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Write a story involving a magical potion — which may or may not work.

Posted in Fantasy on Dec 9, 2022

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✍️ 58 stories

An Impossible Escape

Submitted to Contest #176

She flapped her arms as if they were wings on a giant bird, slowly but with great power. Feeling her feet rising off the ground, she used all her will to ascend, each flap much stronger on the downward stroke. The elation coursing through her veins, she forced her mind to focus on rising into the air, later there’d be time for celebration. Upwards she rose, each stroke filled with determination and fear. She couldn’t afford to be caught again; the penalty would be severe. Higher and higher she ascended, now able to see beyond the towering wa...

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Living and Dying

Submitted to Contest #176

“Let me get this straight. You want me to wait here with you, in this chair, on this porch, and not go anywhere for the next twenty-four hours, or I’m going to die?” asked Martin.  Fred nodded vigorously. “Yes, that’s right. We have to try and do something different this time. Please believe me. I can’t watch you die again.” “Die again? Are you mad?” Fred took a gulp like he was trying to swallow something unpleasant. “I’ve seen you die about fifty times and this is the first time I’ve levelled with you. You must believe me.” Ma...

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The Witch of Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #176

Hello Darkness, my old friend echoes through my mind as I lay on satin cushions. The air touching my exposed skin, utterly still, and the silence surrounding me, suffocating. No hope, no means of reconciliation. Here was my new home, until all is no more. Had I’d known where I would ultimately end up, I never would have gotten mixed up with the Amanda, whom the locals nicknamed the Witch of Hamilton. Amanda was a beautiful young woman who’d recently moved to town. Though her looks were alluring, something deeper, dark, lingered in her soul...

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The Devils Ivy

Submitted to Contest #176

Cold tendrils of water push and pull at my feet. This ocean, this force of nature which I cannot part with thoughts alone, moves around me with a great delicacy. It laps at the shore, only to pull away. Faced with constant indecision. To stay or to go. Push and pull.   Enough of this gray sky. Enough of contemplating passive waves. I venture past foaming water, past fine grains of sand, and back into the thicket of trees and trailing plants until I am upon the devil’s ivy, epipremnum aureum. Specks of gold fleck its waxy green fa...

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The Potion

Submitted to Contest #176

           Charlotte Brubaker, a thirty-five-year-old runway model, was receiving less and less calls lately for modeling jobs. According to her agent, the clothing designers were seeking younger models.            Since the age of fourteen, Charlotte had dreamed of being a model. She collected issues of fashion magazines and practiced the poses and facial expressions of her idols like Claudia Schiffer, Kathy Ireland, and Cindy Crawf...

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Magical Unicorn Potion

Submitted to Contest #176

Rachel found it near Marahoon’s cabin labeled “Magical Unicorn Potion.”   She put the vial into her hoodie pocket, got on her bicycle and raced home.  She was barely able to speak when she got to my house to show me the vial.   It was no secret Marahoon was a sorcerer, an evil one at that. “Do you really think this is a magic potion?” She asked me.  Rachel Narrack had been my neighbor for as long as I could remember.  She was as level headed as anyone I had ever known, but this was anything we had ever encount...

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Mia

Submitted to Contest #176

Love potions. Such a waste of time. Mr. Heartsick sitting in front of me is starting to ramble. I can’t concentrate. I let him drone on about her freckles and hair and how her giggle makes his chest constrict. When he’s done I’ll give him my speech about how love potions cause a temporary infatuation that slowly fades out, and he won’t listen to a word. He’ll give me almost as much of his attention as I’m giving him my own now. The truth is, his only thoughts will be of basking in her infatuation and not a thing about what he needs to do to ...

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The Power of Possibilities

Submitted to Contest #176

Once upon a time, there was a young woman who was desperate for a change in life. She had been feeling stuck in a rut for months and was growing increasingly frustrated with her situation. One day, while walking home from work, she stumbled upon an old apothecary tucked away in a small alley in her neighborhood. Intrigued, she decided to take a closer look at the shop. Inside, she found all sorts of strange and wonderful things. She noticed a dusty old bottle filled with a mysterious blue liquid. The shopkeeper, an old man with a twinkle i...

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Before I Wake

Submitted to Contest #176

In the small town of Belfast, Maine, at a quarter past seven the night of Christmas Eve, an apothecarist was startled awake from her prolonged sleep on the sofa. The hair on the back of her neck stood erect, goosebumps dotted her arms, and a feeling she had long since forgotten returned to her like an old friend – the feeling that an unannounced, important guest was arriving in the coming hours. She urgently wrapped her shawl around her shoulders and went to the elixir cabinet, scanning the glass bottles of various sizes and shapes with her ...

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The Not-So Immortal Life Of Jack Stewart

Submitted to Contest #176

Year: 1500, England: Winchester They say you can not live forever. Or can you? In medieval England inside an old stone building, was a gray-haired man who was desperately trying to set the one who killed his wife in jail. But not everything would go as he had planned. This is his frightful story: "Ah, yes" murmerd Jack, he was anxiously waiting for this moment since he started. "The potion is almost ready". Cautiously the old man grabbed the glass vial full of black liquid on the glowing-hot coals. He then set it on the table which w...

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Love Potion

Submitted to Contest #176

   Sam was leaning over the back of the couch staring out the window at Becky across the street. When his mother said something. “Sam… Sam… SAMUEL!” she yelled. “Huh? … What?” he replied with a start. “What are you looking at?” she asked as she peered out the window to see. “You might just as well forget about Becky. You're not her type.” “Mom… Sheesh,” he said. “Is that all you wanted was to tease me?” “No!” she answered. “Tom and Tina are going out for their wedding anniversary tonight and Wendy is coming over for the night....

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The Boy and the Apple

Submitted to Contest #176

Bobby was fascinated by the cart salespeople who gathered in the town square every day. The men and women would perform demonstrations of their homemade tonics, elixirs and potions and would attract large crowds.  School children like Bobby would sometimes skip school and make their way to the square, avoiding the horse-drawn carts of the busy steets just to witness the spectacle and the theater. "Come one, come all" the salespeople would shout. "Come young, come old. Come witness the greatest potions around!" Each salesperson would...

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Love Potion No. 9

Submitted to Contest #176

Love Potion No.9.   She looked at my palm and she made a magic sign She said, "What you need is Love Potion No. 9.” (Lieber and Stoller 1959) Internet dating. You probably haven’t tried it, but you probably have a good idea of what’s involved and you probably also have a bit of a prejudiced view of it. I know that as soon as I tell you I have tried it, no matter how hip you consider yourself to be, the thought that I am a bit of a sad loser will creep into that supposedly open mind of yours. Well, we all have our prej...

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Toetally Wicked

Submitted to Contest #176

Yesterday something happened.Don’t panic - it’s not a big deal. You might even laugh about this later. You might have noticed that the water from your tap tasted a little different this morning. Did you notice? Don’t be alarmed. Let me take a guess though; you’ve consumed at least one sip of water from your tap today? More specifically, since 2.17 this morning? It might have been a coffee. It might have been bubbling around a creamy pot of home brand oats. Maybe you suckled it down, latching onto that refreshing glas...

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Aqua Tofana

Submitted to Contest #176

Giulia heard about the witch from a widow, an acquaintance of her mother's. The widow was rich and had three successful sons. Her husband had died of a fever, leaving behind an immense estate. Using the acumen and wealth which God had bestowed upon her, the widow shrewdly recuperated her husband's crumbling holdings, educated her sons, and married them off to rich and powerful families. The youngest of her sons was rumored to be betrothed to the daughter of the house of Valois. There was also a rumor that the widow has had illicit relationsh...

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