OCTOBER 2017 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY to TERESA!

[Ursa major]

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RULES:

Write a story inspired by the chosen theme and genre in no more than 75 words, not including the title

ONE entry per person


NO links, commentary or extraneous material in the posts, please -- the stories must stand on their own


WHEN WRITING YOUR STORY, PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS A FAMILY-FRIENDLY FORUM



All stories Copyright 2017 by their respective authors​

who grant the Chronicles Network the non-exclusive right to publish them here



The complete rules can be found at RULES FOR THE WRITING CHALLENGES


Contest ends at 11:59 pm GMT, October 23 2017​

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Voting ends at 11:59 pm GMT, October 28 2017



You do not have to submit a story in order to vote --​

in fact, we encourage all Chrons members to take part in choosing a winner



The Magnificent Prize:


The Dignified Congratulations/Grovelling Admiration of Your Peers
and the challenge of choosing next month's theme and genre



Theme:

Sea Voyage


Genre:

Science Fiction or Fantasy



This thread to be used for entries only
Please keep all comments to the DISCUSSION THREAD



We invite (and indeed hope for) lively discussion and speculation about the stories as they are posted, as long as it doesn't involve the author explaining the plot


** Please do not use the "Like" button in this thread! **​

 

[Ashleyne]

RE-BIRTHRIGHT



I sail alone, my crew consumed within a black fire tornado, an offering to my idols.

Night blasts orange, an explosion so bright it leaves an everlasting luminescence.

The chainsaw vibrates my hip bone, searing, shredding to the other side. My top half spills to the sea.

#​

I wake from mediocrity, into a dream. I swish my new tentacles, breathing the sea like salty air.

My fellow octopeople applaud, embracing me as their own.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Voice of Leviathan

Admiral Zheng passed from this world. Mazu, Princess of Heaven and patroness of seafarers, greeted him.

"You have served the Emperor well during your many bold ventures across the Western Ocean," said the goddess. "You shall be rewarded."

"Lady of Numinous Grace," replied Zheng, "I wish nothing but to continue to explore the waters surrounding the Middle Kingdom."

Zheng's spirit entered the body of a great whale. Listen; his song is a hymn to Mazu.

 

[Cathbad]

Sea, Moon, and One Determined Seafarer


“You have failed, Selene!” Jarvis shook his fist at the moon.

The face of the beautiful goddess appeared, for only Jarus to see. “Your ship is sunk, half your crew lost! That skiff cannot save you from my wrath!”

“You would not test Manannán again so soon, Selene. We will make it!”

The face of the goddess grew angry. “We shall see, proud one.”

The face disappeared. The moon hid behind a shroud of blackness.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

From County Cork

My love fancies himself a poet.

“The firmament’s so intensely blue, Moira – like purest sapphire inlaid beyond Lady Liberty’s sky-thrust torch.”

I turn against the ship’s railing, toward him. Of course it seems pure – we’re escaping poverty, famine, war. We’ve people ahead, awaiting us.

My phone rings.

It’s Grandmother. “We’re safe,” I say. “We've escaped Manhattan and gotten through the Chinese blockade. They’re only releasing foreign-passport holders ... detaining all Americans. Nanna, I’m coming home.”

 

[DragonAether]

Be the Tuna

Ted tried to remember the spell that his master told him, after a bit of Magipedia finally Ted found the right spell, he started asap to cast the old enchantment.

“Think like a tuna, swim like a tuna, be the tuna.”

Ted became a tuna, ready to discover the beauty of the seas, like discovering Atlantis or….

As he ended dreaming of what he could find, he found himself in a Tuna can.

Fin.

 

[Danny McG]

Last Refuge

The overladen fishing trawler neared the Pitcairn Islands and escape from the zombie uprising.

The craft finally beached, the families of exhausted survivors staggered onto the sands.

“At last” croaked John. “Two months at sea but we’ve got to safety” and a spontaneous cheer arose.

They froze in horror and despair as their cheer was answered by a familiar rising moan.

Ranks of eager undead shambled hungrily from the treeline towards them....

 

[Calliopenjo]

Set Sail

The captain and her crew readied themselves for a long voyage to seek the great treasure of Kimo. Seadragon at the ready, all supplies accounted for, and maps in the hand of the navigator they set sail to seek a centuries-old legend. Gold, jewels, or something more precious perhaps. Many tried. Nobody succeeded. She would be the one to be recorded as the woman who made the treasure a reality.

 

[DelActivisto]

Untamable

The captain surveyed his domain. The vast, untamable seas. Light fog, subtle moonlight.

“Admiral Jenkins requests you annihilate Tana Village upon arrival, Captain.” Lieutenant Zimmer. His right hand man. Always following the rules. A good man.

“Goodbye,” said the Captain, drawing and firing his phaser through Zimmer’s face. The body fell overboard.

The Tana fleet poised between him and the mainland. He called the order, loud and clear. The white flag rose tall and proud.

 

[R.T James]

Filthy Animal!


“Now! Any of you who think yeah can take-”

Black smoke consumed the captain followed by a gut wrenching thud. The frozen crew could only stare as a bloodied hat drifted down like a leaf to be caught mid-flight by a furred hand.

“Any questions?” The slave calmly asked, his tail twitching.

“N-no sir!” the quartermaster gulped.

A fanged smile appeared as the new captain spun his flintlock.

Who’s the filthy animal now?

 

[Luiglin]

A Guide to Love by Hurak the Barbarian

Bards sing that love is like taking a voyage across a sea.

There are times the water is choppy, times when it is calm. That the depths are unfathomable and the horizon without end. There are no stars to guide you, no sun or moon to light your way. That you can drown or float.

By Morc, I say that's crap. Love is not waking up on a morning with a knife in your back.

 

[Hoverdasher]

Voyage to Kry


The prisoners were escorted to Penrose Harbor. Each would board a retired (haunted) navy vessel.

“Caast them all away!” Helena gave the command.

The society of outcasts were dejected in a northeasterly direction upon the vast and woeful, Lonely Ocean.

None could repent the vessel.

They were on their way to a treacherous, harbor-less, volcanic island named, Kry.

Throughout the voyage, many prayed earnestly that the ship would straight away sink.

 

[Shyrka]

To Die For

Siren-song drifted across the water. Ferdi Salthammer glanced up – the sail was limp, sullen. Not a breath of wind, just as the manling had claimed. He squinted into the mist, yearning blossoming in his gut.

A glimmer of scales... There!

“All ahead full!” he roared. Great paddles tore at the ocean, driving them forward. The ‘sail’ crumpled to the ironclad’s riveted deck, their disguise now redundant.

Ferdi licked his lips.

“Ready the nets, boys!”

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Castaway

It was now thirty days since I'd taken to the sea. The last of my food had gone days ago and I had barely any water remaining in the flasks I'd stored. My escape from Dr Moreau's island had gone to plan but now I was stranded out at sea, helpless. My days spent rowing with the last of my strength, my nights disturbed by images of half-bred creatures chasing me across the sand.

 

[chrispenycate]

Lifeboat​

Sails creak and tighten, the craft heels to the wind, glorying in the waves it's cutting through. Solar powered motors warp stays and direct navigation, cogitating the download from meteosats. The computer could doubtless direct us better than we ourselves, but then…

Then it wouldn't be us.

We'd be freed, not escaped, released, and the seasickness and stinging spray would be punishments, not heroic challenges.

And we'd never have learned pride.

 

[AstroZon]

The Portage

With hope as our pole star,
we sail the ocean vast and mighty.
Tales of fertile lands have led us,
where we know not.

Yet another tale we've secreted from our families,
that of a portage to another world.
It's too fanciful to believe,
and we'll do well to make land at all.

Nightfall and our sails struck,
we rest,
when a light brighter than anything seen,
abruptly descends upon us.

A new voyage begins.

 

[Justin Swanton]

Last Voyage


“We can’t go back, little one.”

“Why not?”

“The lands are dead. Nothing lives there. It’s too hot. We must go south, to the Erebus and beyond. There we will be safe.”

“Is anyone there?”

“No.”

The girl frowned, her clothes ragged like his schooner’s sails. Humanity would die with them.

Three days later he found land. But there were already cabins. A woman came out from one and called to him:

“Welcome to Antarctica.”

 

[Bob Senior]

NIGHT LIFE

Cruising the world on the Sheik's yacht was what the Clantons did.
She was treated like royalty, he acted like royalty.

She would parade the decks with her worshipers, he would join the beautiful people at the pool.

Late one night he motioned to a beautiful woman to swim over to him. "It's as warm as bath water," he said.
She slapped him. "What the?"

"Damm'it Bill wake up, you wet the bed again!"

 

[Peter V]

Bubbles


“I warned those off-world tourists; don’t sail near the volcanoes. See them from the air.”

Next to him, the pilot remained silent as he scanned the endless expanse of empty ocean beneath.

“Sunk for sure. Even flashy 'unsinkable’ ships will lose buoyancy when gas bubbles up under them."

The helicopter banked toward a line of smoking mountains, rising majestically on the horizon.

He sighed. “As for naming a ship Titanic II? That’s just tempting fate.”

 

[TitaniumTi]

Something Rich and Strange


“What a life.” Resting one hand on the tiller, Bob raised his glass to the gold-laced horizon. “Alone on the ocean.”


“Or what a death.”


What! Who? The boat jerked as Bob swung around.


White eyes, framed in a vivid skull, looked north. Bob cringed. “Who are you?”


The figure stared silently. Bob followed his gaze. Cripes! That’s a storm!


His shoulder tingled under a weightless hand as he fled before the tempest.