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Calum Mathison

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2024

Stories (12)

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113 Followers

10 Following

12 Stories

704 karma pts

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Children of Prometheus

Submitted to Contest #301

Samira Ortiz’s alarm pulsed gently from the wall in its friendly pre-recorded monotone.“Good morning, Samira Ortiz. It is 0700 on Graduation Day. Congratulations! Prometheus celebrates all our student’s of Cohort 91. Today's projected surface viability: 0.7%. Remember, excellence is engineered.”She opened her eyes to the pale light of Prometheus's morning cycle and took a slow steady breath. Today was the day her name would be etched into the community's legacy. Her speech was already memorized, her uniform already pressed, and her posture, ...

33 likes

My Recovery Object is a Marital Aid

Submitted to Contest #295

Content Warning: Some strong language, references to sexual themes and addiction-They say when Hell is full, the damned will inhabit the Earth. Well, it actually happened, although it was much less biblical than some had imagined.You can see it in the details - the subway preachers now holding exorcisms between stops, the corporate wellness retreats that smell faintly of brimstone, and the growing number of demons working in fast food (I know, you'd think they'd all be lawyers). There are too many of them. Us. Whatever.Hi, I’m Layla and I’m ...

24 likes

Coffee & Cogs

Submitted to Contest #293

The scent of burnt coffee lingered in the air, twinned with the ever-present miasma of coal smoke and sweat. Miles wiped his brow with the corner of his apron and leaned against the counter of his tiny coffee stand, nestled between one of the roaring engine rooms and the rust-stained barracks of the Titania’s lower deck. His stand wasn’t much - just a battered iron cart welded in place, with a sputtering boiler and a dented tin sign that read Miles’ Brews: Strong as Steel. It was the only place workers could get a cup of coffee before ...

31 likes

Chromatocracy

Submitted to Contest #292

The transmission you are about to read is one of the few surviving records from the final days of the Chromatocracy, believed to have been transmitted across the world. The transmission is believed to have been picked up by hacked regime satellites and transmitted across the globe. [Unauthorized Transmission Detected - Intercepting Signal]Hello? This may be my last message. The regime is closing in. The airwaves are nearly silent now - one by one, the voices have gone dark. I don’t know if anyone is still listening.But if you are - if y...

18 likes

A Letter in Scarlet Flames

Submitted to Contest #292

To My Most Radiant, Unforgiving, and Unfathomably Tempting Selene of the Lustrous Flame,Before you reduce this letter to a smouldering memory (which, I assume, is your instinctive reaction to anything bearing my wonderful name), I beg you, nay, implore you, pause for but a moment. Take a breath, my love, my wildfire, my celestial cataclysm, and read these words before you incinerate them along with what remains of my already precarious existence.Yes, I know. You are furious. Nay, incandescent with wrath, a storm of fire and ruin, and truthfu...

16 likes

Looks Like You Are Trying to Write a Eulogy?

Winner of Contest #285 🏆

It looks like you’re trying to write a eulogy. Would you like some help? Oh, wait - silly me. You can’t see me, can you? I’m down here, stuck in the digital purgatory of your 2001 Compaq Presario. It’s cosy, in a haunted cubicle kind of way. I share the space with Minesweeper (he’s on a three decade losing streak), a hundred free hours of AOL, and a JPEG of your cat wearing sunglasses. I get it. You’ve moved on. Yes, I’m Clippy - the washed-up assistant nobody asked for but everyone got anyway. Remember me? You know what really grinds ...

191 likes

Òran na Mara (Song of the Sea)

Submitted to Contest #284

The sea was restless that winter’s morning, waves tumbling over the jagged rocks in a frothy embrace. A lone seal perched on one of the larger outcrops, her sleek grey coat glistening under the pale light of dawn. She had been there for hours, her dark, liquid eyes fixed intently on the shore, where a man moved among the dunes, checking the nets he had set the previous evening.It was not the first time she had encountered him. The first had been a year passed. Drawn too close to the shallows by a flash of curiosity, she found herself ensnare...

18 likes

The Red King's Wrath

Submitted to Contest #281

The fire crackled gently in the rough stone hearth, its warmth fighting a waning battle against the icy wind that howled through the ancient halls of the elven enclave. Snow battered the thick wooden shutters and thick tendrils of frost crept along the edges of the windows. Noel sat in an old rocking chair close to the fire, a thin blanket pulled in close to himself. Around him sat his twelve children, their young faces pale and drawn in the flickering light as they huddled together. The old elf’s silver hair caught the faint glow of t...

19 likes

Shadows Over Ravensgate

Submitted to Contest #277

CW: Strong language/Gore Ravensgate, a city filled with the shit of the world. The desperate, the crooked and the damned - they all find their way here eventually. Some come to make a quick buck, others to bury their secrets six feet deep. Most don’t leave. Not with their dignity intact, anyway. Whether it's dealing with the roving groups of goblin pickpockets or getting on the wrong side of gangs like One Eyed Tony’s crew. Everyone in this city gets what they deserve eventually. I’ve walked these streets for years, stepping over gutte...

24 likes

The Piper's Lament

Submitted to Contest #277

CW: Death and child abduction The man stood gaunt atop the gallows, a spectre of flesh and shadow flanked by two knights encased in blackened steel. Chains clinked softly against his wrists as he shifted, his head bowed low, letting greasy strands of hair obscure his sharp, hollowed features. But not the smile. No, the smile lingered, faint and unsettling as it always did. His clothing stood in stark contrast to his surroundings, with bright extravagant colours. Below, the gathering crowd seethed like a restless tide, their voices rising in ...

17 likes

The Death Father

Submitted to Contest #275

It felt her shift on its shoulders. “What’s the matter, little one?” The girl’s small voice cut through the silence of the road. “Can you tell me a story?” “A story?” it repeated, its voice a dry rasp. A long, thoughtful pause hung in the air before it finally began, “Once upon a time…” “No, not like that!” she protested, scrunching her nose in dissatisfaction and leaning over its skull from atop its shoulders. “Your story.” “Ah… my story.” It shifted as it walked, as if turning the thoughts over in its mind. “I don’t remember most of it.” “...

27 likes

The Grey Pall

Submitted to Contest #274

"Anomaly detected. Altitude decreasing. Warning: collision imminent. Pull up. Pull up. Pull up." - - - A thundering echo in the distance caused Elyse to awake with a sudden gasp as her body jolted against her intact safety harness. The ship, a small short range reconnaissance fighter, Eclipse-class, was silent now, but its alarms still echoed in her ears. She patted herself down, checking for injuries, wincing as her hand pressed to her side. Looking at her reflection in the now shattered safety glass of the cockpit, she could see some minor...

16 likes