Past the grit and grime that clogged the ears of the Keeper of Time, the plea of Bruce broke though "My wish is to undo every wish that has ever been made!".
No one likes turning five million and one. This is well evidenced by the show some women put on to celebrate their five millionth birthday for centuries. Bruce just didn't like to think he was in the "second half" of his life. What had he really achieved anyhow?
He was considered young in his department, the illustrious division of occurrence, but only because the desks there otherwise housed old timers. Some of these guys had been there at the beginning of every paradigm shift that built the current reality. Bruce refused to end his career here, as they certainly would. Bless them.
He had never fallen in love or taken any risks. He dutifully worked overtime, allowed his vacation days to pile up. He really liked a girl once, Rebecca. That too was swept away in the steady course of duty. A man is only as good as his word, but perhaps that is not enough to qualify a good existence. His life was as dry as the grating bones in his arthritic wrists, which ached from eons of paperwork typed and filed. Endlessly, he had trudged on.
It began almost as an itch, the fingers of annoyance against his skin like dozens of stray hairs. Once again some shmuck had successfully summoned enough mana to make a wish- a shooting star or broken wishbone carrying the whim into existence. Luckily, humans largely forgot they were magic long ago.
Still, every now and then a wish broke through. Except these new humans were greedy. Where a wish used to be for a mild winter, or a babe delivered safely, now the wishes were extravagant. This one threw Bruce right off kilter, sending thoughts that had long clogged his mindset into fateful motion.
A twitch in his temple offset his ability to stay calm at all, as he tried to focus on how to file this new monstrosity. Suddenly feeling far too hot, he fled the office in a wave of agitation, kicking a garbage can that was within the walkway. He was completely unaware of the looks of shock from his coworkers, who had never seen him be anything less than pleasant.
Bruce really tried to let it go. Isn't this how it had always been? The blunders of mankind were his bread and butter, why had they begun to fill him with rage? It was after all his sacred duty as a celestial to manage the affairs of the stinking miscreants. He was here to help.
But what of the duty of man? Man who had once asked for divine intervention to survive, now playing in its power for fun. Maybe Bruce had never been in love because this wasn't a universe to be in love in. The structure that formed reality was corrupted by the debased wishes of humankind.
Once the first rock fell from the precarious stack of Bruce's qualms, an unstoppable landslide was triggered. He had been there as these creatures changed, watched them turn from the path that was gifted to them. Somewhere in all their wishes, that original construction was lost.
Maybe, just maybe, it could all be right again. It dawned on Bruce that in millennia of filing, sorting, and qualifying the occurrences of humans, he had never considered using this knowledge for himself. Bruce did not find man to be instinctually good, instead finding value in the duty his own morals demanded, time had slipped by.
No more, Bruce had made his decision. He would use his experience to file his own request for once. He donned his best suit, a lovely blue herringbone weave that brought out the best in his eyes. As he opened his front door, Bruce looked down at the the bags he carried, stuffed with mana tokens. A lifetime of frugal savings accumulated in the endless march of duty would now break him free of it. The time had come to wipe the slate clean.
This is my submission for the weekly fiction writing prompt from The Ink Well community #82- wishbone, wish, bone. I hope my hook drew you in! Thanks for reading :)
Lovely story, @grindan. Welcome to The Ink Well! You've already received a welcome from our other admins and pointers to our resources, so I'll just add that we're glad you found us. Oh, and I found one small typo you might want to fix, in this phrase, where "mange" should be "manage": duty as a celestial to mange the affairs. Thanks for joining The Ink Well!
Ah! Great eyes @jayna, the affairs of man certainly do not need mange! Oh dear hahaha I fixed it :)
Thank you for the welcome, and helping to rid humanity of mange!
Be careful, @Grindan; @Jayna is really a Princess and makes people do her bidding by setting up tents for her outdoors full of cushions, blankets, and cats so she can cuddle in at night under the stars as Only a Princess could.
She does this while the ordinary folks, like @enginewitty and I, sleep on a marshmallow bed, wake up in the middle of the night, and have to sneak outside to not wake the Princess @Jayna, who we thought was on the couch like the rest of us commoners.....
The cold concrete steps had frozen our bums while talking on Discord late into the night. Once done Discording, we quietly and silently went back to the marshmallow room to finally get more sleep....Never knowing Princess Jayna slept through the whole thing under pillows and blankets fit for a Queen.
P. S. TRUE Story!! :D
Love it!!
😄
I do know a few things about pillow forts, but this sounds MAGICAL! I'm imagining you summoning the cats @snook and @enginewitty. I refuse to have that idea dispersed 😂
BUT what in the world is a marshmallow bed?! I'm picturing an air mattress with a slow leak or a pile of foam blocks that you'd find in a gymnasium... hmm
Ha ha ha, yes that is absolutely a true story, @snook, although I can't in all seriousness claim the Princess title. I think the fact that you had us all laughing until we cried on that trip gives you the title!
You know when you write that story out it makes you go????? WHAT? No way that is real!
But when you live it you think, well, yes, of course its true :D
LOLLLL
and I think there can be more than one Princess :D
Now that's a hook 😇
I love the way you work the prompt into your story. I love your story. It's a pleasure to read your work.
Thank you for stopping by and commenting @agmoore! I'm glad my hook drew you in! 😎😄
Mr Bruce does not seem like one who is ready to give up at all, the look to his suitcase was one that tells me that this is just the beginning of another paradigm shift.
Your story was explicit, so creative and beautiful, thank you so much for Sharing this with us at dreemport, I got to read such a great story.
Thank you for this wonderful comment @hopestylist ❤️😁
You're welcome Grindan, it's my pleasure.
Brilliant! Absolutely awesome. I hope those mana tokens are going to buy Bruce some excitement - a reason to live. Lovely writing 🤗❤️❤️🌿🤗💕😊🤗🤗🤗🤗
Thank you SO MUCH for the wonderful comment, and for boosting my post @itsostylish!! You've really made me smile ❤️ I too hope that Bruce lived it up after he left my orbit, it's about darn time he did! 😄🤗
Damn sweet, that Bruce❤️🤗💕
I'm totally hooked! Welcome to The Ink Well @grindan 😉
Thank you for the welcome @yaziris aka the savior of the code :D! I hope you weren't bummed out by my lack of tables- I haven't given up on HTML, I promise! Excited to participate in this awesome community! 😊
Hahaha, not at all. Just use what's easier and works for you now, it's all cosmetics after all.
The content is what matters most, and you have done pretty well with your brilliant writing!
Welcome once again! :)
Thank you for joining us in The Ink Well.
We read stories everyday, that’s what we do, some are good, some bad, and some, like yours, totally knock our socks off our feet. Imaginative, unique and beautifully paced, you’ve done a remarkable job. Let’s hope Bruce gets to live his ultimate dream, and undo all those frivolous wishes. Glorious!
Here are some important notes as you get to know our community:
Again, welcome!
Thank you so much for the warm welcome @theinkwell! I will make sure to familiarize myself with everything you shared above! It makes me so excited that you liked my story, thrilled to be here :)
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This is a story that grips from beginning to end, you have made a great entry and you start with a sentence that makes us stay in the reading until the end, very good job, I enjoyed reading you.
Thank you so much @jemima1996! I'm thrilled that I succeeded in hooking you in :)
Would he go on to make wishes for himself?. Who would be at the other end granting it.? I agree with you tho humans can have strange wishes. I'm still hooked too lol. Please unhook me
Why, the old timers at their dusty desks whom time means nothing to, of course! I wonder if Bruce freed them as well, when he made his attempt to restore some order to the universe... and furthermore- did they consider it freedom, if so? hmmmm....
Thanks for stopping by and commenting @buezor :D
Quite an awesome, well-thought piece of fiction! Kudos for this, and for making us think by
reading it! 💜
Thank you so much for this awesome comment, and for sharing my story on PYPT @thekittygirl ❤️❤️❤️
Well arranged and quite interesting story. well done @grindan
reading from dreemport
Thank you very much @hollowins :)!
You're welcome
Really fascinating post, and yes, it draws the reader in with enough mysticism to keep them engaged full bore. Nice composition here @grindan. Don't know if you want to know, but here are a couple of errors:
"This one threw bruce right off kilter" Bruce's name should be capitalized.
"Once the first rock fell from the precarious stack of Bruce's qualms, a unstoppable landslide" there is an "a" where it should be "an" in front of unstoppable.
This post was obtained through Dreemport.
Thank you for the corrections @jamerussell, I'll update :)! I am happy that you enjoyed my tale, and stopped by to comment!
Thank you @greatguy083 :)
Thank you @mcaspectacular!