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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of adventure short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

8550+ Adventure Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From riding the high sea to climbing behemoth mountains, there isn’t any action that’s out of reach when it comes to adventure stories.

Adventure Short Stories – Page 174 of 571

Maev and the Search for Power

Submitted to Contest #187

Maev let out a sigh. Magic was simple. She knew the correct sequencing, conjugations and permutations. She prided herself on having the appropriate level of intonations and movements from wand-craft to reading spell books and even advanced arts with a staff. All were child's play to her. But what she couldn’t do was cast a spell. Nothing. Not one iota of a spell that would help her pass her eleven plus exams allowing her to be on the mage path.   A movement to her left caused her to look over. A cat had found its way onto her windo...

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Cats Rarely Do

Submitted to Contest #187

Cat’s do not have a perception of time nor do they care about it and anything it touches, cat's rarely do. They go where they want, hunt where they want and sleep where they want, even if it happens to be an ancient temple of an old god. An acropolis from a land that was once covered in lush jungles, fields of fertile soil and swelling rivers which emptied into a sparkling sea. This land was called G’Usha and its capital was the seaside city of Orn’th. There were said to be many gods in G’Usha but the one worshiped in Orn’th was B’tha, ...

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Got the time?

Submitted to Contest #188

As the man walked across the street, he was approached by a salesman full of energy and confidence. "Got some time?" the peppy salesman questioned. "Time?" the man asked in confusion. "Would you like to buy some time?" the salesman asked again, as he continued walking next to the man who was in a rush. .The man asked, "I don't understand," to which the salesman went on to explain that he could sell the man some time, for a modest fee. He said 'to buy some time for those extra minutes that he may need to get away from his wife and to be a lit...

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Big Wheel

Submitted to Contest #187

She was my father’s sister. He had once called her barely domesticated but outside of that I knew nothing at all. It was hardly a teary affair. Besides me there was the mortician wearily glancing at his watch as though no one would notice. “Goodbye Aunt Susie.” I rested my hand on the closed wooden coffin. There were several photos. Not one absent of a kitten or two. Even the flowers seemed quite lonely. I had only attended due to a legal summoning and I was the only one of my family who lived in the area. Any items of value were sold to c...

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The Calling

Submitted to Contest #187

Shabby, dirty, wretched, tabby creature won’t let me be.It had been following me since before dark morphed into dawn. I caught its creepy white eyes glowing from behind a tree, its wild dusty fur ruffled like a weedy lawn, as I ran past it with my head torch on. Now it is bounding and weaving a few meters ahead, down through the open grasses, and juniper shrubs. It stops, turns every few minutes to make sure I’m still behind. We were on the path not long ago. Like a spell it led me off the beaten track. How? And more to the point why? My leg...

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The Wound

Submitted to Contest #187

His dirty fingernails made flakes of the raw skin surrounding the puss-filled crater above his ankle. Like a bitch in heat dragging her backside across the yard, he scratched the itch. His fingers became wet with a viscous mixture of blood and puss. He was sure that the antibiotics to cure his staph infection hadn't worked; the bowl-shaped depression was becoming larger, and the swelling of his chaffed skin around the wound would soon burst like a volcanic fissure and consume more of his leg. Don't lose sight of the long game by reveling in ...

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Ace Roman in a Different Breed of Trouble

Submitted to Contest #187

It was just my luck; the Watertown gang was pushing out their territory again. I usually keep my nose out of politics, after all, I don’t much care who owns what as long as I can sit down and get a drink. But those Watertown boys look down on everyone who doesn’t live in a big house on the hill; especially if they go visiting canaries. I must say I’ve seen a number of sisters in my time and it weren’t a nunnery. So, I was laying low behind the 7-11 nursing a few fresh cuts. There was a tingle in my skin that made my hair stand on end. I ...

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A Tiger's Tale

Submitted to Contest #187

Being born a Hindu, reincarnation is an important part of my belief, and by some miracle, I have a memory of what’s happening to me. In my past life, my name was Advik, and I was a simple merchant who sold my wares to anyone with a few rupees in their pocket. During my lifetime, I tried to be fair to my customers, and I was doing well, but Vishnu, the protector of the world, must have thought differently. As I passed from my old life into the cycle of samsara, I found myself not to be reincarnated as a person, but as some beast yet unknown t...

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Rescue of Calgor

Submitted to Contest #187

I pulled open the weighty door of the coffee shop on the corner. Pausing for a second, I look around. Where am I? What am I doing here? Confused, I try to remember what I was previously doing and how I got to this coffee shop.  All of a sudden, a cat emerges from the side of the building. Just the cats head is poking out. I don’t see a collar around its neck. Must be a stray. Is he hungry? We made eye contact for a minute. Time somehow stood still in that moment. I suddenly felt a bump on my shoulder as someone bolted past me into the ...

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Messenger Paws

Submitted to Contest #187

Midnight combs the plateau as the American lion travels along the escarpment to a narrow winding trail that descends to a deep river valley. Halfway down he stops. There is a strange smell in the air. Strange, but familiar. It is mixed with the smell of blood. He approaches slowly-cautiously. His ears pick up the sounds of a hurt animal.Not small wining noises, but low, deep groans. It is a man. Only once before has this lion been close to a man and he remembers the smell. Nevertheless, though he has a healthy fear for these creatures, he is...

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The Nightmare Ride: A TNR Tale

Submitted to Contest #187

There were at least a hundred of us. Tricked by a can of tuna and trapped in spring-loaded cages. Within hours we were loaded into a trailer pulled by a big white truck. When the door closed, a small light came on and despair set it. The truck fired up, the trailer lurched and Cindy, a lovely white cat from D Street, let out a yowl. Gravel, then pavement and we were off. I was sure I knew every cat in town but I was wrong. There were cats of every ilk from streets and courts and avenues that I had never heard of.  And as we glided...

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The Alley In Between

Submitted to Contest #187

Midnight walks through the streets of Paris were the best way for me to relax, even during the most stressful times. I sometimes went out when I did horribly on a test or when my parents and I got into an argument. But tonight was different.I looked down at the envelope I held in my hand. I had just received it this morning, but it wasn’t signed…So what did I do? Go to the listed address at twelve in the morning when almost no one is out and about to hear any screams of help. I took the letter out of the envelope again, but instead of t...

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The Pond

Submitted to Contest #187

My little brother, Carter, he always had the wildest imagination. I never blamed him- in a town like Bell Buckle, you needed one- but I never got it, either. Where he saw dragons, I saw spindly oak trees. Granite overhangs became alien hideouts. He’d try to include me in these escapades, and I’d play along, wielding my stick in whatever weapon-of-the-day was necessary. Yet I knew that world was never meant for me, and I felt that’s what being an older brother was. Making the fantasy last longer by fending off the real. He believed in supe...

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BOOGEYMEN, COME TO ORDER

Submitted to Contest #187

Susie found herself lagging behind her parents at the second national park they’d visited in a week. She never slept well in strange beds and her feet were dragging. The endless drone of the tour guide leading the group wasn’t helping. She felt as though all she wanted was to curl up on one of the wooden benches they passed occasionally and sleep the rest of the day.“Catch up, Susie!” Her mother beckoned her with a firm tone and gesture.As her mother turned her attention back to the painfully cheerful guide lady, Susie ca...

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THE CAT CALLS

Submitted to Contest #187

Noemi was always a loner. Growing up, she loved animals, and her best friend was a little cat she named Timmy. Timmy the Tabby. He was a beautiful, bright, spirited tabby kitten she adored. Usually, her parents were strictly against stray animals coming into the house. But they never saw Noemi so open and playful, so they allowed it, this once. Years passed, and the two were inseparable. Timmy followed her to elementary school most days and was at the front door with a welcome home happy kitty greeting whenever she returned. Sometimes her mo...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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