The storm raged. It thundered in from the sea, threw hail and rain, flattened, tore at everything in its path. It saw people flee, take shelter, cower.
And one, one person, came out of their house with a steaming mug of tea, left it on the porch, waved, and went back inside.
"You are the Chosen O-" "Again?" "-ne… What?" "Or is it still? Did you choose me before? Anyway, I baked muffins. Want one?" "But… You are the Chosen One!" "Yes. I'm everyone's chosen one. Fate said it's their little joke." "Fate?" "Tall, carries a book. Muffin?" "…thanks."
No one would have believed, in the early 21st century, that human affairs were being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's. Tonight the humans would, though they knew it not, choose their champion for the Galactic Games.
The space fleet entered Earth's orbit and broadcast a message. "We will now invade and take control." Many responses were sent, but they only replied to one. "What does 'No.' mean?" They listened to the explanation. "Really? Nobody has…" Then: "Amazing. We must respect that."
Whenever I came up with an idea for a new machine, a future version of me would appear to tell me that they regretted it. I finally ignored future me and persisted. It was a huge success, but I had no more time for inventions. It's clear I must invent a time machine, to stop me.
"Come out," the knight called, "and marry me!" The dragon emerged from his lair. "Pardon?" "You wrote a proclamation, saying that whoever rid the kingdom of its king would gain your, er, paw in marriage and half the kingdom." "That was a jo- Wait, you did?" "Yes!" "Very well."
It was the first court martial against a killer robot. Its stored footage clearly showed the people it has been ordered to kill were unarmed. After it was cleared, its commanding officer spat at it. "And you call yourself a killer robot!" "I have a capacity to kill, not a need."
The engineer looked at the sorcerer's dungeon plans. "A lot of sorting doors here." "To split any adventuring party, sending them separate ways." "Mhm. But these cheap two-fold doors…" "Everyone is one or the other, right?" "Many are in-between. They'll walk right through."
"I want," the man said to the art robot, and then described an image in some detail. "Certainly," said the art robot. A printout came out of its chest. "Thank y- Hey! What's this?" "A list of artists who make images of the kind you describe, and who are accepting commissions."
"Who told you that you were the Chosen One?" the spirit asked. "Fated to save the world?" "Er…" She hesitated. "Nobody?" "Yet you went and did it." "Somebody had to!" "Indeed." "Wait, am I the fated one?" "No." "Oh." "You chose yourself," the spirit said. "That's amazing!"
Ten years ago today, I posted my first MicroSFF story on Twitter. Four thousand stories later, I'm still writing them. Who'd a thunk it?
Many thanks to all of you, for reading, reblogging, liking, and commenting.
Here's that first story: ----- God finally stopped the planet to let people off, but hardly anyone left. We watched the sun speed away and felt very silly. ----- I have collected the most popular story from each year in a blog post here: https://microsff.com/a-decade-of-microfiction
** I have posted the August 2021 story collection for my supporters on Patreon and Ko-Fi. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/august-2021-81929181 Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/post/August-2021-story-collection-W7W5KNRXM **
"Say, George, is it true you killed a dragon?" "It is," George said morosely. "While rescuing a maiden from it?" "No. Well… They both demanded I choose." "Choose what?" "One of them. How could I? I loved them too much! So I choose none. Neither. It… broke the dragon's heart."
I overheard them at the bus stop. "Which is best, supplying a regular or getting someone new hooked?" "Hm. To satisfy the desperate, or create a lifelong addiction? I-" I turned around. "Have you drug dealers no shame?" "What? We're booksellers!" "Oh. Um. Do you have any here?"
"No," the swordmaster said. "But you teach people how to handle swords." "I do, yes." "Is there a difference?" "I… am not a master at handling people." The swordmaster picked up the talking sword. "But I know someone who is." "A peoplemaster?" the sword said. "A witch."
It's only been ten years since the Axtiuri contact fleet arrived, but you get used to things so quickly. "Penny for your thoughts," my mum says. "It's funny, we never knew how lonely we were before the Axtiuri." "Yes. Just like when I was young, when we first got the internet."
"The lab is locked," the student said, "so how…" The professor looked at the camera feed. "Ah. You know how subatomic particles can spontaneously come into existence?" "Yes, but that is not-" "It happens. Put a note up that we have another cat available for adoption."
"The problem with these chat AIs is that they give an answer, but there's no guarantee it's true." "Yes. So I developed one that always tells the truth. Try it." - Who killed JFK? - I don't know. "I guess that's true." - What is 1+1? - I don't know. - What do you know? - Nothing.
** I have posted the March 2023 story collection for my supporters on Patreon and Ko-Fi. Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/march-2023-story-81350004 Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/post/March-2023-story-collection-V7V8KAS0Z **
"This is highly irregular," Death said. "Hang on," I said. "am I…" I looked down. Below, I saw my body on the street, neck at an impossible angle, and the lorry that had hit me. "Can you tell me," Death asked, "what a 'massive online fantasy game world' is?" "Oh. My afterlife."
