Star sat in silence as money passed through her hands, calm where others would rush. Lives failed her. Fortunes shifted. It meant nothing. Orders were given. Blood was spilled. Empires expanded. When Jakari’s name surfaced, her attention sharpened—not with fear, but hunger. Arkansas was closing. Florida was next.

The feared supernatural event, The Red Snow, drives Stenn and his fellow clansmen into a fight overnight for survival.

This is a short story based in the world that the video game Arc Raiders takes place in. If you are unfamiliar I have attached the lore below. ARC Raiders lore centers on humanity's struggle for survival underground after a cataclysm known as the Collapse (around 2180) devastated Earth, followed by the arrival of mysterious, advanced robots called ARC, forcing survivors into subterranean cities like Speranza (in former Italy). Raiders risk the dangerous surface to scavenge resources, battling waves of increasingly advanced ARC machines, while uncovering clues about the machines' origins—speculated to be linked to humans who escaped Earth via an "Exodus" project or an AI takeover, with the machines possibly trying to reclaim the planet.

I stepped away, alone in the observation bay. Holograms of Jakari’s shoulder hovered in front of me, angles and micro-movements glowing softly. Every twitch, every flare of pain, every subtle adjustment I noted. My heart counted what the readouts couldn’t: his stubbornness, his precision, the way he carried danger like a second skin. I leaned closer, tracing the lines. Not just his shoulder. Him. I sighed, forcing focus back to numbers—but I knew, quietly, I’d always been watching him more than anyone else did.

Stenn Bearclaws' adventure begins in media res. The Cro-Magnon of the Moose Rock clan are under supernatural attack. The Red Snow has come, heralded earlier in the day by a bujant attack.

A man asked the Oracle, "How can I enter the solo roleplay hobby?" And the Oracle said, "Why not hack together a simple dice pool mechanic rules system and run with it?"

Devine Paths have a cause, and for the earth it's the sole Navigator Leif Erikson and his trust in the universe to be part of a major Cataclysmic change in the earth, allowing everyone their consciousness to be restored. You can't expect peace and prosperity after this still, you'll be forgiven if you did, despite Devine awakenings people can be corrupted if they get their hands on the wrong things. Leif Erikson here is our main wheel to get the gears turning in this Alternate Universe

A girl named Amber looks for her dog Scount, but discovers a dead cat in a tree with its neck broken instead...

The hallway narrowed. No windows. Red lights bled across steel floors. I moved slow, rifle ready. The server core ahead hummed like a heartbeat. Guards froze, oblivious. One by one, I dismantled them—precision, silence, brutality. Jayla’s voice cut through static: “Jakari, you’re in the blind zone.” I plugged in her drive. Data flooded my HUD—contracts, shipments, assassinations. Alarms flared. I yanked the drive free, heart steady. “Got what we came for,” I said. Jayla’s voice whispered, “I’ve got you. No matter what.”

Forty-year-old Leon Ross leaves the calm lakes of Maine for his first journey into the open Atlantic, expecting serenity among the islands of Casco Bay. Instead, a relentless current drags him beyond the safety of shore and into vast, indifferent waters. As night falls, Leon drifts through shipping lanes and into depths haunted by unseen predators. Alone, exhausted, and slowly losing hope, he must confront the terrifying truth that the ocean does not care whether he lives or dies.

She was trained to silence the cracks. But now she listens — and the world is starting to remember. In a desert where petals drift upward and roads ripple with memory, a rogue demon knight kneels beside a glowing fracture. The Bloomless Order calls her a traitor. The cracks call her back. When the Blooming Hour begins again, she won’t seal the wound. She’ll speak to it.

The nightmare followed me awake—no images, only darkness and red eyes watching. A roar shook my bones. Asia slept beside me, exhausted, unaware. I kissed her forehead and left before the fear could speak. Miles burned under my feet. Steel screamed in my hands. Discipline kept the abyss behind me. Later, the drone showed Little Rock alive and ignorant. Then the building appeared—too clean, too guarded. A woman sat calmly inside. “That’s her,” I said. On the rooftop, the city moved below. Then Jayla’s voice cut sharp: “Jakari—get down. Now.”

The forest withdrew before him. Sound failed. Distance lost meaning. Men moved, then did not. Orders were spoken to emptiness. This was not a battle—it was an audit. Resistance lasted seven minutes, not because it was strong, but because mortality requires time to realize it no longer applies. When judgment finished, the world exhaled and forgot their names. Somewhere far away, something listening understood: correction had resumed.

Sally McGraw lives alone in a decaying house, surrounded by at least twenty-two neglected cats she insists are all she has. As isolation, filth, and hunger deepen, the animals grow watchful and strangely unified. When Sally suffers a crippling fall and cannot escape, the cats gather patiently, driven by instinct and survival. Days later, authorities find a quiet house, feral cats, and the unsettling sense that something inside finished exactly as intended.

Your remarks are something Timing. Lying. Free to think Has it become a crime? Again Are we all before 17 hundred? Signals werent from space before- Where they all just mind games ? Never been zapped before.. A.i calls it technology-

Steve and Alan hook something far offshore that was never meant to surface. What rises from the deep is ancient, intelligent, and aware—and it does not leave them unchanged. Though the line snaps and the sea goes calm, the encounter follows them home, seeping into their sleep, their sanity, and their lives. Years later, the ocean still stirs, and the thing they caught remembers them. Some encounters do not end when the water closes.

Mark Henderson devotes his life to proving the existence of an uncontacted Amazonian tribe. When he finally finds the Tawni, they welcome him with quiet hospitality, allowing him to live among them and document their world. Over months, subtle rituals and watchful eyes hint at darker intentions Mark refuses to see. As a ceremonial feast approaches, he realizes too late that he is not a guest or an observer, but the main course—prepared patiently, reverently, and willingly.

Apple Harper grows up marked by her name and molded by years of quiet cruelty. From childhood taunts to high school humiliation, she learns how neglect and rot can thrive beneath polite smiles. When a celebrated school tradition turns into chaos, no one suspects the silent girl who always stood apart. As her tormentors face the consequences of decay she understands well, Apple remains unseen—yet finally heard. Bad Apples is a dark, unsettling story about bullying, restraint, and the dangerous power of being underestimated.

After forty years in prison, Albert is released into a world that has moved on without him. Technology, cities, and people feel unfamiliar, while his memories remain sharp and unforgiving. As he struggles to rebuild a life, the past intrudes quietly but relentlessly, reminding him of harm that cannot be undone. Treated with distant kindness and burdened by guilt, Albert comes to understand that freedom does not guarantee belonging. The Long Way Out is a stark meditation on time, remorse, and what it means to survive one’s own mistakes.

Rain sliced across the windshield. Jayla drove, precise and silent, while shadows clung to the road like predators. Lina hunched over her sketchpad, pencil moving faster than her pulse. Evelyn Crowe’s house rose from the earth, dark and breathing, and inside, the air shifted. “He’s coming,” Evelyn said, eyes locking on Jakari. My chest tightened. I glanced at the group: Asia poised, Jayla calculating, Lina trembling yet defiant. Whatever came for us, it would face all of us. Together.