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Write a story about someone who has been tasked to keep a flame burning, surrounded by total darkness.

Posted in Character on Jan 5, 2024

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✍️ 83 stories

The Darkness

Submitted to Contest #232

“Darkness is upon us, Will. Throw me another log for the fire, would you?” Father Beacon requested. “There is no moon tonight, so we must remain vigilant at all times. On the morrow at daybreak, we shall continue our journey to the safety of Castle Divinity.” I questioned not, the decision to undertake a journey so late in the day. Father Beacon had successfully trapesed through the forest of Dean on several occasions. However, on each of those times, he had never had to camp in the woods after dark. So, it was surprising to me and our other...

44 likes 18 comments 18
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Five Minutes to Midnight

Submitted to Contest #232

January 1st, 202411.15pmI was five hours into a twelve hour drive from Edinburgh to Penzance, on my way down for Gran’s funeral. A gran I didn’t like and hadn’t seen since I was a kid but had still been harassed into showing up for. I was doing it under duress. It was New Year’s Day for God’s sake. Who has to travel on New Year’s Day for a funeral on the 2nd of January? Who dies on December 30th necessitating the need for said funeral? My inconsiderate, miserly, reclusive Gran on my mum’s side, who used to shut me out in the cold and shout a...

43 likes 35 comments 35
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Semantics

Submitted to Contest #232

“We’re done, Eric!” “Bit over-dramatic, mate.” “This is the last time I do anythin’ wif you or follow your stupid ideas. There’s nothin’ down here.” “How do you know? You can’t see anything.” “And why is that, Eric?” “Not my fault the batteries went dead… in both our flashlights. We’ve been down ‘ere longer than expected, so it’s only natural that the batteries would run out of juice.” “Before we left the car, I asked you if you had new batteries in them.” “No, you asked me if the batteries were good.” “Same thing.” “Semantics, Tom....

40 likes 36 comments 36
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Evening Light

Submitted to Contest #232

The girl who holds the candle never showed up. Scarlet was supposed to be done at five. The manager promised her that by five o’clock, she’d be all set, because the girl who works the night shift never bails. That was three hours ago, and Scarlet’s arm is beginning to grow tired. She’s allowed to put the candle down, but only for a minute. Then, she has to pick it back up again, and somehow, after resting for a moment, it always feels heavier when she retrieves it. Short, sputtering breaths dribble out from the woman lying in bed. Scarle...

39 likes 25 comments 25
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When Seel Froze

Submitted to Contest #232

Tanson was a dragon. He was a young dragon whose head was always held high with pride. He by himself was as strong as a herd of oxen. His heart burned with a zest for life that no one could quench. He was the last of his kind. The very last dragon in all of the millions of planets and galaxies that were spread out over the vast universe.Tanson didn’t bow before anyone—not kings or queens, no man or beast.Tanson could fly across galaxies with his powerful wings and sturdy lungs. He could swing from planet to planet in the span of a few days. ...

23 likes 6 comments 6
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The Primordial Flame

Submitted to Contest #232

Silence drowned the land. The air, hung in space, paralyzed, too afraid to move. The passage of time blurred, memories of past days feels like stories of distant lives, their details fading like echoes in vast expanses. Crouched, I sit with knees drawn close, my face buried between them, reciting my oath, the burden I swore to bear. “In the hallowed ground where I stand, my pledge resounds. With fire and earth as witnesses, I swear to protect the Sacred Flame. For this life and for those to come, this shall be my word, and I shall stand by...

23 likes 4 comments 4
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A Glowing Goal

Submitted to Contest #232

Author's note: Yes, this is inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's "Nevermore"; it is an homage to the author. There's no crow, though.Here is a Man, no longer struttin',The woods await, the silence cuttin',A tree takes light, a sign of glutton,But he starves for a different sight.Solstice arrived, his children screamin'Against a sun that once was beamin'As both arose from an ocean streamin'Oblivious to mortal human might.A Kin to Sun, Man keeps here shinin'While facing Solstice daughter's whinin'.She cuts forth like axes meant for minin'Yet Man stan...

22 likes 10 comments 10
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What makes love last?

Submitted to Contest #232

Iteration 7996. We sit across the mud-stained table from one another. Our legal cavalry sit either side, worn by a battle they intentionally made worse to benefit their own pockets. The table is so god damn wide, wide enough to fit all the worldly possessions we built together, ready for them to be un-ceremonially separated.I’m not sad; that's a lie I’m distraught, but not that we’re getting divorced, it’s happened so many times before nothing surprises me any more. What I can’t fathom, as I hear her discuss how we’ll sell the summer house w...

21 likes 15 comments 15
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Ember

Submitted to Contest #232

“Do not talk to it. That is the most important rule.”The girl nodded. Nearby the water mill turned.“There will be lights, and noises sometimes. Things you won’t understand.” the elder continued. These were instructions he had given many times before. “Occasionally there will be words, some in our language. Sometimes it will try to talk directly to you. You must not talk back to it.” He looked down at her to check she was listening. “Do you understand this rule, child?”The girl nodded again. “Do you know what happens if you break this ru...

20 likes 0 comments 0
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My Only Sunshine

R S

Submitted to Contest #232

It was exhausting. Fighting wind and rain, sleet and snow, hail and fog day after day. Protecting the little spark that seemed constantly on the verge of fading away.  “Don’t forget to leave before rush hour on your way home this weekend,” her father reminded her over the phone, “you know it turns a three hour drive into four and a half hours.” “Yes, Dad, I know. I just gotta make sure I time my work in the lab right. I told you my advisor gets upset when I leave early so I gotta make sure all my work is finished so he doesn’t have ...

20 likes 4 comments 4
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The Final Dance

Submitted to Contest #232

Trigger Warning: death, implied assault The flame flickers. In. Out. For a terrifying moment, it looks like it is about to be extinguished with a puff of smoke. You wrap your hands around it to guard it from the wind. The flame lights anew.              The candle is almost a stub now. The wax has melted to become a mountain of cream, one barely visible in the pitch-darkness of the room. But the flame remains true.           &...

18 likes 0 comments 0
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Holes in My Memory

Submitted to Contest #232

I finally understood the point of funerals. It’s the “moment of clarity” you wouldn’t expect to happen before dying. But I guess it helps that my death so far has been long and drawn out. Hours melted away like the wax on my candle, and the sun should’ve been beaming through the attic window by now. I’m still surrounded by darkness though, my legs painfully asleep, my eyes toasted from the light of my single candle, and my world cut down to just this small circle of salt around me. It’s just me and her now. Me and It. Almost ten years ag...

18 likes 3 comments 3
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Bearing Light in Eternal Shadows

Submitted to Contest #232

The darkness was absolute, a thick, impenetrable shroud that wrapped around me like a second skin. It was as if the void itself had consumed every particle of light, leaving me with nothing but the sound of my own breath and the soft crackle of the flame in my hands. I clutched the torch tighter, feeling the warmth against the chill that seemed to seep from the shadows themselves. They called it the Eternal Flame, a beacon against the consuming abyss that stretched endlessly in all directions. My task, my burden, was to keep it burning, to s...

18 likes 2 comments 2
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Light in Time of Darkness

Shortlisted for Contest #232 ⭐️

Here's a word: Entoptic. It means that what you are seeing is entirely within your nervous system, your brain. It's not 'out there'. You've experienced it: Before you go to sleep; when the curtains are drawn and the lights out, and the room is totally dark. Stare into that darkness and watch the brilliant spots and sparkles wandering in the air.  Only, they aren't in the air. Now rub your eyes and watch the fireworks; the streaks of blues and bursts of orange. The scintillating world that isn't there. Now imagine you're in a cave, a rea...

18 likes 9 comments 9
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The Flame that Holds the Darkness at Bay

Submitted to Contest #232

The monks of Imau Getan had been singing for 698 years, 9 moons and 17 days without pause.  Had they stopped, or so they believed, a darkness like no other would enfold the world for a thousand years.  Men would turn against friend and neighbor, cities would burn, nations would go to war for no reason other than to destroy one another.  The monks’ song was a Lighthouse to the world.  Their liturgy named it the Flame.  And so the monks sang.  Sometimes their ranks were hundreds, too many to fit in the unchangin...

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