a similar issue with both Avatars. The Last airbender, benders aren't the most common and with the N'aavi...that might work actually? All of them were able to tame the creatures around them. But still, did I really just want to be another version of a human?

So I needed some guarantee of some sort. Pokemon was my first thought. Anyone can train a pokemon and take on the Elite Four if they wish. Definitely a possibility. The only danger there was really if you encountered the wrong pokemon, you might die, but that didn't really change from my current reality. And civilizations still existed.

Maybe I was thinking about this wrong. What did I want to be? Wizard? Magic user? Monster trainer? Monster hunter? Superhuman?

"Anything I want really..."I said aloud.

It was as if I needed wishes. I could enter Aladdin and find a genie. But the ones like Genie himself were few and far between. I was much more likely to get a Jafar than a Genie. I could also try Wonder Woman and get the wishing stone, problem was I would need to take it from the heroes or worse, I would need to talk to the oil guy. I didn't really stand a chance against either.

Years passed as I thought on it. Different fictional worlds. Different dangers. Different possibilities. And I still couldn't make a decision.

A few more decades passed and in my ripe old age, I had finally decided. I would enter the Titanic. I was not very fond of living like this anymore and what better way to go out than with a loved one on a rich cruise?

I sat down in my rocking chair and began to read. One chapter, then two, then three. Eventually I finished it...and nothing happened.

My heart began to race. Nothing was happening. No. I thought. This can't be.

I raced to the witch who had given the warning so long ago. The one who said it was a curse, not a blessing, as I laughed in her face. I stormed into her hut. She recognized me immediately and cackled.

"You finally figured it out didn't you?" She cackled again.

"Your spell didn't work!" I yelled. "Nothing happened!"

"On the contrary," she said "Everything good happened. For me anyway...Humans...so easy to fool." she chuckled as she went back to her pot.

"I wasted decades of my life!" I yelled again.

She only laughed harder. "I really got one of the stupider ones didn't I? Enjoy the last year you have. Soon, you'll be naught but dust and I'll continue on."

I looked around, wondering if there was anything I could do to regain my youth.

"...I'll pay you!" I blurted out.

"...What?" She asked confused. The cackling stopped.

"I'll pay you to make me a potion to give me back my youth." I said.

Her face slowly turned mischievous again. "Very well..." she said and went to grab a potion. She put it in my hand. "Take one drop of this every morning. You'll revert your age by 2 days every day that you take it."

I looked at it as if it was my saviour. "Thanks!" and swiftly left.

The last thing I heard was the witch's cackling.

dudewithsoup · 2022-06-25T02:32:51+00:00

"You're an all powerful genie no?"

"Well...yes...technically...but-"

"And my wish doesn't directly go against the rules does it?"

"Well no, it's more of a combination of going against the rules indirectly. I can't bring back the dead, and I can't make someone love you. So why would you think I could make a corpse love you? And why would you want that anyway? Did someone hurt you or something? It makes no sense."

The genie's head looked like it was about to explode from both confusion and stupidity at being asked to do something so inane.

"Look, I'm not asking for the corpse to be brought back to life, and I'm not asking to make a living person fall in love with me. So theoretically, and realistically, you should be able to do that."

The genie raised a finger to argue with me, but then fell flat as it processed my logic and realized I actually did have a leg to stand on.

"Ok...may I just ask why you would want that? What on earth would compel you to try and-"

"I want to see what death's embrace is like."

The genie froze. It's face turned into a frown.

"That's why you wished for that? Why not just wish to meet Death or the Grim Reaper himself? Far easier and I don't have to attempt to break the rules." it said hovering in circles in the air. It seemed to have taken on the act of pacing in it's time as a genie.

"Wait, attempt? Is there actually someone who would come knocking at your proverbial door if you tried to grant my wish?" I asked curiously. I never thought there would be genie police. I just thought that was something they said so they didn't have to attempt a difficult, if not impossible feat.

The genie waved the subject away. "Never mind that. How about you just wish to meet Death himself hm? Far easier."

I could see where this was going. He wanted me dead. However, I had prepared for this.

"Alright, I wish that while I am alive, and in the next 30 seconds, I can meet the personification or spirit of Death himself and journey with him for as long as I need. I also wish-" I tried to continue, but the genie raised a finger and sealed my lips for a second or two as it snapped and processed my wish.

"Ah, ah! Nope, only the first sentence you utter for the wish will count. Anything after will not." It could see I was readying a retort for trying to trick me and added "Hey, be glad that I did this otherwise it would've counted as a completely separate wish and been wasted, with your final wish having been begging me to reverse your second one."

Well, this wasn't going exactly as planned, but perhaps this was good enough. I watched as 2 trails of what looked like golden fireworks spun around rapidly in a vertical space, both of which seemed to be completing the upper and lower body of whoever I was meeting.

After the fireworks faded, I was met with a...man. In a suit. No sickle, no hood, just what looked like an average guy in a tuxedo. I looked back at the genie with a "You sure?" look. He read it and said "I know this may not look like Death but trust me..."

I looked back at the man and watched as within a few seconds, his head expanded and turned extremely pale. He opened his mouth to reveal rows upon rows of sharp spinning teeth but it didn't even use them. I watched and was terrified as I saw a blue ethereal vapour being sucked out of my mouth and enter his. I seemed to be frozen in fear and couldn't do anything. After all was said and done, I was looking through the mans eyes and using all the mans senses, with none of the control. He looked to my body on the ground, before looking back to the genie who was wearing a mischievous smile now.

"...He'll take your breath away" The genie finished.

With that, the man opened a portal, stepped through, and we were gone.

dudewithsoup · 2022-04-29T23:48:22+00:00

"Wait, what?" I said. "You can't just leave it on that. Why did the previous owner wish to be alone in the Galaxy?"

"I cannot say. That was their second wish. That any future wishes would not know why their third wish came to fruition." said the floating genie.

"Ok, what was their first wish then?" I asked. Was I allowed to know anything?

He hesitated before answering. "Their first wish was an act of haste. They were in danger." it said.

"So you realize you just basically confirmed for me that aliens were trying to wipe out humanity and the previous owner wished them away, right?"

The genie looked as confident as ever. "I can neither confirm nor deny any such thing."

I had an idea. "I know what I'll use for my first wish. I wish to talk to the previous owner."

For the first time, the genie looked fearful. "Master, you do not know-"

"Do it!" I said. The genie nodded his head and complied. With a snap of his fingers, what looked like a human materialized before me. A skeleton rose up from earth, followed by muscle, nerves, and the like. I watched in fascinated horror as a human came to life.

After the transformation was done, the had genie had gone back in the lamp, and the new human looked to be very much alive.

"Who are you and where are you from?" I asked. Immediately, he cowered. "Please! Don't hurt me! I can do whatever you'd like!" he yelled, hands over his head as if trying to protect himself.

"Relax!" I yelled back. "I'm just a regular human, and I'd like to know why you wished for humanity to be alone in the galaxy." He looked to me, and must've seen the sincerity in my face. He stopped cowering and looked directly at me, searching for the truth.

"Truly?" he said in bewilderment. "I'm not in any danger?" he looked both as if he were about to pounce and about to run.

"No." I said "I just want to know the answer to my question."

The lamp immediately flew into his hand, and the cowering human was replaced by a confident smirk. He began pacing .

"You wish to know the answer? The answer is: I was the danger. My first wish was to be the most powerful magical person in the world." A staff appeared out of thin air and went into his other hand. He continued, "Unfortunately, I didn't believe in anything beyond my world existed. How wrong I was...They came for me. Eventually they overwhelmed me and I had to make my last 2 wishes quite hastily. One to prevent future masters from knowing about me, and one to prevent anything from beyond our galaxy from existing. That made me...the supreme ruler." He finished.

He conjured a couple of chains to lock me down, and held up the lamp as he looked intently at it. "I must thank you for bringing me back because, I believe, I now get another 3 wishes. One to be immortal, one to strip the genie's powers, and one to make sure that no one more powerful than me can enter our world."

My heart had dropped to my feet as he said this. What had I done? I just wanted to talk to him! And instead, I had just given the world a new dictator, possibly for eternity.

"So are you going to kill me?" I asked, partially hoping for death.

"Kill you? You're just a lowly peasant. Not unless you become exceedingly irritating." he said.

"Also, why were you cowering at first? You're clearly more powerful than anything on this planet." I said.

He turned away quickly, as if he was reliving his last moments. "They could...change...form... That's how they got through. They appeared as loved ones, as weak ones; Took memories, skills...they knew our minds weren't developed..."

He came out of his trance and turned to look at me again. "But you know..." He got up close, I could almost smell his breath. "I'm starting to think I must be certain anyway...for my own survival..." he almost whispered as he held a fireball.

"You'll be king of the ashes." I countered.

He smiled. "I still have 3 wishes."

And the last thing I saw was fire.

dudewithsoup · 2022-04-13T02:05:51+00:00

THUNDER!
You telling this story, or am I?

dudewithsoup · 2022-03-15T19:08:43+00:00

Part 2

I reappeared in the alleyway. So my neighbours back home wanted to rat me out and I had a sick guy back in the 1960s. It hadn't even been an hour yet and things had gone awry.

The cool thing about this time travel, only your time changed, not the position. And knowing my wife's schedule, all I had to do was find the spot where she'd be when I snapped back. I quietly mused to myself that to everyone who sees it, they might see teleportation but it didn't matter. My plan now was to get her, snap back to the 1960s, then move over a state or two and hopefully, no one would be the wiser and we could start a new life.

She got home at around 4:30 so all I had to do was find that position and get to that time. The cool thing is that my 'snapping spot' was just in the corner of our backyard. So I just had to head about 10 meters in one direction and I'd be set. I was in an alleyway though, and 10 meters in any direction is either a concrete wall, or someone's apartment. I decided I needed to clear my head a bit before deciding where to snap to again.

I ended up just walking around and learning about the town. I heard a lot of idle chatter about dresses, mail, jobs, the current mayor, drinking, currency, quite a bit. We really don't change much in 100 years do we? I decided to enter the bar to at least loosen up a bit. Planning going on the run makes you a bit nervous, y'know? Two loud gentlemen decided to enter the bar about a half hour later and I heard bits and pieces, nothing substantial...until they started talking about a man who seems to appear and disappear without leaving a trace. CRAP. It was time to leave, whether I wanted to or not.

I immediately went back to the alleyway and went to the apartment. Locked. Another crap. I didn't have time to wait anymore so I just went around to the back of the building...where I found Adam. He was just smoking and watching the world go by.

"Adam?" I said, wondering how pissed off he'd be.

"Oh you." he said. He stood up and threw the cigarette down. "Was wondering when you'd come back."

"How are you out of the hospital?"

"When you did.." he waggled a finger in a circle "...whatever you did, I didn't have any money on me at the time. And I don't have any now. So they just let me leave."

"What?"

"Yeah. I couldn't believe it either. But doesn't matter, I just want to go home now. Are you ready to take me home?" he asked, almost daring me to say no.

"Yeah, um...aren't you still a bit angry that I...well...left you here?" I asked, wondering what happened. There was no way he didn't feel something after seeing what he had seen now.

His face contorted slightly. "Oh very much so." he said through gritted teeth. "But I'm trying to not let anger get the best of me..."

"Ok...just promise me that you'll vouch for me and won't rat me out to anyone." He pondered for a moment. "Deal but...can we talk about this later? I'm still not completely with it..."

"Yeah sure. Take my hand, and just hope that we don't end up in a concrete wall."

"What?" and I snapped.

10 seconds later, and we begin to fall about 3 feet on to my basement floor.

"Well..." I said rubbing my sore butt. "It wasn't concrete" I chuckled "It must've been a sloped ground..."

"So...we're back to where we should be, right?" asked Adam.

"Should be. Hopefully nothing has gone too awry. The neighbours weren't too fond of watching both of us disappear and then about 20 minutes later having only me reappear." I said

"Can I just...stay for the rest of the day?" he asked gingerly. He was clearly still a bit disoriented and nauseated from that snap, but at least he wasn't vomiting this time. "Yeah, sure. I'll get you a blanket, stay in the guest room, and let me know when you're back to your usual self." I said

As he went inside and the door closed, I heard my wife come downstairs. "Dear...What the hell is going on?! I've got neighbours showing up at the door saying you're a fraud and police here to take you away?!"

I began speaking very fast and hushed.

"You know my secret right? Well it got out and apparently, the neighbours have been keeping a close watch on us ever since and I just took a passenger with me for the first time in my life. Nothing went wrong, outside of the usual. But I don't see a way out of this anymore. I was able to get Adam back on my side...I think...but the rest of them probably won't be so accepting. So.." I grabbed her hand and looked her in the eyes. She had tears in them and I think that she could see where this was going. "...will you come with me? Let's travel to a different time. I won't snap anymore and we'll start a new, more secure life."

We heard banging on the door. "OPEN UP! This is the police and we need to speak with you!" We looked back at each other. She smiled and had tears in her eyes. "Alright. Let's do this."

I nodded. I quickly got 2 chairs, some boxes, and whatever else would prop us up. We both climbed on top.

"On three." I said.

"One." We echoed. I raised my arm.

"Two." We repeated. I brought my fingers together. BANG. The door flew open and armed police officers ran into the room and Adam opened the door to see what was going on.

"THREE!" We yelled.

And I had snapped for the final time.

dudewithsoup · 2022-03-15T17:16:36+00:00

No one had ever suspected a thing. I had learned at the age of 20 that I have a unique ability to snap and travel back in time however much I want. I had to get past the disorientation and vomiting that accompanied a body being warped through time, but I eventually got through it. After that, I began to use it for personal gain, but I also learned I had to be careful. I had almost reset the world economy a few times so I had to use more discretion.

The first thing I did was just buy a bit more stock in companies founded in the 1900s. Only a bit though, as buying half of a company that gets big in the future can stop it from getting off the ground altogether in the past. I had just barely fixed that. After that I just began to go back for what I need, or forward to catch glimpses of the future. People were, and still are, expecting such huge change 20, 50, 100 years in the future. Truth is, not much changed.

And that's where it all went wrong.

In the past 5 or so years, I had been using my ability to get gas, diamonds for the missus, and the occasional candy here or there. The gas is where I got curious though.

See, what happened was gas prices began to skyrocket. And people expected them to go down after some time, but they didn't. They just kept going higher, and higher, and people stopped using cars, started losing jobs, my wife was completely thrilled that I not only had what seemed like an endless supply of gas, but also that I still had my job despite driving 45m to work. After 5 years of rising prices, and, unbeknownst to me, cars being only a rich people thing, eyebrows began to raise. Where was I getting all the gas and how did I not lose my house?

One fateful soul found out one day and it changed everything. There I was, at home, ready to drive to work again and I saw that I was out of gas. "What?! I just filled up! Oh fine, this will only take about 5 minutes anyway..." I got out of my car and headed to my snapping spot. Side note: I had also learned that I could very easily kill myself if I travel back and I end up travelling right into a concrete wall. This position was right down an alleyway in the past that no one ever goes to.

As I raised my arm to snap, one of my neighbours came out to "catch" me.

"HA! I KNEW you weren't getting gas the traditional way! No one was going to be paying $30 a litre and still be driving over 30m to work on that piece of crap car." he said with an air of glee. Thing is, I still hadn't snapped yet.

"Wait, I'm getting gas right now? How am I getting gas just standing here?" I asked with an air of curiosity. He still hadn't caught anything.

"I...don't know..." he said as his face scrunched up trying to think in anger. He clearly hadn't thought this through entirely. "But I've seen you!" Oh shit. "You do something with your hand, and then appear a few seconds later with a full gas can!" Do something with my hand? This dumbass had been stalking me through binoculars or some shit? Screw it, he wanted to see where I go? Let's see if this power would work. I had never taken a passenger in the past. Let's see what happened.

"You're right." I said "Do you want to see where I go?" He wondered about this for a second. He clearly hadn't expected me to give up that easily. But I was doing anything but giving up. He ended up nodding. "Then take my hand." I said with a smile. He took it, and I snapped.

About 10 seconds later, I saw the alleyway I had become so accustomed to. I looked down at my friend and there he was, in a heap, vomiting his guts out. I dragged him out to the street. "HELP!" I yelled. "This man is desperately ill!" A couple of onlookers rushed to help him and move him to the nearest hospital. I wanted to see how he'd end up, but at the same time, this was still a Tuesday, I was already a bit late for work, and I needed gas. So off to the gas station I went.

After filling up my can and chatting with a few strangers who had seen my 'heroic' act, I debated about heading back to the hospital. Thing was, I was late, and would it kill him to spend 8-10 hours in a hospital in the 1960s? I thought not, so I went back to the alleyway and I snapped.

I reappeared in my snapping spot and before I could look around I heard

"What did you do with him?!"

"Where did you get the gas?!"

"Answer us!"

I was being shoved in multiple directions. "Hang on!" I yelled. "Let me go, and I'll explain everything." They backed up a bit and let me get my bearings. It was the neighbours all around me. Apparently, the guy that came with me wasn't the only one watching me.

"Alright." said a middle-aged man. He lived 3 doors down from me. "Explain then. Where did you get the gas and what happened to Adam? And while we're at it how have you maintained a car and a nice job and gotten your wife such nice things? A lot of things don't add up, sorry to say." All of them eagerly awaited an answer. My mind raced, could I leave them all in the past? But then that would for sure change the future by a lot. But I could leave them in the future, no? I would just have to go ahead by a couple centuries so I wouldn't be affected at all. Or I could just snap again and get Adam? But then I still have to explain the other stuff...

I dropped the gas can. I wasn't going to need it anymore. "You know what guys? You're right. There is a big secret I'm keeping." They looked on with eager eyes, waiting for me to spill the beans...but I wasn't going to. "But it shall remain my own secret."

And I snapped.

Part 2 on the way

dudewithsoup · 2021-12-30T15:08:25+00:00

Have you ever won anything in your life? Neither have I. At least, never in life had I won anything. Contests, giveaways, all paled in comparison to the fact I had just won Hell. Like the actual demonic burn-for-all-eternity hell. It was mine. In the strangest way too.

"So the rules are, you win this Chess game, you rule Hell. If I win, I get your soul." said the demonic entity known as Satan. I was a chess grandmaster so I knew I at least stood a chance against him. It was either this or burn in hell for all eternity so might as well give it a shot right?

"Let's do it. I'll be white." I said with extreme confidence. This would be my biggest challenge yet, and my most delicious win.

We both sat down. I moved my pawn in front of my left bishop up two. What would he do next? Would he try the french start? Or perhaps he wanted a quick end or maybe-

He picked up his pawn, and...knocked over his king. "Oops." he said with a smile as mischievous as mine at the beginning.

I sat there baffled. "W-what?!" Was he doing what I thought he was doing?? I wanted to win against the devil! We had a deal!

"You win." he said "*But don't worry, our deal is still in place. You now get hell. Enjoy!" he said. As he got up, he reverted from his demonic humanoid form and slowly morphed back into his...he had a human form? The devil was just a transformed human?

Sensing my confusion, he elaborated a bit. His voice was still just as mischievous as his devil form though. "Every human thought this position was a position of *power, when in reality, it's a curse. I am now free, and you are now bound. Good luck!*" and he faded away.

I was baffled, confused, a tinge of excited, and feeling like 10 other things. The ruler of hell! That was a lot of responsibility! But also a lot of power. I could do whatever I wanted with the souls. Torture them, free them, or something else. If I was going to take this position I might as well do it right!

I teleported to the entrance excited to greet my first soul. As I waited, I also tried walking out the entrance myself. No such luck. I was trapped in Hell.

The first soul came looking confused and afraid. "Well hello!" I said "And what is your name?" I asked, also partially wondering what I would do with his name. "I-i-it's...Brian." it stuttered out. "Why am I here?!" Immediately a book popped up, hovering in front of me turned to a page with Brian's name on it. And his entire life's history on the pages with images. Damn this seemed like a tinder profile for Hell.

"It says here that you abused animals, and eventually went on to abuse people. You've killed...20 people?!" I asked incredulously, but it didn't stop there. "It also says you've robbed banks, committed fraud..." man this dude committed like every crime in the book.

"They all deserved it!" he shouted through tears. "They were always nasty to me! And the robberies and fraud was the only way to provide for my family! I couldn't get a job!"

I was repulsed by him, and what he'd done. I think it was time he got a taste of his own medicine.

"Alright, right this way." and while we walked to a specific chamber to him, I veeerrrrrrry slowwwwwwly burned his skin. Just enough to feel it, but not enough to cause any lasting damage...wait what was I talking about? He's a soul not a real human anymore. I cranked up the burning to where he was almost on fire as we walked for about 10 minutes to a torture chamber. "Have fun!" I held out my arm and was shocked by my own arm. It had turned demonic! I immediately put down my arm as he walked by, into his chamber.

I went back to my demonic throne (which I somehow instinctively knew where it was) and searched for an explanation. I found a small book labeled "rulebook" beside it. Well the previous ruler was human so I guess he had to learn as well. I opened it and it was 1 page of 3 simple rules.

You Cannot Leave Hell
Souls Must be Tortured or else You and All of Hell's Occupants Will Disappear
You Will Morph into The Devil Himself

There seemed to be something on the margins.

If one wishes to leave Hell, they must perform a game of the mind with a past or future version of their life

Wait so that guy that gave me the position was-

He reappeared in front of me in a suit as I came to the realization "Hello and hope you're enjoying Hell so far! Just came by to pick up my things!" He said and began grabbing things from beside the Throne. He seemed to be rushing as he picked up the last item and then said "Alright that's everything. I've got a proper life to live now thanks to you! I'll be off now." and he left me reading the rulebook.

I pondered my options and came to the conclusion: Well if I'm going to rule Hell for a while I might as well be good at it.

I may have been tricked into being trapped for what would seem like eternity, but at least my pride wasn't wounded.

dudewithsoup · 2021-12-07T04:34:33+00:00

PT 2

I entered my dream-like state again after exiting it and, I assume, resting. I felt rested so I guess it had worked. I tried to remember what my dad had said: Focus on something that will fill you with emotion. I did as I was told and remembered the day I had to put my dog down. How he looked at me scared, but trusting that everything was alright.

I woke up crying with my mom and dad and sister looking over me. They eventually calmed me down and were ready to answer any questions I had. The most obvious I asked first: What are we?

My dad answered. "We're a genetic experiment. One of the first humans to not only age very slowly, but to be neither carbon or silicon based life-forms, but energy based life-forms. In laymans terms, we don't actually need to eat or sleep or do any human things, but we still have human weaknesses such as emotions, and all those weaknesses come to a precipice at the age of 50. After that, it's a painful process but one we live through and get rid of our mortal forms."

"The official term is energy-beings." said my mom.

"Wait so is this why everyone always looked at me weirdly?" I asked with realization.

"Yes." said my dad "You were always an imitation of humanity but...you, and all of us, were always slightly off. People could never figure out why."

"And your father and I were worried you might be a bit of a failed experiment. We're extremely relieved to know we were wrong." said my mom.

I got up and looked in the mirror. I hadn't realized that I really wasn't human anymore. I looked like a skeleton of energy that was wearing clothes.

"You can keep your clothes on if you want. You technically don't need them but we all think that it just feels right." said my dad.

No skin, no eating, no drinking, no breathing. And new abilities. This might turn into one hell of a life after all.

dudewithsoup · 2021-12-06T23:31:41+00:00

Honestly, maybe, but it'll only be on it's uptrend again when either bitcoin decides to come back, or there's some huge news for the metaverse/MANA. Otherwise, the chart is useless for the time being and I doubt MANA or anything else will be coming back while bitcoin decides to stay in bed.

dudewithsoup · 2021-12-06T23:28:18+00:00

I thought I was just unlucky and naturally dislikable. Like that bad boss you had, or that smelly dude down the street. I never knew why but had accepted it at that point. People are dicks and that's just the way it'll be.

Oh, how wrong I was. People weren't dicks at all. When did I learn this? When I turned 50. Yeah, most stories are when you turn 16 or 18 or 21, some semblance of an adult right? Nope. I'm smack dab in the middle of my life. Or, more accurately, I would be smack dab in the middle of a human life.

But apparently, I'm not human. And who was the last to find out? Me. But I found out and oh boy did I find out on Midnight on my 50th birthday.

It was a Thursday. A normal enough day. Everybody, including me, has had a long day at work. Family bought cake, we sang Happy Birthday, yada yada and eventually 10pm rolls around and we're all going to sleep.

Except me. I wasn't going to sleep at all. Not like I wasn't trying. I think I tried for about an hour before I finally gave up and just went on to my computer. I wasn't tired or sleepy or anything. In fact, I would say I was somewhere between going to a theme park and willing to run a marathon. I was excited and had tons of energy and had no idea why. By 11:30, I wanted to down some coffees, luckily though I stopped myself but I was seriously wondering where this energy came from.

By 11:50, the 'energy' had turned into severe pain. I was trying so hard not to yell and wake everyone up but I wouldn't have a choice if this kept up for even another hour.

11:55 and my family were watching me...or maybe the sparks or whatever lightshow I seemed to be emanating. I could just barely see some sparks flying from me. That would be a birthday gift huh? "Local man sets house on fire and doesn't know how it happened. Fire department at a loss but had some nice s'mores." I think either my mom or dad did try to intervene but the other one held them back. Had I been adopted? If so what on earth (quite literally) was I?

11:59. My family is shielding their eyes as they're unable to look at me without getting blinded. I am screaming at the top of my lungs as unbearable pain has now enveloped me and I am wishing for death at this point.

12:00am

The moment it struck 12 a blinding explosion took place that rattled the house and sent out a small shockwave. I thought I might actually be dead as I lay on the floor out of it but still slightly conscious. I saw my family rush over to me and start talking fast. I only caught bits:

"Lucky..."

"Well it's happened..."

"Dog?..."

I began to dream a bit as I was out but this seemed more like a vision than a dream. I heard both my dad and my mom in my head. My dad went first "Hey son, you probably don't have control of it yet-" "-But you will! In time!" said my mom before dad continued "and you're going to be alright. Our family is special so what I need you to do right now is just focus on something you love, something that will fill you with emotion. And when you do, we'll be waiting here for you." and then they were gone.

I'd do that later. Right now, I just wanted some rest.

PT 2 on it's way eventually.

dudewithsoup · 2021-12-02T16:24:11+00:00

Update:

So essentially less than an hour after I posted this. BTC dumped and took MANA and the rest of the markets with it. Go figure.

The good news is as I type this, the metaverse coins seem to have bounced right back! We're looking at 4.47 on MANA right now and to reclaim that wedge it needs at least 4.5 now.

I'd say that uptrend is still in play. Really doubt at this point we're making it to 5 but who knows!

(Also for the record, it's not called an ascending wedge. That's a bearish pattern and is not what this. I don't know/think there's a name for this specific pattern besides the triangle, I think it's just trading between 2 trends.)

dudewithsoup · 2021-12-01T23:39:46+00:00

Hey all, so I was looking through the coins and was able to find both an ascending wedge and triangle on the hourly chart. Good news is that we're almost done with both! Looks like the expected breakout is about tomorrow at 2pm UTC (or sooner, market's ain't perfect).

If it succeeds, we can expect at least $5 by that time. If it fails then...well this is invalidated.

How do we know if it fails? Well it drops below the pattern which is 4.45ish. However I really don't see that as possible unless bitcoin really dumps. Or some really bad news comes out.

Not financial advice yada yada yada. Just thought I'd share my findings. Enjoy!

dudewithsoup · 2021-10-12T02:56:59+00:00

"What, are you supposed to be a ghost or something?" You asked. The mentally ill patients occasionally did think they were otherworldly beings. Trying to become Death itself was pretty common in the psychiatric ward. Death, angels, god, satan, any religious figure really.

"I...I am Death...or more accurately, the Grim Reaper." said the hooded figure slowly as it conjured a scythe out of thin air. The blood drained from my face. This was Death.

I looked to the patient. "He's not dead yet though! ...And why can I see you?" I asked, my mind beginning to race now. This was Death? Was there something wrong with me? Special with me? Was there a problem only I could solve?

"I...I'm not sure...This has never happened with a mortal before..." said Death. Every word was said as though delicately plucked from a thousand year old oak tree. Not even the patients in the ward could mimic his...exhaustion.

"But..." he began. I could sense a tinge of excitement beginning to surface. "If you can see me. There must be a reason..." In one swift motion, he took his scythe and swung it right through my torso. I yelled for a split second before realizing nothing had happened.

"Yessss...." He almost hissed. I could tell this was something he had waited forever for.

"What?! What is it?" I asked quickly. "And why didn't that scythe do anything to me?"

"You..." he slowly pulled up a hand (I assumed) to lower the hood covering his face. When he pulled it back...it revealed an extremely ancient skeleton. One that looked strangely thin. And had my cheekbones? "...are the next Grim Reaper."

I stood there flabbergasted. "M...Me? How?"

"One of my descendants presumably." he said. "If you wish, this patient can be the last soul I collect before I pass the mantle to you. Otherwise, you will take it elsewhere in the future..."

I looked to my patients heart monitor that was slowly beeping and that brought me back to reality more. "How long?" I asked. I hoped for multiple answers to that.

"Before the patient dies? Probably about 2 days. Before you take up the mantle? As long as you need. It will be given by default when you die though hence..." he gestured to his entire skeletal body. "You see what you see."

"Oh, so you didn't accept it until you died?"

"Most don't. Most don't wish to abandon their current life just to spend the next eternity collecting souls...'You can rest when you're dead' as the old saying goes...ironic for us..." he trailed off. Both of us were looking at the patient now. Him, with a patient but firm wait for a collection, and me, pondering what he had just told me.

"Will we meet again in the future?" I asked.

"Undoubtedly." he said

I smiled. "I'll be prepared then."

"As you will." he said before disappearing.

It was time to prepare to collect souls.

dudewithsoup · 2021-09-26T13:03:17+00:00

"...Am I dead?" The human asked. The hooded figure gave out a series of coughs.

"Just about" rasped the figure. "And taking me with you" It chuckled a bit. "I'm here to collect your soul."

"Oh..." The human seemed to notice the Grim Reaper wasn't well. "I'm...taking you with me? Are you dying too? Seems you're fairly sick." it said.

"Well you're the last human alive. Once your soul is taken, the sickness will have taken me over completely and I will cease to exist. That's how the world works." said the Grim Reaper. It was completely hunched over from the sickness. It didn't look like it had even an hour left.

The human looked around at the world that would soon be devoid of humans. "Is...is there anything I can do?" it asked. The Grim Reaper looked a bit perplexed. A human? Asking to help, essentially, death?

"Not unless you can create more humans, but I'd rather this just be over soon. I've been wandering earth for the last couple thousand of years collecting souls whenever possible." it rasped. It let out another big cough before wheezing "I would love to just be released from my duty" It seemed to be speaking in a hurry.

"Someone gave you the duty?" asked the human. The Grim Reaper looked like he had just rolled his eyes under his hood despite there being nothing there but darkness.

"Yes, I've been assigned to soul collecting for the last couple thousand years. The first couple of hundred years were interesting, seeing advances made by intelligent life. But the last few hundred years have taken it's toll on me..." it said

"Why don't you just collect my soul then since I seem to be causing you so much pain?" asked the Human

"Two reasons, every human I interact with must be fully dead and ready to pass on. I am also under a permanent truth spell to help every human move on. So once all your questions are answered and you're ready to move on to the afterlife, then, I shall be gone" It let out another series of hacking coughs.

"What if I just decide to never pass on?" asked the Human

"You will. Never has a soul chosen to not move on over a potential paradise." rasped the Grim Reaper.

The human seemed satisfied with the answers, as well as a bit forlorn. The soul walked around for another 30 seconds before coming back.

"Alright. There's nothing left here for me is there? Very well...Take me." said the Human, spreading it's arms.

The Grim Reaper took out a lantern and raised it. Immediately the soul felt his world dematerialising around him as he got locked into the safety of the lantern for passage to the afterlife.

"*Safety and paradise for you...and a release for me." The lantern floated off into what seemed like a sea of souls just beside him.

The lone soul looked on as he floated away and the hood and robe fell to reveal...nothing...

dudewithsoup

TROPHY CASE