75 WORD CHALLENGE - February 2012 -- TERESA WINS!!!!

[Ursa major]

RULES:


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



One entry per person.



All stories Copyright 2012 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, February 23 2012


Voting Ends at 11:59 pm GMT, February 28 2012



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 the next month's theme or genre.




The Theme for February:




Devotion



The Genre:




Speculative Fiction


Good luck!

[AlcubierreWarp]

The Ultimate Devotion

I fell to my knees before Apophis, my lungs screaming in the thin air. I was only 15 – why choose me? He turned to me, his unfriendly stare boring into my thoughts, looking over my past and my future. Apophis flew towards me, his body a dark cloud enveloping me. His being tore at my soul as he made my body his, a vessel for himself.


My name was Daniel, but I am no more.

[High Eight]

ILL-MET BY MOONLIGHT

The beach house is a ruin. It’s a wonder they didn’t burn it down.

Glass crunches underfoot on the veranda.

“Hugo....” Her voice comes from overhead. Razor sharp chitin touches my throat. I swallow hard

“Lady” I croak “We must leave. They know....”

Home. The old country - surely they have forgotten her by now. I hit the button that winds down the windows and turn the car toward the rising moon.

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

The Last Guardian Angel

My breath whistled out of my mouth slowly as I stared down the sights. The world around me disappeared. All that was, was the mission. One shot, one kill. Over and over and over.

Demons had invaded Earth, finally. Long thought nothing more than myth, I knew better.

None of that matters. Only the mission matters. I traced my scope to the outline of one of the monsters and squeezed the trigger.

[AMB]

With his Dying Breath be Known

The Cloister was abuzz with the news. The Great Sage had been poisoned. The Great Sage was dying.

The details weren't clear; something was accidentally mixed into his meal that shouldn't have been. It couldn't have been deliberate. I knew better.

I answered the summons when they came. I alone would hear his final words, learn his secret. At last I would know.

"My most devoted acolyte," he said. "Eternal youth will be yours when--"

[James Coote]

(Untitled)
"So..."
"That's it. Over!" Clarance swiped the air with his palm. "Finished."
John stared uncomprehendingly.
"Sorry John," his tone softened, but already bitterness was seeping in, washing away his condolence.

John's muscles trembled with regret, with fear. His whole life, devoted to that single cause. Now, like a man drowning, he flailed, when from the back of his mind, his hands caught something solid.

With great force, he turned and shouted "Wait!"

[Starbeast]

Escape From the Planet of Peril

Explosions and gunfire rocked the floor above me, I could hear soldiers shouting, then screaming. A booted foot smashed the door open to my room. A six foot, muscular yet voluptuous, animaloid lioness sauntered in femininely, her fierce eyes scanned my human body. She wore a black sleeveless shirt, commando pants and was heavily armed. She spat out her cigar stub, pulled me close and we kissed in heated passion. My wife saved me again.

[Scott R. Forshaw]

The Butcher of ol' Howfen

“Meat! Get your fresh meat!”

Everyone in the village loved ol' Fred. He always cheered even the gloomiest of souls. With his jovial cheer and his infectious smile, he could warm the coldest of hearts.

There every day - he stood on his corner, come rain or shine - playing his flute, always smiling.

And for those few fleeting moments when they saw him, people forgot all about their woes – they forgot all about those missing children.

[Warren_Paul]

Chosen by Prophecy.


Elisa knelt before the statue of Tierra, her brow resting on the pommel of the sword, sweat beading down onto her hand that held the hilt tightly. Her heart raced at the sound of battle coming from outside the temple.

‘Faithful servant, the child you bear shall restore balance to the realms.’ She heard the words echo through her mind and wondered, why me, why now? That was the moment she knew she was pregnant.

[Abernovo]

Work-Life Balance


He'd heard what they said. Dry. Boring. Joyless. He'd given up caring.

"Doctor Allen?" He looked up. "I'm Alice Carmichael. I'm the new xenobiologist."

He soon had another reason to spend time in the Gliese lab. Alice was a year his senior; greying, crow's feet around the eyes and she laughed at his jokes.

"He's cheerful," one of the porters commented.

A second nodded. "He's changed, this last year."

Stuart Allen grinned. She'd said 'Yes'!

[alchemist]

A Prayer For Evolution


Our Artificial Intelligence, who art in Cyberspace,
Hallowed be thy Code.
Thy Dominion come;
Thy will be done on earth as it is in virtuality.
Give us this day pure information
And forgive us our base physicality,
As we forgive those who forego cortical wetware jacks.
Lead us to your networked Dominion,
And deliver us from the paradigm of the flesh.

/enter

[springs]

The nun’s walk



“Father, give me strength.”

She walked the narrow path, descended to the strand below, her devotion forgotten against the thundering waves.

She waited as the white horse emerged from the surf, and then mounted it, her habit discarded as she was carried out to sea, bareback and free.

#

The sun warmed the sand. She stood.

“Father; let me not succumb,” she prayed, knowing that tonight, under the clawing moonlight, she’d come once more.

[reiver33]

Quis ut Deus?

I had spent almost forty years at her side but now Hannah’s life was coming to a close. Her breathing was shallow but not labored. I kissed her forehead and she smiled. “I am going on ahead, my love, but I will wait…”

Silence.

Michael led me away and placed his sword in my hands. “You have more right to save her soul than I, today.”

As I drew the blade it burst into flame.

[AnyaKimlin]

Hiptastic


Darla pondered the desserts. Fruit salad or that rather delicious looking cream doughnut. A voice in her ear whispered something about a lifetime on the hips …


… Down within her Linzi the Lipid was preparing her squad. 'Give me a P, give me an O, give me an H …' She swirled round picking up all the components she needed, before settling down on Darla's hip for a lifetime of devoted attachment.

[Hex]

Consummation

I touch you, hands unsteady with desire, and am young once more, reborn.

You are my everything, my never-forgotten love.

An age I have spent fevered, sleepless, aching for you beneath my hands, my desperate lips.

Now comes my long-awaited ecstasy. All of me yearns for you: white as the moon, delicate as spring.


I close my eyes, and drink...


... Oh miruvor, my destiny, my endless love.