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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#232: Polar Night & Northern Lights

Winter solstice has come and gone here in the northern hemisphere and we’re slowly heading towards brighter days. Above the arctic circle, however, inhabitants will have to wait a bit longer to see the sun. There, polar night — where the sun doesn’t rise for months — still keeps its grip. Inhospitable as this may seem, entire communities have adapted to the long night, and the northern lights playing across the sky provide a reminder that light will eventually return.

This week's prompts are inspired by polar nights, human resilience, and, most of all, the glimmers of hope that make it all worthwhile.

This week's prompts

Set your story during polar night.

Winter – 37 stories

Write a story set in a world with a dying sun, or where light is a scarce resource.

Science Fiction – 65 stories

Write a story about someone witnessing — or trying to witness — a celestial phenomenon.

Adventure – 38 stories

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

Character – 84 stories

Write a story about someone looking for a sign in a dark sky.

Angst – 56 stories

Stories

“A Crying Shame” by D'Spencer Luyao

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #232

Trigger warnings: main character death, murder, implied suicide. The sun was always there, and it was an unsung luxury to not have to think about it. I wish I knew enough about it to tell you why we started to. I wish I had known enough about it to do something. Maybe I did. Maybe we all did. The concern began long before I was born: Global Warming. Always talked about in big, important letters, everywhere that...

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“It Wasn't Neil Armstrong, Either” by Lindsay D

Submitted to Contest #232

6:50 PM. “I can’t wear this,” I mutter out loud to the dust bunnies floating in the air as my reflection stares back at me. My fingers fumble with the buttons of the light green collared shirt. I slide it off my shoulders and toss it on the floor into the pile of other garments that already failed inspection this afternoon. It’s the fourth outfit I’ve tried on so far, and I’m running out of time. But tonight has to be perfect. I rifle through my closet one more time and finally settle on my black Radiohead t-shirt and a pair of ...

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“The Primordial Flame” by LazyDuck .

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...

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“When Seel Froze” by C.N. Jung

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. ...

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“The Thief” by Emily Heneisen

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #232

I duck behind a crumbling wall, dropping to my knees on cold dirt. The sharp edge catches my shoulder, the jagged brick ripping open my skin. Burning pain shoots through my arm, a silent cry squeezing its way through my throat. And that’s all it is: a soundless echo of pain, a reverberation that I refuse to give voice to. I clamp my mouth shut, hoping my moment of shock was inaudible in the night air. The taste of metal– of copper– coats my mouth and I realize I’ve bitten my tongue in the frenzy. I open my mouth again and spit crimson onto t...

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“We Are Sorry for the Inconvenience” by Jeanne Savelle

Submitted to Contest #232

This is what we tell the newborns. We apologize for the inconvenience. We don’t explain. We just tell them, hoping that one day they will understand. We had to go underground to survive. We were the hunted, relentlessly so. That was 40 years ago, and still, we remain out of the light of the life-giving sun. There will be no reprieve. Those who remained on the surface blotted out all joy. Those of us from before, the ones who remember the sun and the moon, most of them went insane. I was there at the beginning of our exile. I was 9 ye...

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“What makes love last?” by Claire Trbovic

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...

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“Aurora of Love” by Muhammed Fuaad

Submitted to Contest #232

Aza was running late as usual and was cycling as fast as he could. It was raining and the roads were slippery. His headphones drowned out the sound of the bus honking at him as he ran a red light. He arrived at his college out of breath and drenched. Usually, early mornings coupled with drenched clothes annoyed him and put him in a mood. This morning was different, Aza was excited to see his girlfriend after being apart for two weeks. His eyes darted everywhere, searching for her as he walked into the atrium of their college. “Aza!” Som...

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“Green Curtains” by Bonnie Jay

Submitted to Contest #232

Adelyn Pepper didn’t open her curtains anymore. It was a cautious step, and one she had thought about carefully. Her ultimate goal in life, as in all our lives, was pure and total happiness. Things just kept getting in the way. She had left Vancouver because it was too wet. No one can be happy when the sky is grey. Salt Lake City was too busy. Santa Monica was too hot. She moved to Svalbard in the summer and the sun didn’t set for 99 days. It was perfectly dry and peaceful. Happiness was close, but the work was not done yet. ...

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“A Glowing Goal” by Steffen Lettau

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...

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“Cuando el Sol Sale Ror el Oeste” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #232

It was the last day of our summer break, and it was expected that the world would end.“Today is the day, but I don’t know when...“ Anna said, her hand shielding her eyes against the bright, midday sun sparkling off the blue ocean waves. Me and my cousins, Anna and Miguel had been on the beach, playing cards on towels on our last morning, maybe ever. A solar eclipse had been forecasted for sometime that afternoon. A rumor had spread widely that this year, in the complete darkness of the total eclipse, natural disasters would en...

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“Ember” by Craig Martin

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...

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“Rebirth on Xenoscythe” by Kevin Marlow

Submitted to Contest #232

Jagged spears of light sliced through the dome of the cavern. The planet Xenoscythe's sun, Aerialis spun in a perpetual dance with its barren rocky surface. Its scant rays fed the underground cathedral rock amphitheaters through rifts in the crust, allowing life to survive under the surface. Vast rippling pools of fresh water were ringed with igneous rock formations bursting with gold and green mosses, giant leafed ferns, purple flowers, succulent fruits, amphibians, and tiny flitting red finches. The sounds of the waterfall splashing into t...

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“The Eternal Light of the Ten Song Lantern” by John Werner

Submitted to Contest #232

Darkness lay like a blanket over the peaks and valleys of the Spires of Hildefund. The pale moonlight bounced off the ribbon of the snow-crusted pass, Gelvira’s crunching footprints the only blemish upon the pristine meandering track. It was rare that the Sisterhood of the Ten Song Lantern sent its priestesses above ground. Rarer still was it that they were sent without the accompaniment of a Swordsinger, those brave and noble warriors who were sworn to protect them.Gelvira’s boots were warm, crafted in the way of the People of the Hovihar, ...

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“Dear Son.” by Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #232

John paces nervously up and down the back yard. He keeps looking at his watch and back to the overcast, starless, dull black sky. Are the clouds in the way? Will he be able to see it? Did he understand the message correctly? Is this the night? What time is it now? 10:47.Max whines and drops his ball at John's feet. Distracted, he tosses the ball toward the bushes, only to have it dropped back on his feet in mere seconds."Sorry, boy. It's kind of dark to be tossing balls. I promise we'll go to the park tomorrow." Max whines but settles at his...

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$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

106

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 12, 2024 EST

Won by Jonathan Page 🏆

Title: The Lantern of Kaamos

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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