Paranormal Prompts

Prompt 47 | Word Prompt

Hi everyone and welcome to our newest prompt! This week, we'll be featuring a word prompt. Remember that you can interpret the prompt in any manner, provided that there is a clear link between your entry and the prompt. For more information, please check out the guidelines below.

WORD PROMPT:

WINNERS:

Please note that winners are not listed in any specific order. You can find the rest of the wonderful entries in the comments section below!

***

WINNER 1: WolfeyeWinter5

The souls continued to wail from their places on the various shelves of the basement. All of them were horrible people, evident by the sickly green-brown liquid within their crystal containers. Their souls were far from clean, they were disgusting. These were the people who committed crimes without remorse, they didn't do it for survival, they did it because they felt like it.

If grandma was still alive she'd be disgusted by how many dirtbags had crowded the basement shelves. It was almost to the point where I'd have to start boxing them up and storing them away until collection day next year. Maybe then I wouldn't have to listen to their whining for a little while.

From my messenger bag, I pulled out today's finding; a bonded soul that was darker than the rest, one who'd committed so many wrongdoings that it was amazing that she'd managed to elude any of the other soul stealers. I only managed to glean a piece of her memories before I managed to capture her, but it wasn't pretty. She'd committed more crimes than the most seasoned of thieves. She was the only person in modern history to be able to rob a bank and escape without taking a hit. But, the people inside, they had been viciously attacked, practically pulled apart by an animal. Her animal. An Umbra no doubt... it had to have been. No one, not even the most vicious of murderers, has ever been known to turn the liquid within the crystals such a color. But, it begs the question... why was it connected to her?

A faint weeping noise caught my interest. I hadn't been expecting her of all of them to actually show so much grief over being caught when she knew more than any of the others who would be after her. Peering down into the crystal, my mind could faintly trace the appearance of a figure in the murky liquid. I could practically feel my hand shaking with each sob. "You reap what you sow," I muttered, as I placed the object down and walked away. Just as I did with all the others.

***

WINNER 2: CarrieStephanie

My dark cloak shrouds me, it's light velvet a comfort. I sigh, watching the mist cloud that forms from the act in the cold night. This was not how I expected to spend my night. Pity I can't use my powers or they'll sense my presence.

You see, everyone has something they want, I for one want a peaceful retirement from The Shinigami Colony, which was just a clan of teenage reapers who got together to reap souls. It was more of a club than anything. But who says we get what we want from life? Or death? I was just so done with the criminals and the damned running amok in the world, so I decided to take the law or scythe into my own hands. Pity I can't use my powers or they'll sense my presence.

So with the mysterious reaping of souls before their time, they were searching for a rogue shinigami and that led them to a trail around my house.

With a disappointed shrug, the band of shinigami scouts leave my residence.

I teleport to my basement, where I keep most of the souls I reap. They're all in a black mass of darkness in the middle of the room, brought together by a simple spell.

They lash out in a dark wave, hoping the more I gather the stronger they get. Their hope is dashed however, when I shrug away their attack like it was a light tap.

"Stop, or you'll regret it." I spit out. They calm, oddly compliant.

I whip out my scythe, planning on opening a portal to the underworld. The darkness almost whine.

I laugh. "You reap what you sow. I wonder what I'll reap, if I planted your souls in the underworld?"

***

WINNER 3: sellardor

I drew a rune on an empty spot on the shelf stand and placed a glass jar on top of it. In it, a glowing orb turned into a tortured red glow, writhing in its glass prison, like all the others on the shelf.

If the gods won't bestow punishment upon cruel souls, then it's the duty of man to serve justice.

I had taken it upon myself to enter Death's lair, seek out the souls of terrible men, and inflict punishment myself in my home, a fortress to Death with runes carved into its walls and floorboards to keep it out. But it couldn't keep out all beings.

As I rested my hand on the light switch, my house trembled. A blinding flash of light forced me to the ground. My basement was cast in a heavenly glow, and at the center of it was an Angelguard, a noble warrior of the gods.

"You've been quite a nuisance," it said.

I was irked but mostly mesmerized. "These souls have caused misery to others, and Death pampers them like all other souls. It's not right!" I defended.

"That's not up to you to decide."

"So, it's up to you? Is that why you're here?"

"No." It chuckled. "I'm here to set them free." My house trembled again, more violently, and all the jars I shattered into dust. The souls all drifted away.

I was beyond angry. I stormed up to the supposedly noble being. "So this is justice?! People are suffering down here while the gods sit idly by in ignor--" I was lifted up by my throat and pinned against the empty shelf.

"The fate of souls is not up to mortals to decide." Its voice was low but stern. "No mortal will truly know of all the sufferings inflicted upon men of Great Evil by the world. Or of the Greater Evils their presence has prevented. Punish them by mortal methods but in death, they are in the custody of the Gods and shall be treated as They see fit."

It released me. "Though beware yourself. You have deviated from an acceptable path. The Gods may not be so merciful upon you."

And like that, I was left alone in a crumpled pile on the cold floor in the dark.