thesilverlibrary

[thesilverlibrary]

Reblog if your art project has not, does not, and never will make use of generative ai at any point in your creative process.

[thesilverlibrary]

Tumblr...do your thing and connect me with other writers ❤️

(Please reblog if you're an active writing blog)

[thesilverlibrary]

Testing

"If you ever venture beyond this blessed city, into the wilds of the Maze, know that you will be tested. The Maze itself was how the gods saw fit to test mortals."

"How will we be tested, sir?"

The teacher loved it when he reached this part of the lecture.

"You will be tested by the dangers of the Maze, and by its monsters. You will be tested by the heathens and barbarians who live out there, and reject the civilization the Spiral City brings."

Another raised hand, and another question.

"Why would barbarians reject what we have to offer? We are the heart of the Maze!"

"Jealousy. The gods chose us to be the heart of the Maze, and they know in their hearts that our position is true. So they wish to destroy us. But we are strong, and will defeat them."

—

Shirani only found out later, after joining the Linemen, that maybe things outside of the Spiral City were not so straightforward.

The first thing was the meeting with the Unity Corps, who strove to keep the peace. "But isn't that the Linemen's job?" she asked.

"Of course it is!" replied one of the senior Linemen. "The Unity Corps just focus particularly on that. We maintain the ropes that connect the cities."

She noticed there was tension between her superiors and the Unity Corps people. She wasn't sure why, since the Unity Corps was just as much a part of the Linesmen as the others.

She was working on passing the knot tests, while her provisional team travelled around the known areas of the Maze, looking for rope that needed fixing and repairing. They knew that only with constant vigilance did the Maze stay stable.

Shirani's team one day arrived at a node in the midst of a mine area. The node was not what she was used to seeing: the knotwork in the ropes that met at the centre was unfamiliar, and there were pieces of cloth with odd symbols attached to it.

Major Julian hissed. "They've been here."

Shirani was trying to mentally thumb through her index of known threats to see what he was talking about when her chain of thought was interrupted.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[thesilverlibrary]

When an alien race discovered Earth’s atmosphere was made with oxygen, their best scientific theory was that the creatures there were able to breath fire. They eventually decided to invade Earth equiped with thermal armor, and were no match to the bullethell that was waiting for them

[thesilverlibrary]

Here's a bit of random worldbuilding drabble for you all.

I named a bunch of oceans and seas in one of my works after lunar maria because I felt like it.

[thesilverlibrary]

You’re an immortal who’s lived through thousands of years of human history. Each time you die, you reincarnate with all your past memories. Today, for the first time ever, you meet someone who recognizes you from a previous life.

[thesilverlibrary]

Class Omega

"Do you know much about ICOM's artifact classification system? I found a reference to 'Class Omega' but there's nothing about the specifications of what would fall into it."

Evangeline sighed at the student and pushed her glasses slightly up on her nose. "The specifications of Class Omega are on a need-to-know basis determined by security clearance. I can see based on your badge that you do not have the appropriate clearance."

The student looked startled and flustered. "But..."

"Who's your professor?" Evangeline interrupted the young man's lost train of thought. "I'll see if they can get you some assistance. And by the way, where did you find this reference?"

Once her ruthless professionalism had dealt with the student and sent him off on a path of study he would be more prepared to deal with, Evangeline leaned back at her desk and sipped a fresh mug of tea. It was an interesting job, being an assistant librarian at one of the world's premiere universities for magical studies.

She had the clearance to know the specifications of Class Omega. It was the rarest of the international standards for the classification of magical artifacts, and for good reason.

Omegas were the objects that were too dangerous to destroy.

Oh, that's not what the classification actually said, but that's what everyone who knew of it understood that it meant. The actual legal definition of Class Omega was that it was for artifacts that "pose an active threat to the existence of life on Earth, but cannot be safely destroyed or neutralized by means currently known to science or magic without potentially unleashing their inherent danger."

Evangeline wasn't just a librarian, of course. She also worked for ICOM. She knew how to handle artifacts. But she didn't have the classification to know what the Class Omega artifacts were. Very few did. She'd heard there weren't very many of them, though.

But knowledge of Class Omega had to be kept on the down-low. There were people out there who would want to try and exploit those objects' power to their own ends, heedless of the danger. So Evangeline sent for the library's copies of Enhancing the Magical Properties of Gemstones, Third Edition.

She was curious as to what gemstone magic had to do with a Class Omega. Perhaps there was a stone amongst the Class Omega artifacts. Evangeline couldn't think of what it could be though. She doubted it was a famous gem.

[thesilverlibrary]

Prompt #1000

"Then why did you even come along?"

"Because someone has to save your ass if this inevitably goes wrong."

[thesilverlibrary]

Mythology drabble #1

She lied to him, at the beginning. He was the only one whose memories were not rewritten, and she lied to him. She said she didn't know how it had happened, and that it couldn't be undone.

She could always undo it, and she did it for a reason.

Living under the weight of a prophecy can be difficult, even for a god. So she thought she would take some of it off.

She will take the throne eventually. But on her terms.

[thesilverlibrary]

Writing Prompt #2367

"Tell me what you want from me!"

"That's not the point of this. I'm not the one seeking answers on this journey—this is for you to discover."

[thesilverlibrary]

Prompt #556

How did you bear it so long?

Why did you bear it so long?

[thesilverlibrary]

Prompt #562

“…and how long ago was this?”

“Time is a mortal construct.”

[thesilverlibrary]

Prompt #1180

Flesh prison.

[thesilverlibrary]

"I don't understand. I saw you die."

"Watched me die. You watched me die and you did nothing. Isn't that what you meant?"

[thesilverlibrary]

You unknowingly acquired an ancient artifact that carries a most horrible curse. Well, “most horrible” by ancient standards. By today’s standards it is a mild inconvenience at worst.

[thesilverlibrary]

#the protagonists are eldritch blobs who in no way resemble Earthly lifeforms

“You left your excess carbon in a wet environment and let it bake by a star? Come on man… you know that’s how you get humans! Do you want humans? They’re probably already inventing Reality TV at this point. Go take care of it.”

[thesilverlibrary]

The Maze-lost

"Knossos."

"What is that?"

"It is the true name of the Maze. And its birthplace."

—

The Chief Librarian, Chiara, visited the City Spiral once when she was younger. She thought then and still thinks now that they are too arrogant.

Observation, by people, keeps the Maze stable. But even so, it is a thing with a mind of its own, and you forget that at your peril.

The City Spiral and its loyal Linemen worship stability at all costs, as they worship the ropes and strings and threads that they use to tie their part of the Maze together.

But such things can be cut, be it by ill-intent, the monsters that roam the endless passages, or by the capriciousness of the Maze itself.

The Library Halls are stable, too, but they are not the same. The City Spiral occupies a long, meandering dead end. The Library sits at the center of a nexus point within the Maze.

The one point of belief that our two peoples actually agree on is the importance of the heart of the labyrinth.

There is evidence, in the oldest fragments of historical texts, of such a place. The legends say there is a great beast that lives at the heart of the maze. The roaming Spider Cults believe it is the mother of all spiders, Arachne.

But the historical evidence as gathered by our librarians suggests something different.

—

My people call ourselves the Wordwise, because we prefer to record our history in writing. The denizens of the City Spiral prefer knotwork, and so they call us the Lettered as if that is supposed to be insulting.

Ropes are a means of connection, for those who wish it, but putting too much faith in them may lead you to forget they can be cut.

I do not know if we will ever come to an understanding.

—

The only animals now tamed by the various denizens of the Maze are chickens, cats, and dogs. We have cats in the Library Halls; they hunt silverfish and shadowfolk for us.

But before the Maze, in the outside world not confined to twisting paths, there were other domestic creatures.

One of them was called "cattle".

The ancient histories say that whatever creature lurks at the heart of the Maze is a hybrid, part human, part cattle.

There was a hero who escaped the Maze by slaying the beast.

But according to those half-forgotten histories, the monster came back to life. Some theorize that only slaying it, for good, will free everyone from the Maze.

—

I suppose that is the difference between my people, and the Linemen of the City Spiral.

We see beyond the walls of the Maze, even as it tries to consume us, even stalking us in our dreams.

They only see within the Maze, and are prisoners to it.

—

There are others, who think differently from both of us. The Floating City travels the waterborne parts of the Maze, drifting endlessly on the currents. Those people believe in letting the Maze do as it will, and that binding its passages with rope and chain is cruel.

We don't hear from them very often. The Maze is potentially infinite, and there will always be more to discover.

—

But I had a dream, last night. It was of fire and blood and death.

There are rumours, from other places. Sightings of an old, old man, being assisted by a figure who shone like metal, fleeing through the maze. And a burning figure with burning wings, who broke all the rules of the Maze.

My dream told me the fiery figure hunts for the man, at the behest of its master. But the man knows the Maze, and will not be so easily found.

And I saw more, but I do not understand it. I fear tragedy is coming, and possibly a war. The Maze will not care. It never does.

I think the Maze likes keeping people lost.

(This story is set in a world created in @charlesoberonn's Discord server.)