《The Dark Lord Gillian - Tales of Prompted Madness (Complete)》Chapter 133: Outside Arc - No sense
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[WP] Write a story that makes absolutely no sense until the last sentence
...
The Goldfish was left behind, so Taylor decided his life was pretty much over.
Not that it really mattered, considering the talk around town for the last few months had been mainly centered on the world ending- with a strong consensus that it probably was. It also didn't help that the men who had kidnapped him hadn't been especially responsive to his questions, nor his muffled "shouts beneath the hood they'd roughly tied over his head.
But again, none of that really mattered compared to the goldfish, Sunny.
He'd had one job. One: "Watch Sunny"
Taylor had to figure by the time the team of special-ops soldiers dragged him from the helicopter and threw him on the pavement, he'd botched that job pretty terribly.
Though he couldn't see anything, on account of the hood, Taylor thought it smelled a lot like someone had set a fire on a mountain top, and then crashed a plane filled with cinnabuns into it. If he judged on what he could hear though, he'd have to just assume he was in some top secret military base.
"We've got him, no casualties." A man's voice shouted, somewhere up in front of him as two powerful sets of hands dragged Taylor back to his feet and began the process of guiding him away from the helicopter's drone. "With all due respect though- He doesn't know shit!"
"Doesn't matter!" A woman's voice hollered over the background of heavy winds, "He's leverage if we need it. Get him inside, put him with the rest of the POI."
"Yes Ma'am!"
The heavy grips on his arms and shoulders worsened, and the pace picked up. Somewhere in the background, there was a bout of shouting- guttural and unfamiliar, followed by the sharp crack of gunfire.
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"Fucking monsters." Someone muttered to his left. "Should kill that lot instead of study, if you ask me."
Taylor didn't ask them, actually, and he wasn't quite sure what to think of that statement in particular, other than to try and walk a bit faster.
He soon found himself inside.
One set of doors lead to a quite calm, and a second screeched with the melody of heavy metal and lacking oil, slamming shut like a tomb as the calm turned to total silence.
The hood came off, just before a rough hand pushed him inside a thick cell of concrete, shutting yet one further door closed and bolted behind him.
"Three meals a day, no loud noises, no resisting, and no fucking magic."
Stunned by the sudden power of ambient light, eyes half-blinded by the removal of the black hood he'd had tied over his head: again, Taylor wasn't quite sure what any of that meant, exactly.
He soon found out, though soon is a relative sort of term meant in context to events transpiring, and not indicative of time.
Nothing happened for a long time, and Taylor sat in a rather bland sort of jail cell.
"Ah... so... I've been arrested?" Instead of screaming that question in a blind panicked frenzy, recklessly throwing himself at the thick steel door and a futile attempt to free himself, he spoke it quietly.
Well, not entirely quietly- not silent, but not screaming like he sort of wanted to. This was all a bit much for him, after all.
He wondered how long a goldfish would survive without someone changing its water, or feeding it.
Taylor wasn't sure, though he felt the question was likely a rather pitiful attempt at escapism.
"Hey." A voice whispered in his ear, and Taylor turned, surprised by the sudden noise.
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Eyes wide in the dim light of his concrete cell, he found no one.
"Hey." The voice spoke again, this time in his other ear.
Madness, Taylor decided stoically. Only a few hours into what was likely some form of government solitary confinement and he'd already begun to go insane. For some reason he didn't find it all that surprising.
"You're not insane." The voice said. "You're actually taking this a lot better than most people they bring in."
Taylor didn't find that very convincing.
"It's true, most people break-down into a screaming fit by now."
Taylor wasn't sure if he should be proud, or deeply concerned.
"Relax, they brought you in as leverage. You're perfectly safe in here."
Taylor wasn't entirely convinced.
"Well it's true. That's why you're here, with all of us."
The voice in his mind was persistent. Enough so that Taylor finally decided to reply.
"Who are you?"
"Me? Oh, they call me 53 in here."
53? Taylor wasn't entirely sure why someone would have a number for a nickname, and much less a lame number like 53. There wasn't a tremendous amount of context in such a number, and he didn't really see any "they" to call anyone much of anything-
Oh, don't worry. They let us out to mingle a few times a week. It apparently keeps certain people from trying to kill the guards so often. Calms them down a bit."
Taylor pondered that. So much to take in, and all at once.
"I know, it's a pretty disconcerting sort of shift, but you'll get used to it. Probably... you learn to roll with the weirdness around here."
Taylor wasn't convinced.
"Why 53?" He finally asked. Aloud, he suddenly realized, unlike the rest of this conversation.
Was this all in his head?
"It's not all in your head." A voice replied, also aloud this time. It came in from the slots by the thick metal door at the end of his cell, muffled- but still drawing Taylor's attention as it continued. "And 53 is what they called me, before they brought me in."
Taylor approached the door to the hallway, peering at an angle to try and gleam some sort of sight outside the cell.
"You're never going to see anything like that." The voice laughed, ringing inside his head again. "I already told you: you're going to have to learn a few tricks, and roll with the weirdness around here."
"What? How?" Taylor asked, turning again to confirm one last time that there was truly no one else in the cell with him. "Who are you? How are you talking to me?"
"I already told you, I'm number 53."
"What does that mean?" Taylor whispered, anxiety growing as he stepped back from the door to turn about the room, eyes darting.
"That's what they called me, when the Government brought me in: Person of interest number 53." The voice replied, followed by a distant reply from the door- aloud and echoing, as if from far away. "But you can call me Sarah."
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Asura
Xiaowei is an orphan living with his uncle and his family. His parents died a week after he was born. At the age of eight he found out that he had a very special body. His family felt impeccable doom because of this body since only one in a billion will have this body and this just so happens to have happen in their family who are one of the elite clans of the continent. In order to remove this danger they shipped him away. To a continent far, far away. His uncle loved Xiaowei like his own child and vow to bring him back no matter what. He told Xiaowei before he departured that he will do everything within his power to bring him back.
8 438In the Field of War
The year is 107 of the First Age. A great peace reigned over the lands of Pangea. But in peace, war is bound. Great evil have risen, sent to destroy the world and it's inhabitants. Now, the leaders of the 9 kingdoms must join forces to stop this dwelling threat. Join now as one of the most gruesome war will ensue on the lands of Pangea. Massive armies from all kingdoms. Witness bold tactics, hard-fought battles, brave soldiers who will fight for their lands, for their freedom and the cost of it all.
8 106RITE OF PASSAGE
Heralded by the Black Sun the 9th Age has come to Lemuria. With time's merciless march will rise new heroes and new villains. For whenever a new Age dawns, it brings with it an era of change. As conquerors fight for dominion, wars and betrayal rend the land asunder. As blood flows like water—Shall rise four chosen champions of Fate. The Raven. The Snake. The Butterfly & The Tiger. It will be their duty to restore order to this land ravaged by chaos. But are they up to the task? Because, unknown to the world they do not belong here. In this foreign land of many perils, can they overcome their trials and emerge victorious? Or will they become nameless corpses washed away by the blood of History. And while all the races—fae, human, undead and ogre, fight for supremacy, something sinister is brewing on the Other Side.
8 203Under the Veil
""""Do you wish for a new world?"""Hiraku Himura hates humanity. Pretentious and disillusioned, he escapes from the dying world through books, and relieves his daily stress through savage violence. Modern society judges him as scum, and he does the same. But despite his self-indulgent rampage, he is only one struggling human, in a world of seven billion.The abnormality he desires never appears, and the event that shakes his world never happens.The world will not change for him.So for Hiraku, the answer to that question is obvious.If the world will not change, he'll cross over to another one.---Cover art by Mogumo
8 115Ascension: Journey of an Emperor
Aegeus lived a life as a normal farmer, tending to the fields and caring for his little sister. He had knew not his origins, nor did he ever need to know. All that mattered was that he and his sister could lead simple but satisfying lives as farmers. However, everything changed when the Empire attacked. With his life and ambitions now turned on its head, what will he do from here on out?
8 199Shifters Reborn
" I'm... 200 years in the future? Can a loser like me... really start over?" Lars the loser, was someone who nobody noticed nobody saw and no one respected. When his high school bully beats him into a coma, Lars draws his last breaths thinking."Am I going to die a loser?" When He awakes from his coma, he finds himself in a another world in a distant future, and that he is no longer a human, but he is now a Shifter, a being with supernatural powers. Lars, now in the body of a Shifter named Axel, sets out to become the strongest Shifter in his academy. Learning from the bullying he experienced in his first life, he sets off on an adventure to become the strongest. However, as he navigates through the academy he has premonitions of a great tragedy that he realized he had dreamt about in his previous life. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
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