JULY 2021 75 Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO LUIGLIN!

[Cat's Cradle]

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 2021 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, 23 July 2021
Voting ends at 11:59 pm GMT, 28 July 2021


We ask all entrants to do their best to vote when the time comes
but you do not have to submit a story in order to vote
as we encourage all Chrons members to take part in choosing the winning entry


The Magnificent Prize:


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


Theme:

RELATIONSHIPS


Genre:

SPECULATIVE FICTION



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! **​

 

[Bren G]

Love Hurts

The conquering dragon simply could not choose which of the King’s four daughters to marry, so he made them perform works to profess their love. One polished his ichor stained teeth and rounded their sharp points so as to make him more friendly. The second polished his scales to soften their toughness. The third feed him lye to soothe the irritating fire in his belly.

The fourth called the army to welcome him with a parade.

 

[Luiglin]

Once upon a time…

The words flow, begetting life on the page that will live in the imagination.

They become just as real as any child.

You know what they think, how they will act. Yet, when you least expect it, still surprise you upon occasion.

Force them through struggles, pain, laughter, loss. Sharing steps in a relationship where one cannot be without the other, for the tale must be told.

Cherish the journey, the end is always nigh.

 

[Astro Pen]

Star Struck

They say our stars won't actually touch when we meet, Andromeda.

No, Milky Way, that is true, but as we pass through each other's hearts our species will cross those small gaps, like pollen, and we will separate richer with new life. Each of us carrying part of the other forever.

Oh Andromeda, my arms are aching, open wide, don't keep me waiting much longer for our passing waltz in this eternal ballroom.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I’ll Help You Tomorrow

I lift the sad thing off the earthen floor by its shoulders and it howls with the popping of the joints.
He’s so light now, just bones and agony.
When the malignancies prevail...

He’s been a capable companion so it’s the responsible thing, ending the misery. Tomorrow night when I awaken I’ll drain him, then begin searching for a new thrall.
I work his arms in wide circles – that popping is a most entertaining sound.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Sweet Dreams



She was old, far beyond the age when her consciousness should've been digitally uploaded.

Didn't she want to live in a virtual paradise? people asked. But her parents had passed before the technology became available, and so she refused.

Now close to death, she pictured mum and dad's smiling faces; young and beautiful as she remembered them when a child. In their loving embrace she knew she would have such wonderful dreams, forever and ever.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Cupid on a Bad Day

"You saved me," Cupid told the man, "but I must warn you, I'm chaotic now."

"That's fine," said the man, his eyes distant, "but can you do me a favor?

Make that pretty lady there fall in love with me?"

"Fine."

He let an arrow sail, and it was done. Then he took a different arrow and

shot the man, instantly filling him with hate.

Have you ever seen the sucker who runs from a beauty?

 

[Mon0Zer0]

Wannacry

Grey, mottled flesh, cool to the touch. Laboured breathing. An irregular beep. By now, my virus is devouring the internet like the prions in my father’s brain.

A squeezed hand. A rattle in response. The ward lights flicker.

Beside his bed, a proud young man locked in time, impossible to reconcile with the fragile man before me. It’s the first time I’m truly here with him.

When the respirator blue screens, his absence lingers.

 

[AltLifeAStory]

The Binding

BOOM – lasers blasted against our ships, destabilizing the shields. The Grand Policing Force continued ruthlessly firing shots towards us, determined to utterly destroy the insurgents. With immediate conviction, I gazed towards her cockpit, “We have to try.” As if reading my thoughts, she began to transform her ship, as did I. The ships contorted, beautifully locking together, and became one. Shocked, I smiled, reveling at how we finally Binded.

It was time to fight back.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

It's Complicated

Jullik's egg-father and egg-mother slithered to the portal to greet their child's dates. The youngsters were a handsome pair of seed-bearers; only another egg-bearer would be needed for a full mating group. When Jullik's seed-parents went into estivation, the adolescent had been reluctant to seek out potential spouses in the mud pits and lava pools. "Don't worry," the elders told the shy youth. "Four can live as cheaply as one."

 

[DanielOwen]

Immortal

Everyone could be immortal, yet I am the only brain in a jar I know. The only one!

No sleeping, crapping, puking, bleeding (for the sensations I fire the appropriate neurons as per drinking, flying, screwing, etc); nothing but time to work, research, plan. Nothing at all.

True, you can't hold anyo- anything, dance or jump or sweat, but Simularity exists for a reason. It's nearly the same. I don't miss y- it.

I don't.

 

[Peter V]

Far From the Tree

In death, her father looked almost angelic. Soon-to-be Empress Isabella nodded for the coffin lid to be closed.

“Your first task is to make an example of the guilty.” Her mother’s anger was palpable.

“Even if what they did was justified?”

“Justified? Dear daughter, they murdered their Emperor; they must suffer. Don’t be spineless.”

“You mistake compassion for weakness, Mother. No more will your manipulations taint the Terran Empire.”

“I…”

“Will be exiled to Luna.”

 

[chongjasmine]

Jesus loves Tom

Tom was alone, he felt so lonely. No one loved him, no one cared for how he felt.
He was after-all, made from a factory. From a sperm and an egg in an incubator.
One day, he entered a church and the sermon touched him.
"It doesn't matter who you are. Jesus loves all men!"
So, someone loves him. Someone died on the cross for him.
"Thank you, Jesus!" Tom said, with a smile.

 

[G.T.]

Et tu?

The new King straightened his jacket, gripping his sword firmly as he tugged.

"Majesty, did you have to kill the boy on his coronation day?"

"Yes, cousin. I couldn't suffer that fool as King."

The King stepped out onto the balcony. A thousand arrows sailed towards him.

"Cousin, you wretch. I am the eldest, I should be K..."

"You taught me well, cousin. Rather appropriate, don't you think?" But the King could no longer hear.

 

[farntfar]

A name to be proud of

I Eric von Diddykin, am stending on ze dessert plains of Peru.
Vot profound message did ancient aliens leaf here, carfed in ze lendscape viz some vast celestial chisel
or scalpel or perhaps som ozzer artifect ending in el.

Far above, 1st officer T’Pel turned to her captain.
”It would appear, sir, that the message was somewhat more prosaic than he thinks.”

“Yeah. G’randad was a real jerk.”, K’el-Roy replied. “It just says he was here.”

 

[Daysman]

Note to Self

The portal deposited me in the kitchen beside my pre-covid self.

He calmly took down a guest mug. "It worked then?"

I leaned against the breakfast bar. "Yup."

"Why're you here? Now?"

"You're leaving Amanda… it's a mistake."

His temper flared. "So say you..."

"I've changed." I patted his shoulder, pinning the tracker there. "Know how I solved the mass problem?"

He glanced at the pin. "Yeah."

The portal deposited him in my post-covid kitchen...

 

[Ashleyne]

Oh How We Sailed


Since their creation, Tessa and Volcor sailed the seas for nigh on a century. Not always in each other’s sight, yet always close by, Tessa never feared the sound of distant cannons. Just like her elves, his crew’s magical speeches and blades of fire always disintegrated potential invaders.

When the age of ice crystalised their elven crews, the ships survived.

They gaze at one another, craving new sailors, waiting for the frozen waves to thaw.

 

[Dan Jones]

The Land Of The Blind

Whilst admiring his books, King OtuAnya barely noticed when his covetous brother, AtoAnya, stole his eye for his own forehead.

Agu, the Tiger Prince, exchanging studies for sabres, challenged his Uncle.

“So be it,” sang AtoAnya, “We will fight. In hell!”

So, in the Earth’s belly the Tiger Prince slayed AtoAnya, but the battle destroyed the King’s eye.

“It is all I deserve,” lamented OtuAnya. “Yet I am now less blind than before.”

 

[Octo-tater]

Hope

Waiting wistfully, I know you’ll come, though others laugh at my devotion. But oh! One glimpse of your mountainous stature will take me to the promised land, one lock of treasured bodily hair will grant eternal bliss.
Bigfoot, yeti, sasquatch, show yourself to me! Prove I am not crazy, prove I am special, prove that I am right and they are wrong!

Shhhhh... what’s that? A cracking of branches in the distance… Heaven's gates open!

 

[Wayne Mack]

The Clone

I sat next to Samuel Junior across the desk from the lawyer.

“That’s why it was made,” said the lawyer.

“But I have raised ‘it’ for twenty-three years, from a single cell.”

“You need the transplant,” he said. “It’s just a clone. A duplicate set of organs.”

“But he might die.”

“Do you want to live?”

I looked at my clone sitting beside me.

“Can I say no?” the clone asked.

“Will you say yes?”