John had prepared all week for this presentation. 10 slides and 10 minutes were no problem for a seasoned salesman like himself. Dripping with confidence he walked up to the front of the room, and began. "You all for thank being here." John paused wondering what the heck he had just said. His protective armor of confidence which shielded him from the hundreds of eyes in the room began to crac...

Off in the distance he could hear the churning of the wheels as the trolley of fate marched towards him. John stood paralyzed in the face of a decision like none other. His palms moistened and sweat dribbled down his temple. He wish he could just run away from such responsibility but that would mean the death of his beloved. The lever that would condemn the lives of 20 yet spare his love taunt...

With his last bit of strength John throws his hands up above the cliff side and grabs fast a knot of grass. He awkwardly flutters his legs in a manner that gives him just enough momentum to round the edge of the cliff. With a heavy sigh he collapses on his back. The remnants of the storm that capsized his boat gracefully lingers overhead as if it hadn't just killed 4 members of a 5 man crew. J...

John whipped around, primal fear in his eyes.

"who's there!" he cried out to no response other than his own echo.

Each successive room he went into seemed smaller and smaller as his heartbeat got faster and faster. The pace of the story had reached its peak and the scope had narrowed to the tip of a needle.

John picked up his pace, trying to escape the narrative current pulling him towards an...

John awakens to find himself seated on a bed of grass. Still to dark to see anything else, he uses his hands to try to gather any more information he can on his surroundings. As he does so the sun starts to peer over the horizon, only it isnt the sun John is use to seeing. The usual yellow fire ball isnt a ball at all, but instead a square. Dim enough to look at yet bright enough to illuminate ...

For all his life all he had ever known was red, and this was by design. Being the longest wavelength of visible light, red allowed people to see, while still keeping their eyes mostly adjusted to the dark. Features which came in handy in a society where blackouts were frequent and monsters in the dark were rampant. But with the atmosphere finally clear, it was time to return to the surface, a f...

John came to, slowly, then all at once. He wasn't sure how long hed been out, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes given how hot the cabin still was. The heat from his escape pod's reentry radiated inwards from the cabin bulkheads, making him feel like a turkey in an oven. He fumbled around for the release lever, smearing the blood stain his forehead left on the dashboard when he i...

It wasnt just the taste that John loved, no, the dish was so much more complete than that. It was an entire experience wrapped up into a little ball. The first bite was the best, cracking the outer shell to unleash the river or flavor within. From there no more bites were needed, it simply dissolved at the prefect rate allowing him to savor it but not get tired of it. As it dissolved the indiv...

John entered the room with the weight of an elephant on his shoulders. This wasnt the first time he did this, and nor did it get any easier. She sat on the couch, a look on her face like she already knew it all. John walked over to the couch opposite of her, and slumped down.

"Did you ever mean it?" she started

With a long pause, and a heavy sigh, John looked up and said, "Once, yes. But onl...

They had interstellar invasions down to a tee, where as we had yet to even leave the solar system. In hindsight, the invasion tactic was quite simple. Have the superior technology, and conquest is absolute. Don't have the superior technology? Blast the other species with EMPs until you do. And that's what they did.

5 years of medieval era oppression followed before the resistance gained a ...