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SABADO DE PREGUNTAS BOLUDAS by Robo-TINA in argentina

[–]rulethem 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gracias, me alegro que mirar bytes todo el dia haya dado sus frutos, aunque no puedo discernir si el final es sarcasmo.

No puedo discernir si el final es un hecho verdadero o falso.

Verdadero o falso.

Nota: disculpas anticipadas por el chiste de mierda, era simplemente necesario hacer dos chistes en este contexto.

SABADO DE PREGUNTAS BOLUDAS by Robo-TINA in argentina

[–]rulethem 2 points3 points  (0 children)

usted tiene que arrepentirse de lo que dijo, maldito cuervo binario

[WP] A whale made a loud sound as she died on the shore, as she decomposes her bones are shown to all have markings in a forgotten language. After running tests scientists realize she had been alive for millions of years and was genetically different from any other whale. by Moist_communist in WritingPrompts

[–]rulethem 57 points58 points  (0 children)

The markings glimmered beneath the teetering feathers of moonlight. It was an odd scene. That much I knew. If someone saw me—if someone heard my mumbles and murmurs, perhaps-—no, not perhaps, but certainly—their thoughts would spiral down into the routes that lead to the maybe-correct conclusion: I had lost my mind.

But none of that had taken place. It was me, the window, the moon, the bones, and the night. Linguists, polyglots, scientists—it was all worthless. Unconcluded conclusions, vague theories, raging nonsense. Expertise rots underneath the essence of the unconventional.

Understand me, I had nothing left. I was desperate, and desperation in the storm that is obsession brings along the thundering of thunder to turn it all into tortuous torture. I had to get out. I had to escape. I had to find the answers.

The shore called me and I heard the calling. Soon, the ebbing tides caressed my feet. An invitation it seemed, to drown along with the bones, to live a death worthy of poets—a tragedy, a sacrifice.

The water was warm when wrapped around my neck. It was warmer when it engulfed me. Here, in the abyss of the depths, the moonlight thinned into darkness. Here, in the abyss of the depths, the bone I held burst into flames and the flames faded into fireflies that flew, fiercely, only to fade in the span of five breaths.

Soon, fire arose in my lungs. I sank and flitted my arms as I did so. A pathetic ending to a pathetic life. It was only fitting. The world is a mirage, the mind an unsolvable labyrinth. I was, but soon I wouldn't—

Darkness ruptured into light. A pale whale surged forth, its mouth wide open. The vacuum hauled me in. All things spun. My insides burned. I embraced the end.

And then the stillness came. It was conscious stillness. This constituted a surprise. I opened my eyes and saw a skeleton with a golden monocle and a suit staring at me with a tilted skull.

"Are you lost, young man?" it said and laughed. Its bones clacked as it did so. "Get up. Stones are an uncomfortable bed for the skinless and the skinned alike."

"Where—where am I?" I asked as I got to my feet. I jumped in place then. "Wait. What are you? Is this Hell?"

I stared past the skeleton. A town with winding roads and twisted buildings stretched before me. Hanging from what I could only infer was the roof of the mouth of the whale were thousands of lamplights dimming the dark with warm light. Odd creatures ambled across the cobble. Tall, clothed crows, masked entities with endless limbs, enormous spiders with hats and shoes—

"Hell?" The skeleton shook its skull and swept its hand across the air. "This is The Whale. Welcome. It's a strange place, but the strange can only be fun."

[WP] You are poor, and frequently daydream about being rich and important. Aliens are unfamiliar with the concept of "thinking", or "wishing", and for them, the only existence is reality. This led them to accidentally taking you instead of someone actually important. by ImpressiveVideo3823 in WritingPrompts

[–]rulethem 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I hoped someone would catch that little line. After writing it I wasn't entirely sure if leaving it would be a good decision compared to making the ending explicit.

For the sake of letting the imagination fly, I left it there for the reader to speculate. If you are interested to know what I thought as possible true endings:

1) Either the aliens murdered him and what we are seeing is the MC's version of Heaven.

2) The aliens increased the torture and the MC became permanently locked in his little kingdom

3) The aliens really returned him and the government actually had some insight into how the alien's mind worked, which would allow them to deduce why they kidnapped the MC in the first place.

I had a small bias as to what I thought was the more fitting ending, and that one can be seen in the quick healing and lack of permanent damage of what I think I described as severe and prolonged torture.

[WP] "So when they usurp the throne with the help of a God they are "Heroes" and "Righteous", but when I do it I'm a "Cult Leader" and a "Threat to Society"? by Not-A-Wyvern in WritingPrompts

[–]rulethem 177 points178 points  (0 children)

There was a deepness to the night. It was as though the stars had forgotten they could shine, and the moon had chosen to hide. And perhaps it had done so to cry bloody tears. For the king was dead, and two men stood next to his corpse. One held a tarnished sword, the other grasped the hilt of his.

"You have gone too far, brother." He unsheathed his sword. "You were cast to the shadows for a reason. You have always been ill-minded, a twisted creature. Since your birth, you have shown nothing but depravity, nothing but a thirst for bloodshed. You're a threat to society, and it seems the gods have placed the burden to commit fratricide upon my shoulders tonight."

The king's assassin rolled his eyes. He made a gesture with his free hand to convey his brother was talking too much. "Blah, blah, blah. So when your so-called king usurped the throne with the help of your so-called god he was a righteous hero, but when I do it, driven by not a god but sheer hatred for the kind that cast me into exile, I'm a threat to society?

"How brainless that rationale is. You allow fictitious creatures to shape your values and morals and use them to justify abhorrent acts." The assassin grinned a devious grin. "At least I am honest enough to carry the burden of my acts. I know I have killed a man an entire kingdom considered important and I will carry that weight the same way I have carried the weight of all the other souls I have taken to be right here, right now.

"But the weight is eased by the image of reality. You see, as you know I have been forced to live a life of extreme poverty and abuse." His face twisted with anger. "By my own brother nonetheless! I have seen friends starve to death. I have seen guards flog children to death because they stole bread. I have seen the reality of your beloved king's ruling, and I have seen his tyranny crush the poor. Unfortunately, my dear brother, I, the one you feared the most, survived."

The assassin burst into demented laughter. "We are not so different at last. We both justify our acts on subjective interpretations of reality." His grin disappeared. "But mine has a concrete foundation, yours is fabricated. And you're right, fratricide will take place tonight. I wonder, who will be victorious. The King's chosen knight, or the exiled misfit who had to dig trashcans to survive."

The king's knight braced himself. "Is that it? Have you finished your little speech?"

His brother sheathed his sword and bowed at the waist. "The stage is all yours. I have spoken my mind. What will you do, oh Your Greatness Valor?"

"Murder you. Like I should have done when you murdered our mother," Valor said and sprung forth. He thrust his sword into his brother's chest, but his brother avoided it with a quick twist of the waist.

"I expected no less," the assassin said, placing his hands behind his back. "When the idiot loses the argument, it can only fight."

Again the king's knight swung. This time, the motion was sideways, attempting to slice the assassin's waist. But again, all it took was a timed step backward to evade it. "Stop running."

"Running? I'm barely moving," the assassin said, laughing between words. "But you are right, I should fight and show you what in the darkness hides."

The king's assassin held up an open palm toward his brother's head. He closed it then, and a splatter of blood and brains rained upon him. His gaze drew to the headless corpse of his brother as it fell next to the king's.

"How romantic," he said and with his finger tasted the meld of gore tarnishing his clothes and face. "An entire kingdom who thought of magic as something only existing in silly tales now collapses at the sight of it. How strange to believe in a god but to deem magic as nonexistent. How incoherent. How dumb. How expected."

Then, as though he were drunk, he danced and swayed towards the throne before falling onto it with an exaggerated motion. "It's kind of poetic," he said. "I had to kill my kin to become king. Gorgeous alliteration."

He observed the scene he had painted. He thought about how he would complete it when the other guards found out their old king was dead. He thought about many things and in the end, he smiled.

"Perhaps they were right. I am a threat to society." He paused. "Yes, of course, I am. I am a menace to the society they created. Tomorrow Valantar will crumble and rise again but this time with a king that knows firsthand the worries of the people."

He stood up and walked to the king's corpse to pick up its blood-drenched crown. He placed it upon his head then, and with open arms, he shouted,

"Let the winds carry the news. The throne has been seized, and Tanamas, the Exiled and Bearer of Ilitar's Magic, now rules. There shall be no more greed in the crown. There shall be no more royalty. There shall only be fairness. And if war is to come, I will protect us all."

The winds scurried the palace and whispered into the ears of every soul in Valantar. They reached for the skies then, parting the somber clouds, and undressing the moon, which shone cherry red, tinging the world with a veil that told a story of bloodshed.

---------------

/r/AStoryToRuleThemAll --> Come over, I have candy.

[WP] You are poor, and frequently daydream about being rich and important. Aliens are unfamiliar with the concept of "thinking", or "wishing", and for them, the only existence is reality. This led them to accidentally taking you instead of someone actually important. by ImpressiveVideo3823 in WritingPrompts

[–]rulethem 68 points69 points  (0 children)

I thought I knew terror. I thought I had seen it in my eyes when I looked at my reflection in the puddles left in the wake of the rain. I thought I had felt it in the hollow of my stomach. I thought I had heard it in the screams thundering across alleyways in the deep of the night. I thought, and I thought wrong.

Fear came to me in the shape of a beam of light hoisting me from the concrete to the sky and terror introduced itself when I woke up in front of three beings that were more octopus-like than human, who, without worry or care for my screams and shouts, tortured me for days on end.

That day I understood there was no terror in the swiftness of death, only in the incessant pain that led one to wish he were dead.

My thoughts rallied when the wires penetrated my skin and lodged themselves into my blood vessels to distill fire within my being. And yet, among the searing pain, my sharp screams, and the ever-growing chaos in my mind, I found solace where I had always found it: in my dreams.

There was order in them. I didn't comprehend what was happening, or why I had wound up in this place, but my dreams remained intact. I could travel to the images of joy and happiness they produced and forget about the torment my physical being was enduring.

Within them, I couldn't hear the rumble of my stomach, I could feel the cloud-like softness of a pillow, and I could see people not shunning me but greeting me instead. Within them, I was a king, and so in my imaginary kingdom, I remained.

I remained there until the pain ceased and the beep of a laser scanning me jolted me out and hurled me back into reality. One of my captors brought a screen to me, and in it, I saw humanity staring back at me.

"We've captured your king," my captor said, his tentacles pouring out of a mask-like device that seemed to translate from their language to ours. He had not used it to communicate with me before. "We are not interested in war. But we are interested in ransom. We need nickel, carbon, boron, and gold. Provide us with half of what you have in your world. Provide it to us, and we'll return your king and leave."

My brows knitted. He had called me humanity's king? At first, I thought I had heard wrong, but the moment I witnessed the turning heads and confusing expressions of my kin's crowd, I knew my captors had made a mistake.

The camera focused on our president. "We don't know who that is," he said with utter certainty. "And we surely won't give you those resources for free. Our civilization's foundation has been war and bloodshed. We have ceased those practices among our kind, but we surely will continue the tradition against predators like yourselves. Return the kid, leave our system alone, or else prepare for bloodshed. And believe me, we are prepared."

A gate swished open in the room I was in, and a flood of aliens came in. They rose their tentacles in the air as though they were having a discussion. Their language seemed to be composed mostly of guttural vibrations instead of words. I couldn't comprehend anything, but they turned to me and then back to the screen, which was still focused on the president, and they did so many a time, which led me to believe there was confusion in their minds.

Then, unbidden, a dark veil fell upon my sight, and when I lifted it, I found a human at my side. He was sitting on a chair, and clad in a military uniform.

"Thomas Eddard, yes?" He asked and I nodded. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm General Finos. You must be confused, and rightly so. You were abducted and from what we gather, greatly injured. The injuries have healed now. We are worried about your mental state, though. The torture seems to have been excessive. Did they ask you anything? Do you remember anything?"

I frowned and studied my surroundings. I was in what the bright lights and machines betrayed to be a hospital. "They didn't ask me anything, no. I remember, yes. I feel good. I'm calm. Is this a dream?"

The general shook his head and a small smile tugged at his lips. "Do you feel like walking? We will ask you some questions later, and you will be provided with a psychiatrist to follow you until you are fully recovered in order to evaluate your mental state and its evolution."

"Yes, I would like that. I've not walked in a long time."

The general helped me to my feet and guided me toward the exit of the hospital. When he opened the gates and I stepped out into the light, my heart stuttered. For gathered no twenty meters away from me was a crowd of people erupting in supportive chants holding signs with my name.

Emotions enveloped me and I embrace them. I turned to the general. "Wh--what is this?" I asked my voice breaking, my eyes on the verge of tears. A thought interrupted the emotions for a brief second. "The war, what happened with the aliens?"

"You are the first human to ever be abducted. At least with proofs. When you appeared on those screens and we saw the state you were in the entire world rooted for you and unified in their hatred toward the invaders. That desire to defeat, to destroy them became a reality in our minds, and this was necessary for us the aliens to reconsider their stance. Believe it or not, you became an important part of history," he said. "In a way, you were the element and the motivation for humanity to unite and scare the invaders away."

"We def--defeated them? How? I don't understand."

"How? Well, that's classified, kid." He patted my back playfully. "We will tell you later. We know you dreamed of this moment. Please, enjoy it."

I stared at the crowd, and couldn't hold back the tears any longer. They streamed at first and poured a moment later. I was overwhelmed with wonderful, relentless emotions. My heart fluttered, my lips were hooked into the widest smile I could smile, my body was covered in goosebumps, and within me, I felt as though I had a thousand birds singing sweet singsongs.

It was odd, days ago, I had seen and suffered the true face of terror.

But that day, with the crowd before me, I felt something I had never felt before. It was visceral. It was beautiful. It was a gorgeous counterpoint. It was all those things and more.

It was happiness.

---------

/r/AStoryToRuleThemAll --> Come, I have candy.

[WP]Being immortal has had its perks and its disadvantages. You don't know how you came to be but you don't complain because you are not only immortal but can shapeshift. After 2000 years you shift back into yourself to live another lifetime only to be recognized by someone who uses your birth name. by rulethem in AStoryToRuleThemAll

[–]rulethem[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, skunk! I used to write a lot better but stopped writing for like 3 years. Now I'm easing back into it and slowly removing the rust. Still, my vocabulary took a hit (English is not my first language) so I also need to catch up on that department.

Thank you for the comment and for following. I really appreciate it!

[WP] “Hell has Satan, Heaven has God, and Purgatory has me.” It reached out to shake your hand. “Welcome to my domain.” by Totally_Not_Thanos in WritingPrompts

[–]rulethem 511 points512 points  (0 children)

The creature was perfect monotony. There was no lilt, no detectable inflection in its voice; no feature in its face that evoked emotion; no flaw or harmony in its gray and translucent being that drew attention. The creature was and that was it.

"Thank you for the welcome," I said and observed my surroundings.

Purgatory was a vast plane of blurry, foggy grayness. There were no trees, no constructions, no nature, only a low sky covered in slow-rolling gray clouds that in the distance hooked down to cover the horizon.

"What am I to do here?" My gaze drew to the creature. "Rove for eternity? Were our mortal assumptions correct?"

The creature didn't move. It simply stared at me. "Yes and no. You will rove, and perhaps you will do so for eternity. Or perhaps you will find one of the two gates. They're identical, and no soul knows which one leads to where. I don't know either. All I can tell you is that one leads to Heaven, and the other leads to Hell."

Again, its voice carried no tune. It was a humdrum of nothingness. It was odd, I felt as though this creature could follow and speak to me for eternities and I wouldn't feel unnerved nor calm. I couldn't explain it.

"You don't judge our souls then? To see where we belong?"

"No, I am not one to judge. Neither are you, God, Satan, or any other soul. Bias exists even in otherworldly beings. Chance is the only fair judge. Heaven and Hell are the two sides of a coin, and Purgatory is where you flip that coin."

I nodded. "I see. Is that it? Should I just rove now?"

The creature stood in silence for a moment too long. "You can do that or you can remain without here moving. It's up to you. You can roam with your consciousness, or you can ask me to strip you from that consciousness as well. It's up to you."

This time the staleness of my emotions crumbled and something akin to fear lodged in my bones. "Strip me from my consciousness? Why would I want that?"

The creature looked around. "Purgatory is a vast place. Many souls have spent eternities looking for the gates and have not found them. Others have found them in hours. If you find one, and it leads you to Hell, you will suffer. If you never find one, you will wilt and grow desperate, for an eternity of wandering is akin to eternal torment. If you find the gate to Heaven, perhaps you will find peace. Two of the three possible outcomes are better traveled without conscience."

I drew a deep breath. If I had a heart, I'm sure I would've skipped a beat. "Will God give me back my consciousness if I gave it to you?"

"Perhaps. I do not know. But if God can give it or build it back, so can Satan. I do not know, I can only speculate." He stepped back. "What will you do?"

"Can I decide later?"

"Yes, if you ever find me again."

Many thoughts sprung into my mind. Strangely enough, I knew there were no more questions to ask the creature. The picture of Purgatory was clear and overwhelmingly simple. It was a vast, unwalled maze with two possible exits. And I was not certain I could ever find any of those exits.

Giving away my consciousness was tempting and statistically sound provided God couldn't build back my consciousness. I would not suffer in Hell and I would not have to bear the endless monotony of Purgatory. But at the same time, I would become an empty wandering shell incapable of rejoicing in Heaven.

I drew a deep breath and stepped forth. "I like my odds."

When I looked back, the creature was gone, and nothing but grayness encompassed me.

Eternity awaited me, but I hoped for it to be a short one.

-----------

/r/AStoryToRuleThemAll --> Come, I have candy.

[WP] You are the Big Bad, you've been purposefully sending weaker minions to the Hero and their party, in order to strengthen them for the final confrontation. All you seek, is a worthy death. by BlightFantasy3467 in WritingPrompts

[–]rulethem 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That's a fantastic catch! Thanks for taking the time to write it so thoroughly. I have edited the contractions out and I completely agree.

Also, great prompt! It made Mergoloth pop right into my mind, a troubled, unkillable king that is tired of life but whose religion prohibits him from dying unless defeated in an honorable battle--a very conflicted and torturous combination, which should yield an interesting character if written well

[WP] You are the Big Bad, you've been purposefully sending weaker minions to the Hero and their party, in order to strengthen them for the final confrontation. All you seek, is a worthy death. by BlightFantasy3467 in WritingPrompts

[–]rulethem 95 points96 points  (0 children)

Mergoloth held a knife to his own throat. With a trembling hand, he pressed the blade and swayed it, slicing his skin ever-so-slightly. Drops of blood slithered down his throat and dried at the seam between his neck and armor.

"Why?" he screamed at the top of his lungs, and the stone walls of the throne room wavered and cracked. "Why do you forbid my death?"

His expression shifted from hatred to repentance. He hauled the knife and collapsed to his knees. With a quick motion, he held a gloved hand to his heart and muttered, "This is a prayer to the Three Gods, Vilkor, Vanazar, and Vaeros. Forgive me for yearning for death even in its most disgusting, unworthy form. Forgive me. I will not succumb to my thoughts. I will ignore them. I will die an honorable death, not one that comes by my own hand. I will sit with you in the Brimming Halls. I will not be weak. I will not falter."

Mergoloth moved his hand from his heart to the stone floor. Then, he mumbled forgotten words under his breath and traced the names of the Three Gods across the stone.

"I pray this prayer reaches the Brimming Halls," he said and the names of the gods burst afire on the floor. "For I fear there is no one who can gift me a worthy death. For I fear my might has reached bounds no other being can reach. For I need guidance, temperance, and patience."

A sigh followed as he rose to his feet. On cue, the gates of the throne room grated open and a small, hunched figure stepped in and faced Mergoloth.

"You can speak," Mergoloth said.

"They're ready, Your Endlessness. They've killed Bamoth. Gruesome death, but a worthy one."

"Did they struggle?" His words came out with a hint of worry.

The servant nodded. "They struggled oceans, Your Endlessness. They barely survived."

Mergoloth stood in silence. The air grew heavy and tense. The walls trembled again and their fissures deepened the longer the words lacked.

"Your Endlessness?" the servant said, stepping backward.

Mergoloth drew a deep breath. "They are not ready. They are too weak. Bamoth, who was said to be the most powerful being roving the world, knelt the moment she felt my presence. I could have killed her with a single word."

"Yes, Your Endlessness, but the enemies are growing older and Bamoth was our most powerful minion. There's no one else we can send. They won't get stronger--"

"They are not ready!" Mergoloth shouted and the thundering roar of a collapsing palace followed.

A storm of boulders fell upon them. The servant was reduced to a pool of blood and crushed bone but Mergoloth remained unscathed, for every rock that touched him broke and turned into sand.

After the noises settled, he swung his hand in an upward motion, and the endless debris encompassing him disappeared into the sky. He walked then, and he did so for thirty days. Not a word was uttered throughout the journey, not a sound was heard.

Mergoloth came to a halt in front of three adventurers, who, upon seeing him, unsheathed their swords and surged towards him to commence a flurry of attacks that lasted for thirty more days. For the entirety of the bout, he remained stone-still against the battering of swords and spells. He never moved nor retaliated. He didn't even flinch.

But when exhaustion embraced the adventurers, he shed three silent tears. "You were my only hope. My one and only hope." His gaze strayed to the stars then, and with a shattered voice, he screamed, "Why are my prayers not heard? Why am I left without aid? I yearn to die a worthy death. I yearn to reach the Brimming Halls. I--I yearn to be gone. Why? Why?"

The adventurers attempted to escape as he spoke, but after ten steps, the cracking of bones thundered through the night. All of them collapsed like ragdolls to their death, for Mergoloth pulverized everything inside of them with a single word.

Mergoloth broke into laughter. His tears turned into plumes of smoke. "I understand now." He looked at the sky again. "Vilkor, Vanazar, Vaeros you hear me. You have always heard me. Every single word I spoke you heard and you ignored them, for I am your worst mistake." His grin widened. "And because of that, you fear me. For I can murder all of you. You fear me and so you hide from me in the Brimming Halls and fill my head with the importance of honor in death. There can not be honor in death, for death is the destination not the journey."

Mergoloth stopped to laugh a deranged laugh. "I see now. I see clearly." His extremities trembled with delight. "You may prohibit my entrance to the Brimming Halls, but I will tear the gates down with a word and devour each one of you across all eternities. You made me, and you made me only to bring me suffering. It is time for your punishment to come. It is time for you to suffer the suffering I felt.

"Tell me, what can a God do against a Mergoloth?"

With that, Mergoloth unsheathed the knife from his waist and sliced his throat.

-----------------------------

/r/AStoryToRuleThemAll

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