DECEMBER 2020 75 Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO PETER V!

[paranoid marvin]

A Meal Fit For A King?


The land suffered after the old King's death. His successor, lazy and corpulent, did nothing to help the country through the harshest of Winters and the famine that followed. One day a crowd of citizens petitioned him "Feed us your majesty!". "You serve me, not the other way around!" roared the response. At that the throng parted to allow a butcher to step forward, sharpening his knives; "But Sire, that is exactly what we intended".

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

Let Joy Be Unconfined

The new king surveyed his subjects, meeting their stares with unwavering eyes.

The court Ladies oohed and aahed at his beauty.
Wise old Lords proclaimed he would be the greatest ever.
Maidens wished to lovingly hold him, making him theirs.
Youths hoped to befriend him, anticipating future adventures.

All too soon, the royal audience was over.

~~~~~

With the family gone, I took my wife's hand as we gazed at our newborn son. Our new king.

 

[Parson]

The New King’s Star​

Xandee found George the day the new star appeared. George could hardly put two words together. But he knew important things so Xandee trained him to run for King.

The election was close. The next one wasn’t. The Kingdom’s fields were producing, the schools were now attended, and the peasants’ lives were improving.

For all of that King George was melancholy. He looked longingly out the window. “We’ll not see the ship’s plume much longer.”

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Ringing the Changes, One New Year’s Eve

It looked like an immense, ornate clock. Entering through a glass door in its base, the young king smiled. Using the time machine he’d personally murder the rebel leaders while they were still children.

Gears whirled; sparks burst like stars. His figure blurred, changed.


Opening the glass, the inventor took out a rosy, giggling infant.

“It worked,” breathed the queen. “I’ll teach him compassion this time, selflessness. He will be the hope of our nation!”

 

[LittleStar]

The First Miracle.


The bells sung through the city.

“My King,” Pila gasped, bowing. “It’s true. I followed the star. I even saw the angels before they left.”

“Then it’s beyond doubt.“

“He didn’t look like much.”

“It takes more than one miracle to birth a true King.”

“What do we do?”

Amin sighed. “Bring Him to the palace.”

Pila touched his dagger.

“No! He is King now. There is much to teach before I pass my crown.”

 

[scarpelius]

Game of Emails: Corporate Edition


Blood will be spilled,

Fingers will be pointed,

But not on me,

Because I've just sent you an email.

Telling you I've done the thing you asked,

Took me one minute to do that and

Ten more to write the email, CC

The manager and his pet,

The project manager,

The cubicle bunny

Too scared to raise his head

Because the Evaluation Is Coming

And jobs will be lost

By the cold heartless new CEO.

 

[Heijan Xavier]

Acid Reign

I was too lazy to fight.

I would surrender my estate to the Alien Autarch, legitimizing his Regency, IF he would delay palace construction until after our Tri-lunar Cycle’s sacred ‘Nineteenth Year.’

He agreed.

Of course, ‘The Moons of Twenty’ always make our acid aquifers overflow…

…and there are so many aquifers beneath my estate.

I’m hoping for a thoroughly caustic overflow this Cycle.
I’m too lazy to bury all those half-melted Alien corpses.

 

[The Judge]

A Cautionary Tail Tale​

​

The land’s bereft – the monarch’s dead.​

No family left, no figurehead.​

“A new king, now!” the senate cries.​

“No matter how. We’ll advertise!”​

​

The Daily Star – the nation’s press –​

In words bizarre, through carelessness,​

Subverts their hopes, confounding all,​

As antelopes accept the call.​

​

Though unexpected,​

complicated,​

One’s selected,​

consecrated.​

​

The moral’s clear – check your spelling!​

Else, as here, there’s no telling,​

To your regret, instead of “new”​

You might get, as king, a GNU!​

 

[Luiglin]

Wargames

The Minion peered past the snowman’s generous girth. Just beyond him, the Incarnadine Star lay atop a snow mound where the courtyard sink usually stood.

He zigzagged forward, missiles missing left and right and grabbed the star. Dancing a jig of victory, the Minion windmilled it around his head in triumph.

“Fine,” grumped the Dark Lord, dropping a snowball. “No need to gloat. You’re the new King of the Castle and I’m a dirty rascal.”

 

[johnnyjet]

Raised for Greatness

The City is getting a new king.

We raised him with loving care, stealthily hidden beneath the City.

We nurtured him, disciplined him, shaped him for greatness.

We taught him the human values of kindness and humility, the leadership qualities of discernment, delegation, resolve.

He'll soon be ready to take his predestined place. The sewer people will be deployed, the old king will be toppled, and the fungus king will arise from the depths.

 

[Hugh]

​

The Rightful Heir

​

The old rat king told his sons that the one who found the Jewel of True Wisdom would inherit his kingdom.

The oldest returned from faerie within a year (though seven in faerie time) with enchantments galore and silver hair.

The younger just continued to clean out the chicken coop, yet light shone from his being.

He had realised the greatest Jewel of all, the Wonder of the Present Moment.

His reign was truly joyous.

 

[Capricorn42]

The Family Tree

The Tinpottian Chancellor studied the Constitution. “The Prince cannot become king because after marrying his aunt, he became his own uncle.”
“He could divorce,” said the Chamberlain, “and marry his sister?”
“She is already married to her son.”
The Chamberlain sighed. “It’s all very incestuous.”
“It’s traditional.”
“Fine, that only leaves his brother. They could get married in a civil ceremony.”
The Chancellor stared. “Well that’s just ridiculous.”

 

[Simbelmynë]

The Royal Code

The king had been deleted.

After the sacrifice, rain clouds thickened above the dry plains, the digital gods appeased. Kneeling atop the ziggurat, fingers tapping the golden tablet, the priestess added the extra 0's and 1's to the line of succession. The new king blinked into existence, resplendent as the dawn; indistinguishable from the old king in all but code.

Now the rain came down in his rosy light, a glory of twinkling pixels.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Conquest Insatiable

Six years of bloody war.

Thousands dead, on a quagmire of blood. Fields sown with dead.

Was it worth it? We cheer as the crowned Chosen One climbs to his throne.

The time for war is over. Now we bathe in peace.

“Hail the king!”

He leans forward eyes ablaze, “King? No. Raise banners; march my armies. No rest until I sit upon an Empire’s throne.”

Dreams of peace die like souls on a battlefield.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

When You Book Ahead


“Room service.”


“So, that’s a chicken, beef and lamb platter: served on bales of hay?


“What! “


“You want chickens, cows and lambs, ‘en-suite’, with hay thrown on the floor.”


“Yes, we have a helicopter.”


“You want it to hover, with its searchlight pointing East.”


“How many guests?”


“You’re not sure, but if some shepherds and kings arrive, I’m to send them up.”


“No trouble whatsoever.”


“It does sound like quite a birthday party.”

 

[Vince W]

The Reality King

Contestant 2: “That’s how I would rule the Kingdom.”

Judge 1: “The audience seems to approve, but I’m not so sure. Your military and diplomatic skills are lacking…”

Judge 2: “Hold on a minute. You can’t be serious. He’s shown great depth of character and his skills will only improve. The audience understands, don’t you!”

Host: “Well, we’ll find out in a few moments as the final votes are tallied here on ‘The New King’!”

 

[David Evil Overlord]

The Sun King

"I wish to be just like Elvis. The King," he told the genie. "I wish to be the greatest star this world has ever seen."
And his wish was granted. But he probably should have explained the modern idea of stardom to the 3,000 year old genie.
He did not actually wish to be the Sun.

 

[Ursa major]

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​

Old is the New New​

​

It’s a simple process: select your Sacred King; once elected, he’ll magically keep the land fertile; when the harvest is in, kill him and your sins die with him.​

​

The problem comes when you choose a malfunctioning humanoid survey bot, one that doesn’t die and can’t be destroyed.​

​

But all was not lost: the bot knew how to make fertilizer and control the weather, a very rare win-win in a First Contact scenario.​

​

 

[Ursa major]

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POLL -- December 2020 75-Word Challenge -- READ FIRST POST!​

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