I've been very quiet on here lately because it's been an odd week (big renos at my flat so I've been out and about a ton) BUT I have news!

And by news I mean new #flashfiction: http://www.emmalindhagen.com/2023/05/flash-fiction-friday-by-fire/
"By Fire" is a little dystopian fantasy (maybe?) piece based on a prompt from my #AdventPrompt set ^^

I also have a new game out: https://emmalindhagen.itch.io/cat-map
"Cat Map" is a wee thing I made for a #gamejame where you make a #TTRPG map using the #boardgame Calico

#flashfic #writing #gamedesign

Epilogue

The watcher sat beneath the tree, eyes to the stars, remembering. How many lifetimes had they lived since that day? They had watched so many variations grow, bear fruit, and wither. In every one, inevitably, a treehouse had one day appeared. A root connecting them to home, even as all else was lost or forgotten.

They leaned back against the bark and whispered a thanks. A star fell, and an apple. They caught it, took a bite, then headed for home.

#AdventPrompt
@EmmaLindhagen

@EmmaLindhagen

AdventPrompt 24

We welcome you warmly
All of you now companions
Relax within our safe circle.
Make yourselves at home
Take off your burdens
Help yourselves to our meal.

Shelter inside these strong walls
Allow your hearts to rest
Far from danger you are now -
Everyone here will protect you.
Turn and face us as fellows
Your shoulders face no threat.

Lean on this generosity
Openly receive this gift
Venture closer to comfort
Enter into this your home.

#MastoPrompt #AdventPrompt

The others blink as if they just woke from some strange dream. They giggle and play. The watcher remembers.

They think they are the only one until a voice calls their name. They sprint to the trapdoor. Standing at the foot of the ladder looking up is their father, eyes pricked with tears, holding an apple out towards them.

But it is so much more than that. It is warmth. Safety. Love. The child rushes down the ladder, and dives into his arms.

"Welcome home."

#AdventPrompt @EmmaLindhagen

@explorergrace @EmmaLindhagen

The corridors were just a blur as they wheeled Leonard to the Room. He was the last; the others were dead or mindjacked already.
Terror thrilled his brain as they reached the Room. It took them a few second to plug the interface into his brain stem. His eyes were drawn to the words writ large on the wall:
Warmth. Safety. Love. Obedience.
The cyborg at the control panel turned and smiled. "One of us," it said, and pressed the button.

#AdventPrompt

It's the final #adventprompt

“Warmth. Safety. Love.”

Thanks @EmmaLindhagen. I hope you enjoyed the advent calendar and making the prompts as much as I enjoyed making something out of them. 🥰

I will share the full story soon. In the meantime, the final line coming in 3, 2, 1...

Today is Christmas Eve (which is Main Christmas here in Sweden) and so as I digest and wait for family to finish last minute wrapping, here is the 24th and last #AdventPrompt!

And I’m gonna be hella corny and give you just one word for your last prompt: “Warmth. Safety. Love.”

Thank you all for participating. I hope you’ve enjoyed!

#WritingPrompt #MastoPrompt

It picks up speed, and all around them bends and blurs. They see, instead of stars, a billion possible lifetimes shooting off in all directions. An eternity, bound into a single night.

Slowly the streams begin to merge, then rewind. The watcher feels themselves changing, and doesn't need to look at the others to know they are changing too. They close their eyes, and when they open them next, they are a child again, standing in the treehouse.

#AdventPrompt
@EmmaLindhagen

@EmmaLindhagen

Advent Prompt Day 23: “An eternity, bound into a single night”

Allow me to indulge in fatalism, and to write something longer for this penultimate prompt.

The piece is in the attached image, with AltText, and starts:

A SKEIN OF SAND

Mused Methuselah on fate’s flotsam and jetsam –
"Be wise children, this valley is all you receive …"

#writingPrompt #mastoPrompt #AdventPrompt

Thank you Emma for these opportunities; long may you run!

It is inordinately late, and time for the penultimate #AdventPrompt.

It’s interesting, trying to come up with so many prompts. I’m curious if I repeat myself, if some images come back without me meaning to.

Anyway, today’s #writingPrompt: “An eternity, bound into a single night”

#mastoPrompt

@EmmaLindhagen

Advent Prompt 21: “A heaviness settles on [sthg], like water slowly soaking into thick fabric.”

Says the Spaniard, "These ideas of man – this Greek wisdom – is less than the thought of He on High."

"Yet can you prove either the universe is eternal, or it is created?" counters Maimonides. "No proof exists of creation, and neither can you prove time itself is infinite!"

The Spaniard bows to his senior, and silence seeps through the fabric of space.

#AdventPrompt #MastoPrompt

@explorergrace

Pouring down the mossy rocks, the mist moves with purpose. It shifts and glides across the stone, like something alive. Like something running.
It flows and coalesces and forms into a shape; still, watchful, without breath. The creature looks up. There is no turning back; she has cast her last spell, burnt her last bridge. In moments she is gone, leaving nothing but a wisp of mist in the moonlight.

#AdventPrompt

A thunderclap so loud it feels like its coming from inside their head. Lights so bright they see stars behind their eyelids even after their eyes open, and wisps of something all around.

The watcher blinks. They are standing on solid rock, surrounded by...something. Next to them are their brother, sister and friend. They do not look as they did before. They are in-between.

The mist shifts and glides across the stone, like something alive. Like something running.

#AdventPrompt
@EmmaLindhagen

OK I am onto it with today's #AdventPrompt

"The mist shifts and glides across the stone, like something alive. Like something running."

The process of trying to stick the landing has begun! 😬

Weird to think #AdventPrompt is almost over. Day 22 already! And as I am Swedish, day 24 will be the last.

Lots of rushing about today but let's see if we can conjure up a #writingPrompt anyway... Hm...

Here we go: "The mist shifts and glides across the stone, like something alive. Like something running."

#MastoPrompt

But every cage has a key, and there were six more words their father had insisted they remember, even when they didn't know the meaning.

The watcher spoke those words now, to the tentacle being. It swayed and hummed in response, then grew. The enormous beak opened.

The watcher understands. They step inside it. The others follow their lead. They close their eyes as it closes around them. A heaviness settles on them, like water slowly soaking into thick fabric.

#AdventPrompt
@EmmaLindhagen

The words hung in the air like an apple on the tree, just waiting to fall.

The world the watcher had inhabited since that dreadful day had never quite been right. No matter how often they looked in a mirror, they had never really seen themselves. No wonder they had not been able to see anything else. Something their father used to say echoed in their mind:

"In the right hand, a stick is as good as a sword. In the wrong hand, a shield is as bad as a cage."

#AdventPrompt
@EmmaLindhagen

Time to catch up on #AdventPrompt!

#AdventPrompt day 21!

#writingPrompt for the day is: “A heaviness settles on [insert name, noun or pronoun], like water slowly soaking into thick fabric.”

Advent Prompt 20: "In the right hand, a stick is as good as a sword. In the wrong hand, a shield is as bad as a cage."

"All right, my son, listen up! For this task, three rules.

Number one: Never hold your stick in your left hand!

Number two: Eyes front, boy, or I'll have you doing pushups in the cesspool! Number two: Swing your stick like a sword!!

Number three: Your shield is handy for defense, not for hiding behind!!!

Right, Beamish Boy, brillig approaches!"

#AdventPrompt #MastoPrompt