Start or end your story with a hero losing their powers.

Posted in Character on Aug 9, 2024

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 41 stories

“Monochrome” by Mira Sharma

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #263

I used to have these dreams. They all started the same. I’d start off on my rooftop, under a midday sun, and feel my weight kind of flow through me. Like it was leaking out the top of my head. Then, when it was all gone, the last gram leached from the ends of my hair, my feet would lift. And I rose, and rose, and rose, up past the tree, the telephone wires, the three-storied behemoth on the other side of my block. The roads would shrink. People became ants. I’d rise into the clouds, feel their clammy embrace, drift past them. The world...

8 comments 8

Read story

“Charming” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #263

I knew it was gone when she didn’t leave the key. My talent had always been present under very specific circumstances, but I was well aware of what they were. When all the boxes were checked, so to speak, I never failed to achieve my goal. Some called it seduction, but that implied a relationship to sexuality. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, in the wrong hands, a power such as mine could be used to take advantage of all sorts of people, but I never used it in any such way. For me, charm was a responsibility. That didn’t mean I ...

20 comments 20

Read story

“Lead a Normal Life ” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #263

It’s nice here with a view of trees.Eating with a spoon?They don’t give you knives?‘Spect you watch those trees.Blowing in the breeze,We want to see you lead a normal life.-“Lead A Normal Life” (Peter Gabriel)And with that, I lowered my arms and waited for the cheers to stop as I rested.When you are a superhero, you know that there are going to be moments when you have to make decisions that will affect a lot of people. You will have to do things that no one else will have to choose. That was my fate.I had to choose.And now, it was all over....

13 comments 13

Read story

“The path you set ablaze” by M.D. Adler

Submitted to Contest #263

TW: Mentions of physical violence. Some stories shouldn't be told by me, especially stories such as this one. Regrettably, you will find this story bruised by my thoughts, my bias, my voice, all things of mine that shouldn't belong here. I bruised it while trying to hold on tight, as it twisted, turned, and writhed in my hands, trying to escape. “I don't belong to you.” It shrieked. I felt guilty digging my nails deeper into these stories, knowing none of these memories were mine to exhibit. Yet, all of them are true. There's a reason why yo...

17 comments 17

Read story

“The Fall” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #263

(domestic violence and swearing)“I’m home!” came the voice from the hall.Oliver dropped his comic, rushed from the living room, sprinted along the hall, and jumped into the arms of his father.“There’s my Ollie,” his father said, giving him a big hug. Ollie hugged him back, breathing in the smell of sweat and coal-dust. This was his favourite moment of the day.“What you been up to, son?”“I won a race at school. Miss Jones said my story was good. Pete Wood had a fight with Benny Henderson, and he won. We had gym – I climbed a rope right to the...

12 comments 12

Read story

“Hearing What Is Not Spoken” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #263

What Tom would come to call his ‘gift’ came to him when he was just a boy of ten. At first he thought that it was just his imagination running wild with a voice it did not have before. But over the passage of a few days, he began to understand it for what it was. He knew what people were thinking by hearing the words that emerged from their minds, but did not through their tongues. .He remembered his grandfather George telling him when he was a little younger that a few generations back, members of his family were thought to be wiz...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Last Radiance” by Samantha Bull

Submitted to Contest #263

The once-glorious Starspire, a towering structure of gleaming crystal, now loomed ominously in shadow as its protector, Saliria, traversed the night. Her luminous powers had once infused Hargren with vitality, serving as both a beacon of hope and a barrier against the dark forces encroaching upon their land. The menace threatening Hargren was not merely an elemental force; it was a malevolent entity pressing against the fringes of Saliria’s light. With each fleeting moment, her ceaseless battle drained her energy, causing her light to dimini...

5 comments 5

Read story

“A Mother’s Haven” by ♡ Tana ♡

Submitted to Contest #263

I was your hero when I let my body break open and bear you screaming into this world. My power was the cord that threaded between my legs and into your stomach, beautiful and vivid evidence of the gift I gave you. For six beautiful moments you lay on my deflated stomach and screamed life into my swollen breasts, begging to sustain you. Every move you made I felt reflected with a tug in my own abdomen, ghost memories of when you tumbled through my womb, and not a hiccup could go unfelt. I was your hero until the midwife turned you on yo...

9 comments 9

Read story

“Waterfall” by Cath Kennedy

Submitted to Contest #263

The waterfall falls,Yet I can only hear its sound. I sit by the small waterfall, just ten minutes away from my two-story house. The third week, fifth day, and the tenth hour of summer break feel like three years, five months, and ten weeks with empty eyes. Graduation feels like it’s long gone in my history, and the only thing I can look forward to is Brown University in just a few weeks. I’m a rarity, a one-in-a-million phenomenon. A medical miracle, but gone wrong. A cloud followed wherever my gaze went, from paragraphs of my final essay to...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Not Easy being A Superheroes’ Kid” by Greg DeLaurier

Submitted to Contest #263

Lois, I’m worried about the boy.” “Why’s that honey?” “Well, yesterday he flew down to stop a runaway train, and he couldn’t do it.” “What do you mean?,” said Lois. “He just couldn’t stop it....

0 comments 0

Read story

“The power of time” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #263

Penelope had it all: a good family, a cute house, and a satisfying job. But she also had a secret she had never shared with anyone: she was able to bend time and space. She had always seen people around her struggling daily to reach the end of their days and do everything they wanted at work, school, and in their private lives. Time seemed too little for family and friends. People ran continuously, restless, to meet their ends, enjoy their lives, and spend time with people they liked, but not her. She had time. She had love. She had everythi...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Ashen Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of Alara Thorne” by Yanna Khaleel

Submitted to Contest #263

In the kingdom of Valthorne, the name Alara Thorne was whispered with a mixture of awe and reverence. Known far and wide as the Ashen Phoenix, she was a beacon of hope in a land plagued by darkness. Her powers, a gift from the mythical phoenix, allowed her to control flames, to summon and manipulate fire with a mere thought. The people believed her to be invincible, their last line of defense against the ever-growing shadows that threatened their world.Alara’s rise to power had been meteoric. Born into a family of warriors, she had always be...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Boop on the Nose” by Micheline Chen

Submitted to Contest #263

“Breaking news. Planet Earth had stopped rotating for approximately fifteen minutes this morning. The planet resumed rotation. Physicists remain confused over this phenomenon. We are interviewing-” The screen turned dark, reflecting my blank face back at me. I felt a hand ruffle my hair. It was my father. It was also my father who turned off the television. “You don’t have...

1 comment 1

Read story

“The Sacrifice” by Jane Cantor

Submitted to Contest #263

Angelica thought it must be impossible to find anything new in the world, something no one had ever seen before. She had seen so much over her lifetime – lifetimes - surely there was nothing original, nothing for her to experience that could bring joy or anger or despair, or any of the emotions experienced every day by all the normal people she met. She stared around at the wild, desolate scenery, her constant sanctuary since time immemorial, deserted and unchanging. Far below, the lake stretched away between the hills, the surface wri...

1 comment 1

Read story

“A Lionheart's Feast” by Alyssa Krestal

Submitted to Contest #263

She was magical. Powerful. Mystifying. My grandmother was the brightest light in our home. More welcoming than the sun after a thunderstorm. Warmer than a mug of hot cocoa and a freshly lit fire. The reason I wanted to learn witchcraft myself. Her vigor inspired me regardless of the dangers ahead. I remember the way I felt when her exuberant spirit shriveled into something lesser. A normality of sorts. I felt the shift for only a moment before the strength transferred to me. It was the same feeling as a moth begging for warmth th...

2 comments 2

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story from the antagonist’s point of view.

Character – 84 stories

Write about two mortal enemies who must work together.

Character – 28 stories

Center your story around someone facing their biggest fear or enemy.

Character – 70 stories

Write the origin story of a notorious villain.

Character – 89 stories

Contest #263

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Heroes and Villains

$250

Prize money

312

Contest entries

108

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 16, 2024 EST

Won by Eliza Entwistle 🏆

Title: Petrified

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Start or end your story with a hero losing their powers.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 41 stories

“Monochrome” by Mira Sharma

“Charming” by Story Time

“Lead a Normal Life ” by Kendall Defoe

“The path you set ablaze” by M.D. Adler

“The Fall” by PJ Town

“Hearing What Is Not Spoken” by John Steckley

“The Last Radiance” by Samantha Bull

“A Mother’s Haven” by ♡ Tana ♡

“Waterfall” by Cath Kennedy

“Not Easy being A Superheroes’ Kid” by Greg DeLaurier

“The power of time” by Laura Camacho Frias

“The Ashen Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of Alara Thorne” by Yanna Khaleel

“Boop on the Nose” by Micheline Chen

“The Sacrifice” by Jane Cantor

“A Lionheart's Feast” by Alyssa Krestal

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story from the antagonist’s point of view.

Write about two mortal enemies who must work together.

Center your story around someone facing their biggest fear or enemy.

Write the origin story of a notorious villain.

Contest #263

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

312

Contest entries

108

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: