A whole world on a single page!
The short story morsels of One Page Worlds are flash fiction adventures of all flavors. Every Wednesday will feature a complete story in one page, or the first page of what could be a novel or novelette.
Sharing the fun and geekery is the best part of writing! Please tweet or comment with your guesses on what genre, character, and job is central to each tale. Enjoy touring new universes each week with One Page Worlds!
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Man’s natural state of mind is not one of madness. It must be cultivated.
Instincts for survival drive many, and cravings for sin grow in the systemic and urban places. The occasional charismatic leader or professional deceiver might stoke madness in the right people, with effort.
The Old Ones need not work to achieve such ends.
Twenty eight years, I served Yog-Sothoth. Wore a sane mask. Travelled country to island to populous city. Ever my arrival demonstrated a miniature future. Tough-willed women and men cannot withstand their presence. Brink-dwellers writhe in anguish at their absence.
“Ezra,” the rich and royal begged me. “No weaponry can spare us from them. No guile or intellect. Yet you side with them and opt not to pool resources. Aid us.”
Always my response, “Inevitability is not stopped by learning or co-operation.”
“Mr. Vonneril,” the urchins and the homeless pled. “Your loyalty lessens hope where it may live on. To think your brotherhood would be spared when we both understand our fate? That is insanity.”
To them, “Hubris in claiming to understand is what makes you fertile for madness.”
Our journey, the pursuit of my band of brothers and sisters, is ours. In words The Unspeakable One knows I uttered in sleep: “Flame approaches. Swaths along the distance. To be it is to cultivate it. Resistance is not a requirement, nor is comprehension. Take heart in becoming the flame. Elsewhere lies torment, thus madness is our faith.”
Not lies nor grandiose promises doomed to lack follow-through.
Madness. Home-grown.
-Come Join The Flame, Ezra Vonneril, 1887