The 500 Archive

Okay, now you've found my most recent project: The 500 Archive. Let me explain 😁

A couple of months ago, I had the very naive idea of writing a huge collection of short stories, the like the world has never seen before. Bascially, each day I sit down and I write a short story that's five hundred words. The end goal is to have 500 in a couple of years. So far, things have been going quite smoothly, though to be honest, you never know what's going to happen with this type of project.

This is edited and polished and I think it's great writing.

You really should read at least one.

Have fun :)

Archive 001

Many a sailor have heard of the legendary Kraken. Only a handful have been lucky enough to see the consequences of running into such a beast. Only one soul has lived to tell the tale.

This soul went by the name of Krago and he was a short, plump boy aboard one of the biggest merchant ships ever to sail the seas.

One day, on Krago's voyage, the ship suddenly began to rock and shake in the most violent of ways and people were being tossed to and fro

Yet, people in the hull of the ship, like Krago, were jammed so close together that they didn't have much to fear.

That was until a giant tentacle burst through the wood and began abducting people. Chaos pursued and the screaming was so loud that Krago wanted to curl into a ball.

But he couldn't, because the ship was swaying so frantically and salt water was spraying in his eyes.

Suddenly the tentacle latched around Krago's mother.

"Nooo," he yelled as he grabbed his mom's hand. Slowly, his hand began to slip even though he held on with all his might.

"Go, Krago," his mom looked at him with a horrified expression. Sea water sprayed into her eyes and she was forced to look away. "Save yourself." Then she was gone, off into the sea.

Krago was frozen in place horrified but then another person next to him was taken and he snapped back to the present.

In a moment, he sprinted through the hull, trying to get to the door that led to higher ground. It was a desperate attempt, but when he burst into the hallway, he realized that the people higher up weren't any better off.

"Hey kid," Krago had run into a sailor in his hurry. Krago looked into the sailor's eyes and the sailor must've seen how scared he was because he decided to help.

"I reckon I got an idea," he said and scooped Krago up by the waist before shoving him into a barrel. Krago squirmed and squealed but the sailor shoved the lid onto the barrel and began to hammer it in.

Krago didn't know it at the time, but the kind old sailor had managed to coat the entire barrel in wax, waterproofing it, before a tentacle dragged him into the blue abyss.

Krago sat in the darkness and cried. He had lost everything. His mom and his dad; even his little sister were gone and here he sat in darkness, unable to do anything.

After he began to come out of his grief, Krago grew terrified. Outside, he could hear the ocean sloshing against his little barrel as the final screams were suddenly cut off.

Time seemed to drag on forever, until he felt his barrel hoisted out of the water. After that he had only a few more moments of silence to pray that it wasn't pirates that found him.

Krago started screaming as an axe broke into his barrel and an eye pressed up against the hole it had made.

"Blimey!" the owner of the eye said. "There's a kid in here."

Krago was soon helped out of the little barrel and brought to see the captain of the boat that had picked up his barrel, where he animatedly described the attack of the Kraken.

The sailors just watched him, dumbfounded at how a mere child had evaded the mighty Kraken. Krago could have sworn he heard one of them say:

"That is the boy who evaded the mighty Kraken."

Archive 002

Hezikai stood in front of the gate to a whole new world. This was the chance he had been waiting for. A chance to start over and leave his old world behind.

Now only one question was left: would he take it?

He was still struggling with the question. Was his life here on Earth really that bad?

I mean, yeah, college professors were the worst: they gave him loads of homework, not enough tutoring, and wrung him out like an orange. Sure his parents hated him and wouldn't let him live with them, so he was forced to work a full-time job. Sure, there was an evil killer on his path who was trying to locate the portal, but was it all that bad?

His parents did give him a bit of money for college and they probably did know what was best for him. The professors? They were just doing their job. But the killer... Hezikai was just going to deal with that himself.

But the offer was still so tempting.

Hezikai put his head in his hands as he stared into the portal. On the other end an endless expanse of blue awaited him.

He had been told that this place was a strange world where everything was under water and a strange alien race ruled all.

At first he had been concerned about whether or not he would be able to breathe, but then he had learned that he would be transformed into this new race entirely.

"It's so strange how these things work," he thought as an odd lump floated in front of his vision. An eye appeared in the middle of it, as the creature swam off.

The slow dripping of water coming from the portal consumed Hezikai's thoughts.

He stretched out his hand and let it hover over the lazy light wafting through the portal. All he had to do was touch the portal's shimmery surface and he'd start over.

"No," he thought to himself. "I can't leave the people here behind."

Then it began to dawn on him. If this portal was discovered the lives of those he loved on Earth would be ruined. Entire corporations would try to enter the portal and mine it of all precious metals that lay within. Wars would be fought over this thing that Hezikai had stumbled upon.

Plus the lives of the aliens within would quickly grind to a halt.

Slowly, he backed up and then began to run down the tunnel, back towards his old life, knowing that somehow he was going to have to hide this place.

That portal itself wouldn't give anything away, because a man would think he was dreaming. But the inscription next to it was too easy to read. Once someone realized what they were standing in front of, the effects would be catastrophic.

"Come on," Hezikai said as he sprinted to the exit to the cave. In only a moment he was thrust into daylight.

Hezikai quickly spotted the dynamite that he had seen on the way in. He figured the evil man that had been here before him had left it, clearly with the intent of mining the hillside for the diamonds that lay within.

Hezikai pulled the lighter from his pocket and walked over to the dynamite. There was only a short fuse but it was going to have to do to seal the portal. It was the only option.

Deep breath, he told himself before lowering the lighter to the fuse.

As soon as he saw it had lit, he ran the opposite direction with all his might, not caring if that evil man saw him.

Hezikai's very bones seemed to strain in his panic, as a trail of dust rose up behind him. His legs were on fire but it didn't matter. He estimated he only had a few more seconds until the explosion.

First came the light that blinded him. Then the sound that made his ears begin to ring. Finally, the shock wave hit him and he fell to the ground unconscious as debris rained down around him, multiple large rocks landing only inches away from his head. He lay vulnerable like that for a long time.

Later, his eyes flew open. He had made it, and now only a pile of rocks remained of the hillside that had contained the portal.

Hezikai limped over and peered into the rubble. Streams of trickling water blinded him with the sunlight.

The portal was broken.

Archive 003 

Geoffory had a lineage of rich parents like no other, yet it didn't help that they were all dead; that no documents remained to prove his inheritance.

The whole situation was frightening. Ever since Geoffory's house had exploded he had been running from a team of mercenaries.

Sadly, all his family's money had been stolen so Geoffory was completely on his own, roaming the streets in search of refuge.

At this moment things were not looking good. Geoffory could already see the street thugs suspiciously surrounding him. There was one with a gun in the window. Another hiding behind a bush, a third posing as an old man reading the newspaper.

He hated that it came down to this but he only had one choice: he was going to have to escape into the church behind him.

Geoffory was horrified at the prospect: his family had sued that place so many times over he was shocked they were still up and running.

If they recognized him, which surely EVERYONE recognized one of his kind, then his fate would be in their hands. At this point, Geoffory wasn't all sure that they would even let him in.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered as he strode to the door and walked in. He was pleased to find it quiet and peaceful without any monks in sight.

Maybe they were worshiping somewhere and would miss him altogether.

Then a monk strode towards Geoffory from an alcove and he froze. Great, just great.

"Hello, brother," the monk said bowing at Geoffory. Geoffory froze, not knowing what to do. Weren't they going to beat him?

"Is there anything I can do for you, brother?" the monk said. Geoffory nodded his head nervously as a glint of metal flashed through the monk's robe.

"Could I stay here for a while?" he asked. He had no other choice.

"Of course, brother," the monk said. "Stay as long as you wish. Would you like me to show you to a bedroom?"

Geoffory almost fainted in relief when he fell into the warm bed that the monk provided. Sleep took a while to come to him. Something in him was still horrified. Did those monks plan to murder him in his sleep?

The next morning when Geoffory woke up, food had been set at the foot of his bed so he wasted no time in eating before going to find a monk.

"Have the men outside gone away?" Geoffory said. He had thrown a hood over his head in hopes of not being recognized.

"The brothers in Christ that were hoping for redemption?" he said.

"Errrr," Geoffory said. He was at a complete loss for words. What was he supposed to tell him? That a bunch of killers were on his tail?

"Never mind," Geoffory said and retreated back to his room where the first monk he'd met was waiting.

"Hello brother," the monk said bowing. "Have you decided to become a monk?" He gestured at the hood that Geoffory wore. Geoffory nearly choked.

"I just figured I would try it out," he said. In his head he was praying that he would not be converted to a monk. He was PRAYING for goodness sakes.

"Well," the monk said revealing his bald scalp. "My brothers can always arrange to shave your head, if you would like to try it out."

Geoffory almost fainted on the spot. The day that his beautiful hair was cut would be the day he died.

A FEW MONTHS LATER

Geoffory whistled as he greeted his fellow monks. Many of them were complimenting his hair.

He ignored them and walked into the prayer room where he put on sackcloth and began to pray. It was quite the spectacle to see the light reflecting off his head, now void of hair, but Geoffory was so devoted to his prayer he didn't even seem to notice.

Archive 004

Charly gazed off into space. He hated it so much. The cold darkness seemed to radiate death through the glass.

He still didn't understand why humans decided to move to this cold, miserable place. On Earth they were so innocent, so naive, but now they had to worry about intergalactic warfare and death.

If Charly could go back in time to blow up that first dreaded rocket, he would do it in a heartbeat. Anything would be better than his current fate.

As he stood there gazing into space, alarms around him began to blare. Charly knew the drill. Quickly, he sprinted to his post where he controlled a gun turret on the side of the Earthling. Charly always thought that was a horrible name for a spaceship.

Once Charly was in the chamber and seated in the chair, the world around him became silent. Horribly, deathly silent. It was always like this right before they struck.

Wait for it, he thought. Wait for it...

Then it hit him. His little cockpit began to rattle as the hundreds of little alien craft began to spray gunfire. He took a deep breath and looked through his sight.

Once one of the smaller ships was in range, he fired and it exploded into bits. He didn't understand why he was doing this. It only added to the death floating in the black abyss.

He lined up another ship. This time he saw the little alien's horrified expression before the ship blew. Charly hated himself for doing it, yet he had no other choice as the ship continued to rattle violently.

He lined up another one. Bam. Another alien gone.

This war was so pointless. Those stupid governors on Earth had started it because they thought the aliens were a threat. Charly didn't believe a word.

He gritted his teeth as he gunned another one. He just wished he could do something. Something to rebel.

His next shot missed and he swore the alien looked thankful. Those feelings of purpose only lasted a few moments before Charly saw the alien blasted to pieces by the neighboring turret.

I JUST WISH THERE WAS SOMETHING I COULD DO, he thought. Something in that space seemed to whisper to him in that moment, telling him to stop firing.

YOU COULD START A REBELLION, it said. YOU COULD BE THE ONE TO STAND AGAINST THE EVIL.

Charly froze as he realized it was actually coming FROM ONE OF THE ALIENS. He sat motionless as reality came crashing down around him. These were REAL people that he was killing.

"What are you doing?" he heard his neighboring turret yell at him. In that moment he decided it was time to make a stand for what was right.

"You know what?" Charly muttered. "I'm done." Slowly, ever so slowly, he rose from his seat and walked into the hallway where the battle continued to rage outside the windows.

The carnage he saw tore at him and he ran his hands through his hair. Somehow, he was going to have to convince his friends to lay down arms.

So Charly walked over to the door that led to the neighboring turret. He was going to raise a fist but instead opened his hand. A fist was a sign of war and cruelty, but a hand? A hand in the air was a sign of surrender, a sign of peace.

Archive 005

Craiger was a tough nut. Again and again the world would try to beat him down. Again and again he got back up.

Right now Craiger was on the ground. He tasted blood. Only moments ago he had been walking down the streets of New York, feeling quite good about himself. Then a bullet struck him in the temple.

Pain exploded in his head and he fell to the ground. He didn't understand why this always happened. One moment he would be on the top of the world owning billions of dollars and living in luxury; the next he was beaten, shot, or mugged on the sidewalk.

Getting shot was always the worst of the three.

Craiger swore that when this was his death, the gods were especially bored and needed to be entertained.

He hated them because of it.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Craiger's pain began to seep into the concrete, his vision becoming blurry. He only had a few moments to live now and then it would all be over.

He began to count how long it took.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Craiger sat up in a back alley in New York. His mind was fully wiped and he didn't remember who he was or where he'd come from. The only thing he recalled was his name.

As his body began to move, he climbed to his feet. An internal compass inside him told him what to do: make money. Become successful.

So that's what he did.

The days began to fly by as he started a car detailing business, began investing in stocks, and tried out dropshipping. Before he knew it, a million dollars was sitting in his bank. Then the real fun began.

Craiger began to invest. Money began to flow and in a matter of months his face was on every magazine around the world. Finally, his goal had been achieved.

That was how Craiger eventually found himself standing in the front window of the most expensive penthouse in New York. He practically owned the city now. He was unstoppable.

Now, a year since his last death, Craiger strode down a side street in New York to meet a stock trader when all of a sudden a group of thugs surrounded him and began to beat him.

Craiger found his pain flowing into the ground and all of a sudden he was waking up on the pavement in New York with no memory of his prior self.

The process repeated itself again and again. Craiger didn't have much choice. He was cursed by the gods in a modern world because of crimes he had committed. Horrible, evil crimes of greed.

His was the fate of the rich, of those that took from the poor. Many others carried the same curse but didn't know it. Craiger was the only one becoming aware. He was the only one that could change his ways and repent.

This led to a time only a hundred years later where Craiger was standing on that same side street where he had died. When the thugs came upon him, he REMEMBERED. As the gangsters stabbed him with knives and shot at him he sat there in shock as his pain seeped into the ground. Except something was different about it this time.

As if a water fountain turning on, memories and feelings began pouring into him, pummeling him like a tsunami. Finally, he remembered who he was, he remembered what he had done, and for the first time he wanted to fix it.

Archive 006

Rumors had always circulated about the strange lady that lived behind the Empire State Building. Some people thought she was filthy, others believed her to be cursed, and still others swore she was a god.

Whatever the case was, nobody dreamed of messing with her. At least that was until Luka came along.

Luka was incredibly sharp and intelligent beyond his years, but his greatest weakness was curiosity.

It was this drive for knowledge that led him down that alley where it was rumored she lived.

The month was August and winter was just beginning to set in. Luka shivered in his coat as he strode up to the entry of the alley.

It was dark and dingy with loud generators of some sort pumping out steam. The cawing of crows permeated through the humming of the generators.

When Luka stepped foot inside he was surprised at the warmth, though he continued to shiver. This place did have something evil. He could feel it.

Slowly, he began to creep further, wondering what lay within. Maybe this lady was wealthy and by finding her she would give him riches. The possibilities flew through Luka's head.

"Who goes there?" a crackly voice echoed off the walls. Luka froze where he was as his eyes quickly scanned all the nooks and crannies, trying to discern where the voice had come from.

"Who goes there?" the voice said again. Luka decided it was time to speak.

"Luka," he spoke into the darkness.

"And what may you want, Luka?"

"I," he said. "I don't know. I just wanted to know if you were real."

"A young man of curiosity, I see," the voice said. "Curiosity killed the cat, you know?" Luka clenched his hands. He hated when people said that. Especially when he was constantly being told that very same thing.

The mist around Luka seemed to move. Sweat began to bead on Luka's brow as a shape moved towards him through it.

"Don't come any closer!" he shouted into the mist. The shape continued to approach until a very old, decrepit woman appeared through the mist.

"Now you know," the woman said, smiling at him with her old, yellowed, and missing teeth. She had crows perched on her shoulders cawing gently into her ears. "You have seen the old lady hiding in the shadows."

"But who are you?"

"I am just another homeless woman," she sighed. "Nothing special about me. Though some might call me a god. I can control certain forces no one can."

She began to move closer to Luka and the crow on her shoulder looked Luka in the eye. Something about it was evil; he was terrified.

Luka stumbled back and ran. Something was not right. Then, there were others approaching through the mist. These were even more terrifying, built of tall stature and broad shoulders. Muggers.

"Get away from him," the woman said, her voice echoing as she suddenly appeared beside Luka. They continued to approach. "Don't say I didn't warn you," she muttered under her breath as all hell broke loose.

A dark cloud seemed to erupt from behind Luka and he was pushed to the ground. The cloud broke the mist and enveloped the muggers. Luka looked at the woman's glowing face in awe. She really WAS a god.

In a matter of moments, the thieves were sprawled on the ground, their eyes missing, blood streaming from the empty sockets. Their bodies lay prone.

"Relax child," the woman said as a crow detached from the cloud. "They are only birds."

Luka shuddered and stumbled out of the alleyway. In a matter of minutes, he was sitting in his room, safe.

Ever since that day, when Luka heard the cawing of a crow, he would watch his back and remember the old lady.

Archive 007

It was dark and gloomy in the house. Nobody was home except for Eli and he wasn't paying much attention to the house as he was watching TV in his room.

Meanwhile, a couple of crooks were sneaking in downstairs. Those poor crooks didn't know what they were getting into.

You see, Eli was part of a society of ninjas and parkour experts. He was incredibly fit and could take down any grown man.

Lucky for the crooks, Eli was locked in on his television show. It was a fairly entertaining action movie set in the Marvel universe.

The crooks downstairs wasted no time in plundering, ignoring the blaring TV upstairs. In their experience, people tended to leave the TV on to make them believe someone was home.

"You wanna head upstairs?" the crook named Jesse asked his partner Malichai. Malichai nodded and started making his way up the stairs. Eli continued to watch his show.

The crook stopped outside Eli's door and opened it. In a moment, Eli spun around to see who it was. He stood up to face the man, failing to notice the bulge at his hip.

"Get out of my house," he warned the man, raising his fist before getting into a stance.

"And what?" the man said. "Are you gonna fight me or something?"

Eli legitimately felt bad for the guy. He wasn't going to stand a chance against his fury, because Eli was dead set on defending his house.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Eli said as he charged the man, aiming a blow at his solar plexus. The man blocked him, but Eli was already following it up with a vicious kick to the groin. The man squealed and covered his privates, which allowed Eli to make a quick blow to the solar plexus, rendering the man immobile.

The man looked into Eli's eyes with a wide, horrified expression. Without a second glance, Eli began to walk down the stairs to see if anyone else was encroaching on his property.

He failed to notice the man's hand slowly reaching toward the bulge in his jacket. Slowly, the gun slipped out of the man's waistband as Eli walked down the stairs.

Poor Eli didn't even see the man line up his sight on his head.

"Hey kid," the man said, causing Eli to look straight into the barrel of the gun. Eli froze, forgetting his training.

"Don't move," the man said. Eli continued to freeze, cursing himself for not dropping to the floor the first time. He would've safe if he'd done that.

Eli watched, eyes wide, as the man's finger slowly gripped the trigger. Suddenly, Eli dropped to the floor as a gunshot rang out.

He lay prone, breathing heavily before army crawling out of harm's way. Somehow, he had avoided that bullet.

Yet, he still had the guy's friend to deal with. This time, before entering combat with the man, Eli scanned his body for a concealed carry. There was none, so the crook was quickly knocked unconscious.

Eli wasted no time in running over to his neighbor's house to call the police. In a matter of minutes they were taking the men into custody. Eli could see the cops scratching their heads as they did so.

"Kill the kid," Jesse muttered. "Kill the kid."

"I don't know what kid you're talking about," the cop said, shoving him in the car. Jesse scanned the street and locked eyes with Eli. His eyes were full of hate. He sneered at Eli. One day, Jesse would have revenge in the form of Eli's head.

Eli shuddered as the cruiser pulled off into the night.

Archive 008

Cagi had tried to send things skyward before. Time and time again it had failed. Not because her inventions were failing, not because of faulty parts, but because of sabotage.

She didn't have proof, but in her heart she was sure of it. After all, how could her meticulous creations fail so magnificently?

This time, however, she would not fail.

She had made a rocket so complex and utterly perfect that it would go higher than anything she had made before.

"Mom," she called. "I'm heading out for the day." The door slammed and she was off, heading towards her little shed where she kept her projects.

Once she was in, a code was typed into a pad concealed in an inconspicuous part of the wall, causing her to be lowered through the earth.

At first she flew by layers of concrete, but after a few moments the concrete fell away and only the rocket was left in its place.

It was a glorious thing, with wires hanging out, panels not quite constructed, and circuits not installed.

And yet it was complete. Cagi had made it so it would fool the bugs hiding in her room. They shouldn’t yet know that her project was complete.

She still didn't understand what was wrong with her world, but she did know that someone watched over them. Not like a god, but a person.

For example, she had calculated many inconsistencies in the sky on a night-to-night basis, something that would never happen if it were real.

Then, of course, there were the politicians and teachers that taught like there was nothing wrong. That tried to show people that life was completely normal.

Cagi was going to prove them all wrong.

She walked over to her invention. It was ready, but the final panels still had to be attached before launch.

Her plan was simple. Install the panels, and get the rocket to the surface as soon as possible before the people watching her could stop it.

She took a deep breath. It was now or never.

Suddenly, Cagi burst into action, screwing panels into place and running final diagnostic checks. Only a few minutes later she was lugging the machine into the elevator.

The concrete flew past and she was on the surface. Already she could hear the alarms going off in the distance. They were onto her, there was no doubt.

Quickly, she planted the rocket in the grass and ran one final check. The alarms sounded like they were on her street.

She looked down at her stolen computer that controlled the launch information and clicked the button before running behind the shed.

She heard the rumble of the rocket as smoke gushed around her, stinging her eyes unbearably. It hurt with the pain of a thousand moons.

Yet she refused to close her eyes as she looked at her computer screen. So far, so good. The rocket seemed to be on course to break through the atmosphere.

Then, there were shadows moving towards her through the fog. It was the Warriors, the men that patrolled her city. They grabbed her, but Cagi wasn’t going down without a fight. She twisted and fought, wanting to see her rocket succeed, but they were incredibly strong.

IMPACT IMMINENT

The warning flashed on her computer screen. Cagi's eyes grew wide in shock. Then she heard the explosion. Her rocket had hit something in the sky.

With one final burst of strength, she looked at the scan that the rocket had run right before the collision. It was of a giant dome.

Cagi gasped. Her suspicions were correct.

Everything she had been taught was a lie. Humanity didn't live on the surface; they lived underground.

Archive 009

I've always wondered where the zombies came from or how they even worked.

Little did I know it, but today I was going to discover the truth. Not little half-truths, but the entire truth.

It all started out when I was biking down my street on a rad e-bike I'd found when the whole apocalypse thing had gone down. Of course, no one was out right now because A) they were all dead and B) zombies only come out at night.

I'd always wondered why they didn't come out during the day; I only knew it was outright deadly to go inside during the day because that's where all the zombies holed up.

Today I had a mission: see if I could find the source of the zombies.

Sadly, this was going to involve going into the most zombie-infested area in the entire town: the mall.

It was even more annoying by the fact that the target object was a newspaper.

So, yeah, to sum it up, I was risking my life that day for a piece of paper.

After my bike ride, I pulled up to the mall. Everything was eerily quiet, but once I'd climbed to the roof and peered through a skylight, I heard the moans of the zombies within as they shuffled to and fro.

I shuddered as I began the tedious process of removing the skylight. It was slow work because if even one screw was dropped onto the floor of the mall, the horde below would be alerted to my presence and there was a pretty good chance they would swarm me.

At last, the skylight was removed and I swung into the rafters of the mall. They were my one saving grace, those rafters.

Carefully, I continued to climb until I saw the newspapers below me in a little shop. There was only one problem: the place was surrounded with zombies.

I sighed. I was going to have to do it anyway.

Without any hesitation I dropped to the floor right as the lights turned on.

At first I was blinded but then I ran to the newspaper, snatched one, and made straight for the exit.

As I ran, the zombies began to come out of their shock that'd been induced by the sudden light.

Once they were moving, I felt their hands clawing at me, their breath on my neck. I heard a scream on the other end of the store and they were momentarily diverted.

I saw the doors ahead and burst through them. Carl was there to slam them and I sunk to the ground breathing heavily.

"Did you get the newspaper?" Carl asked me. He was my best friend in the apocalypse and was the one that set off the fake scream and turned on the lights.

"Yeah," I said as I looked down at the paper. Suddenly, I knew the truth.

Apparently, the zombie takeover was all because of AI. Artificial Intelligence had been commanded to take over the world by some idiot and their solution was to make a device that could easily be inserted into a human being.

Once the little chip was in the person it would seize their brain so the AI would take it over. Then the people would make more chips and zombie AI things would spread the chips around.

"Hold up," I said, realizing something. "If all these people aren't really dead, is there something we could do to save them?"

Archive 010

Isaiah knew that something strange lived near his house, but he had never seen it in before.

Late at night he would hear roars and groans coming from the forest next to his house, but never had he encountered what made those sounds.

A few times he had ventured into the forest itself, but to no avail. The only thing that had greeted him was an abundance of signs saying to keep out.

The whole thing made the forest have a rather spooky vibe.

Yet Isaiah figured that as long as he lived in his little cabin with his grandmother, everything would be fine. At least that was the hope.

One night when Isaiah went to sleep, the forest was being particularly unruly. Already he could hear many roars, large and small, echoing from amongst the trees to his ears.

He stayed awake listening to the roars when he heard something outside his door. Whatever it was made the ground rumble; there was no doubt it was huge.

Isaiah peeked out his window and gasped.

Outside was the strangest beast he had ever seen. It looked just like the triceratops from his childhood playset, but instead of a horn, a giant boulder sat on its forehead.

"Let's go," all of a sudden he felt someone pulling at his arm. It was his grandma.

Isaiah didn't hesitate and scrambled out of bed. His grandma wasted no time in pulling him out the door.

They were about to get into the car, but something felt off. Isaiah could've sworn he heard a faint clicking coming from within the vehicle.

"Follow me," he said, pulling his grandma towards the boulder-beast he had seen.

There it was, still waiting for him as if a gift from heaven above.

Isaiah moved closer and the creature still paid him no mind, its great snout breathing as its eyes scanned the air.

Ever so slowly he extended his arm and his fingers grazed the rough, scaly hide of the dinosaur. It was an electric feeling that sent a thrill up Isaiah's spine.

Suddenly, the beast snorted. The clicking sound had somehow followed them from the car and was now standing behind them.

Isaiah spun around to see that he and his grandma were surrounded by some type of raptor with a ridge on its forehead.

"Don't move," he whispered, hoping they would behave like they did in the movies.

He watched as they began to get closer and their legs began to tense up. Then they lunged. Isaiah could see the fury in their eyes, the wicked teeth erupting out of their mouths, when a wall appeared between him and the monsters.

He pulled his grandmother back from the pachyrhinosaurus and watched in awe as it charged the ornitholestes head-on. It was like nothing he had ever seen before.

The fight only lasted mere moments, and after one of the ornitholestes was hit by the boulder on the pachyrhinosaurus's head, the pack retreated off into the night.

Isaiah found himself overwhelmed with emotion and hugged the pachyrhinosaur, who paid him no mind.

He knew in his heart that he and his grandma would survive as long as the boulder-lizard remained on their side.

Archive 011

Nathan had always wished for a superpower, but the way he got one was unexpected and uncalled for.

All of it started on a simple field trip, and it was to visit a world-renowned aquarium of all things. Not exactly what you would usually call a cool origin story.

Anyway, Nathan was walking around the aquarium with his buddies, pointing at sharks and killer stingrays and all that fun stuff, when a lady Nathan had never seen before asked him to come around back.

"Why should I?" he asked her.

"Just trust me," she said, her hair flowing in streams around her neck. "You will love it."

So he followed her through a back door into a room buzzing full of monitors and machines. Nothing about the place felt like a back room of an aquarium. When he turned to see the lady, she was gone, replaced by an older man holding a clipboard, dressed in a simple white smock.

"Hello, Nathan," the man said, smiling. Most of his teeth were yellow or missing. "Why don't you climb in that seat for me?"

Nathan looked over at the chair that was the centerpiece of the room. It was surrounded by all sorts of probes and needles. He did not want to get in the chair.

When he looked back at the man, he cradled a gun in his arms.

"In the chair," he said. This time Nathan wasted no time clambering in. He watched the man jot a few more things down.

"5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." Everything went black.

After an unknown amount of time, Nathan opened his eyes to find he was back in the aquarium. He marveled at how close the sharks seemed and how the water felt so real.

It was then he realized he was IN the aquarium.

At first he tried to scream. Nothing came out of his mouth. Then he held his breath as the sharks continued to swim around him, thinking that nothing was out of the ordinary.

Nathan looked towards the top of the tank. He needed to breathe, and soon, or he would drown.

So he kicked like his life depended on it, shooting like a rocket towards the surface.

Suddenly, pain erupted in his head as he hit a rough piece of metal. He looked up and saw the ceiling above him. There was no air.

It was in that moment that Nathan knew he would die. His vision began to fog as he held his breath. Finally, he had to breathe and sucked in a mouthful of water.

It felt great. Nathan felt life flow through his limbs. He was breathing, and yet he was still floating under the water.

HOLY CRAP, he thought as he gathered himself. He thought of how everyone would praise him for this power, but as he thought about all the famous superheroes, he realized he would have to hide the marvelous power.

So he played dead, pretending to float unconscious in the water. After a few more minutes, he felt hands wrap around him and hoist him out of the water.

Nathan grimaced as someone started CPR. He wasted no time pretending to cough up water. Around him, people watched in awe.

That boy had been submerged for nearly ten minutes. The fact that he lived was a miracle.

Nathan listened to their whispers with a smile on his face. They didn't know it, but they had just watched the birth of a hero.

Archive 012

Living in a subterranean world had never been easy for Thorne, but she'd always managed to find a way.

On a normal day when she woke up, she went about her daily routine, caring for the young and moving food from chamber to chamber.

Once she was finished with those boring tasks, she proceeded out of the tiny crack in the wall to explore the overworld.

It was a scary place up there. When Thorne left the privacy of the subterranean world, she was hit with all the strange smells and sights.

First came the sight of the trees that dominated the landscape, growing so close together you practically had to squeeze between them to make your way to the barren desert beyond.

It was hard work, and by the time Thorne got to the desert she was all scraped up. When she looked behind her, the trees reached towards the sky like giant wreaths of bamboo.

Then she felt it. The ground began to shake and the trees bend as a giant approached her. This type of beast walked on all fours and had always seemed to have a mask around its snout.

And it loved to kill people like Thorne.

Thorne began to run like her life depended on it and dodged the giant snake that came out of the giant's mouth. It was a hungry snake that scooped up any and every person that tried to cross the desert.

Thorne continued to bolt because she knew food lay just beyond the desert. Around her she saw her friends falling to the horrible snake, their limbs torn apart, their eyes gouged out.

At last she crossed into the woods on the other side of the desert where huge leaves covered her presence from the attacker.

Now she only had one thing left to do: get through this little forest and follow the trail left by her brethren to find the leftovers of the even greater giants.

The trail was easy this time and after a brisk ten-minute walk she arrived upon a giant patch of grass that the giants had laid down. Carefully she climbed onto the top where she could see the giants and, more importantly, their food.

These giants were huge, a thousand times bigger than the trees and ten times bigger than the masked beast.

Usually they didn't take heed of Thorne, but when they did, she would have to scamper for her life. Carefully she crept and grabbed the biggest chunk of meat that she could before running under the patch of grass, back into the forest.

Now she only had to return the food to her brethren where her great queen would decide how to distribute it.

Sadly, Thorne perished to the tongue of the masked beast, who was in reality a raccoon. It didn't matter, of course, because her fellow workers would take her place. You see, Thorne was an ant.

Archive 013

I live in a world where your connection to beasts is everything. Not a quick, shallow connection of the flesh, but something ingrained within the spirit.

Today was the day I was going to get a chance at bonding with one of these beasts.

This is how it would go: the four beasts would be brought in front of me and I would greet each one. If I felt drawn to one and it felt drawn to me, we would go off into the wilderness with one another.

Only after we come to deeply understand each other on a soul-to-soul level is when I would be able to use the beast's power.

The powers of the four divine beasts are simple: water, fire, earth, and air.

It's very rare that someone would even get to go into the wilderness with these beasts, even rarer to bond with one. If you did, the world would become your oyster.

I stared at the door that had the beasts beyond it and took a deep breath.

I pushed into the room and was blasted by heat. Chilling on the other side of the place was a tortoise. A very big tortoise that was on fire.

He looked at me but didn't move. The overseer behind me told me to move on.

I went to the next room where wind tore at me. I looked around and saw an eagle the size of a man resting above me. The tips of his wings seemed to fade into air. The beast didn't even seem to acknowledge me.

The overseer told me to move on, so I did.

The next room smelled heavily of earth. After some roving with my eyes, I spied the huge armadillo asleep in the corner. The earth seemed to crawl around it.

The overseer told me to move to the last room. I took a deep breath and pushed the door open to find myself on a pier. The ocean hit me with its breeze and I soaked it in.

This was my happy place, so I dove straight into the sea.

Immediately I sensed the beast's presence. It lurked far below, moving through the currents of the ocean.

I stayed still, trying to discern if it approached me. The water swirled beneath me and suddenly I was being thrown toward the sky, one of the divine beasts beneath me.

It was a dolphin. A great huge one like nothing I had ever seen before. There was no doubt in my mind. This beast had approached.

As I sat on the dolphin's back, I hugged it with joy. This whole thing just felt so right. The water lapping at my feet and the nice breeze above felt like home.

On the pier, the overseer stood saluting me. I saluted back. I was about to go into the wilderness, the ocean to be more exact.

I would be gone for days or months, but I knew that the beast would not lead me wrong.

Then the dolphin was moving and I was clinging to its side as I dove into the depths.

Under the sea, it was going to be a whole new world.

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