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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.

150+ 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 6 of 10

The Weight of Change

Submitted to Contest #303

I used to be the life of the party. Every weekend, the same routine played out like clockwork: drinks flowing, music blasting so loud it shook the walls, and a revolving door of faces — some familiar, many not. I was the friend who always knew where the next party was, the one who never said no to another round, another dance, another night that blurred into morning, another strong drink. At the time, it felt like freedom, like I was living life on my own terms, surrounded by people who seemed to care. But looking back, I realize how much of...

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A Raider's Savior

Submitted to Contest #302

[Note: There is minor violence, mentions of blood, and swearing][Al’ama (العمى) - Damn]**Luck was not on Seth’s side today.All he had to do was sneak into the temple, retrieve the chalice of Heh, the Egyptian god of personified infinity, and escape before the looters discovered his betrayal. Still, nothing seemed to be going his way.After entering the temple with zero struggle, Sethos had cautiously and quietly slipped past the booby-traps, nearly getting his head taken off by an oversized axe in the process, and once he crept into the cente...

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The Legend Of The Lake

Submitted to Contest #302

Once, a cat with light paws and sharp senses ventured into the forest. Far past the horizon did he traverse. He traveled until he reached the lake, they say, but never came back. Perhaps he traveled to the starline. That was a myth. This wasn’t.***The scent drifted through the wind, both ancient and new. Myth lifted his whiskers, inhaling slowly, letting it weave through him. It carried the hush of forgotten stories, the whisper of something unspoken. He stepped forward, drawn by its quiet song—until his breath caught.Beneath its calm embrac...

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A horde of savages and a pile of ashes

Submitted to Contest #302

“Sorry, man. But it’s not my fault the damn plane was late. Blame the flock of idiot birds.” I tried to call him down, but the few hours he’d been waiting for me didn’t do him any good. “Let me tell you one thing,” he said, as I held the phone to my ear. “If I ever decide to end myself, I promise to make it as botherless as possible for everyone.” “Well, things would be much easier if everyone would just go die in a forest and then get devoured by wolves. Less work for us bereaved.” This lady standing next to me turned around and gave me a v...

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Deep Diver of Arctic Seas - Voyages of the Destiny's Dreams

Submitted to Contest #302

Deep Diver, the 4,000 elephant seal, swam through the twilight zone of the sea near the Arctic, where sunlight disappears in the water's depths.The Ice Age melt raised the seas where Deep Diver swam.He had a magnificent nose like the beginning of an elephant's trunk.It flopped up and down when he tossed his head. Deep Diver liked to inflate it with air to make it even larger. Then he could look more threatening when he faced rivals in battles on beaches.He and his kind were sensitive to patterns, currents, and flows in the ocean system.Each...

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Fated meeting

M B

Submitted to Contest #302

The large fist whisked past Takeshi’s face as he managed to lean his head back at just the right second. The ronin retaliated with a jab to the ribs of the bearded man, sending him staggering back. All around the tavern was clamoring with cheers and jeers. Takeshi had never been one to back down to a fight, in fact he had always hurled himself headlong into battle like a true samurai. But this time he realized he may have bit off more than he could chew. His katana lay out of reach, it was useless in such close quarters, and there were at le...

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The Green Button

Submitted to Contest #302

When the ship escaped the atmosphere and broke free from the gravity of KG08, Dr. Lambert, heavily inhaling the stale air of his spacesuit, glanced out the window. KG08, the artificial satellite of a long-abandoned planet in the Draco II galaxy, was a ball of flames. The spectacle was grand, and Dr. Lambert would have admired the destructive force of disaster as he always did, but he was overwhelmed by several thoughts at once. First, only a dozen Mahaa, those who followed him, managed to escape KG08; the rest of the Mahaa civilization was n...

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The Caspian Will Not Return in Time

Submitted to Contest #302

I should have seen the red flags as they flew by, but my eyes were still stuck in my morning caffeine. Call drones zipped past me, too many drones and too fast for that hour. My eyes were still refusing to fully open. Humans have a natural sense of how fast we are traveling. Even in the deep hulls of a ship I could feel the flow as we pulled through open space. If I had stopped to think about it, I would have realized that we were flying fast, faster than The Caspian had ever pulled. Instead, I noticed a button on my collar was undone and I ...

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Nichibotsu

Submitted to Contest #302

Mal knew that if the projectors failed then the perimeter would be breached as soon as the last sun went down. That didn’t stop him wanting to kick the post that he was trying to fix. He wanted to kick the post until the small steel box that it held in place fell to the ground, where he’d stomp its lenses to smithereens under the steel cleats of his mud-caked boots. There was no sane reason for it, if the perimeter went down it was game over, he knew that. But he could feel his sanity being leached away into the turgid, gripping clay that ma...

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Varanasi Hotel

Submitted to Contest #302

India has changed the way I view the world. In general, people seem to enjoy comfort, structure, familiar places, and foods. For me, I prefer wooden beams, ceiling corners, and lofty spaces. My entire trip has been one adjustment after another. From the open, jam-packed cars and mopeds–with four people, including a mother nursing a baby–swerving around cows in the road, to the intense spiritual beliefs and rituals (which have gotten me out of more than enough trouble, it’s like I’m a deity!). My time in here has been unveiling. After the ta...

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Monaxia

Submitted to Contest #302

I had been writing in my notebook when I saw the boat approach. I walked to the edge of the beach to watch it arrive. It was an impressive looking ship, almost 500 feet in length, and three separate masts that looked like they could cover the entirety of the island if they were stretched out. I had no binoculars for looking, and so I figured they would have seen me through their binoculars, although I doubted they cared. An old, raggedy man with a grown out beard in nothing but a torn pair of shorts. They would likely gloss right over me, as...

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rocky ridge resort

Submitted to Contest #302

The Callahan family’s rusty, beat-up Valiant rumbled and wheezed down the long and winding road, a cloud of dust coming out of the exauhst. The engine coughed like an old smoker every time Dad changed gears, but he didn’t seem to mind. At the wheel, he whistled happy, off-key tunes from his youth, tapping the steering wheel with his thumbs like he was performing in front of a cheering crowd.Next to him in the passenger seet sat Mum, frowning down at a road map so faded and wrinkled it looked like it had survived WW1 (and 2). She rotated it l...

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Kindness at Gate 4

Submitted to Contest #302

In these uncertain times—when people grow more divided, fear dominates the headlines, and kindness feels rare—it’s more important than ever to remember the stories that remind us there is still good in the world. Sometimes, it even comes from a stranger.This story happened to me after more than 20 hours of travel and two long-haul flights from Australia. Anyone who’s taken such a journey knows the relief that floods in when you're close to home. We had landed in Milan, just one short flight to Budapest left before I could collapse into my ow...

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The Legends of Freya

Submitted to Contest #302

“I don’t understand!” The words spread like wildfire, whispered from lips trembling with uncertainty, carried through the kingdom as the dawn revealed what no one had expected—the young princess was missing. Hesitation gripped the palace, rippling through its gilded halls. Questions collided, confusion thickening like fog. Alert the Queen. Find the princess.But no answers came. Only echoes of the same panicked plea. “I don’t understand.” Princess Persella woke to a strange stillness. A cave of darkness. Gone was the soft cocoon of silk spun ...

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The After Story

Submitted to Contest #302

It was April of 2016. After ten unforgettable days in Cuba, replete with castles, fortresses, great food, delicious flavored rums, and fantastic music and dancing, I had landed at the Miami Airport. That was when the real adventure began. It was 9:00 p.m., and I had a 5:00 a.m. flight from Fort Lauderdale Airport to Washington, D.C. the next morning, where I planned to rent a car and drive 75 miles to visit my sister in Culpeper, Virginia. The Concierge at the Marriott Hotel, where I stayed the night before flying to Cuba, advised that a shu...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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