First Blood

They say my mission is the most noble.
They say it is the hardest.
They say there is no turning back once I go forward.

But I think otherwise. "Charge into the enemy lines as fast as you can, as deep as you can. Charge with all your might and with your life." My general say.

But how hard can that be. Anyone with perfectly abled legs can go running into enemy grounds. And what is so noble with that, when you know you will most likely be killed by arrows or cannons or whatever defense they have there.

What is hard is the mental and emotional training. You have to accept that you are going to die. You have to be able to fight the fear of pain. You have to be brave.

I have accepted my fate. Sometimes I wander what are beyond those walls. Who are these army we're fighting. Why we are almost alike. I used to think of just quitting and returning to my little village. Work as a regular carpenter or maybe a miner. But I have gone past that. I have accepted my fate.

This is my mission. And it is simple. I shall charge the enemy grounds with my full might. I shall give the best battle of my life. I shall make them notice my power. I will make them fear me such that they will unleash the best of their army to fight me.

Let them come! I am ready.

So I attack.

As I destroy their gold mines and elixir collectors one by one, they began firing at me with their all-- archer towers, cannons and mortars. I absorbed them all-- arrows, cannonballs, whatever they throw at me. I endured the best I can.

I was not fully aware what happened next.  The last thing I remember, the enemy reinforcement was unleashed and they are coming closer and closer to me, I hear our archery squad's battle cry. They face off, swords versus arrows. Shields versus spells. I just lay there on the grass, unable to move any part of my body.

I lay there face up for sometime. All I can see is the clear blue sky with some occasional arrows zipping past high above. Then I feel someone approach. It was the graceful Archer Queen. She looks at me with her elegant but fierce eyes, Then she kneels down and closed my eyelids with her soft hands. Then she whisper into my ear, "Good job, my brave barbarian. You got us 3 stars."

The City Greets Me

I found the city in a good mood today.

This morning all the pedestrian traffic lights turned "Walk" the very second I step to cross the road. All of the lights.

The shadows of the tall skyscrapers all fall on the sidewalk where I was going; shielding me from the hot morning sun above.

The honk of the cars and the bells of the crossing train seem to sound in perfect tune and uncannily synced with the music I was listening on my headphone.

As I look closely, I noticed the cars zoom in the expressway in some cryptic pattern. Two slow cars, One fast car. Three slow cars. Three slow cars etc.

The city speaks in Morse code.

"Good Morning", it greets me.

Selfie

November 1, 2014
A 16 year old girl got a new iPhone  for her birthday. That same day she took her first selfie and shared it to her friends online.

November 4, 2014
The girl took her 50th selfie. She shared all of them online.

November 9, 2014
250 selfies taken in total, all uploaded online. The girl is now taking a selfie almost every hour.

November 12, 2014
600 selfies taken. She is now taking a selfie almost every five minutes and sharing them all online.

November 13, 2014
The girl took her 666th selfie at around 4 am and shared it online.

After that share, her friends noticed she is not sharing anymore selfies.

Her family and friends would soon realize that she has been missing after that last selfie.

She still hasn't been found until now.

People would look at her last selfie and sometimes notice that the picture seemed to be crying for help.

If you are reading this post, then you are in danger of suffering the same fate as her!!!

PLEASE take a selfie of yourself then share it to 13 people everyday from now until the 13th day. Or else it will also happen to you!!!

PLEASE PASS.

Cosmic Safari

"Bring me my shotgun!" God said to his archangels. "I'm going on a safari."

 * * *

"It's Cassiopeia. My favorite constellation." said Arthur as he direct Lisa's pointing fingers to a group of stars on the north east region of the sky.

"It's so beautiful!" Lisa exclaimed.

"Not as beautiful as you." said Arthur.

They look into each other's eyes and in each found a more beautiful entity. That which is called love.

* * *

Up in the sky, they didn't notice one of Cassiopeia's stars disappear suddenly. And then another. And another.

Chasing the Shadow of God

Her eyes widened as Pete sat there in silence. Is this it? Is he ready to pop the question? Is it really happening now? It has been a really bumpy couple of years for them but they managed to make it this far. She has always been on the edge of the fence with thier relationship what with him being profoundly inconsistent with his emotions. She knows he loves her but there are times when she feel that he's got something else in his heart besides love for her. And recently it's been bothering her. But then she just recently realised that he might be just afraid of committing.

It was yesterday when he called her, wanting for them to talk. A serious talk. So she recons this might be it. There was never a very big recent problem they had so he can't be breaking up with her. And she doesn't really want to entertain that thought anyway. So she feels this is it. He is asking THE question.  And she already has an answer. More or less.

Pete sat there in silence. He kept thinking how he would say it to her. Will she say it upfront? But how does he know would she react? What if she reacts negatively? It might be the end of everything. Everything has been progressing quite perfectly from day 1. But at this stage, how can he be so sure, with all the complexity and improbabality of things? Adn if she reacts positively, is he really ready? Does she deserve this life that he will be giving to her?

Or does he have to tell her how it all happened? Start from day 1 and slowly retell what happened eversince. Until now. And then finally
tell her. At least she will consider the weight of their journey if anything else. But would it just be more painful to live everything, the good and the bad, then in the end just end up with her melting her heart out?

But Pete needs to say it now. Or it will just go on forever and ever in this state. This needs to progress no matter what the outcome might be.

So Pete broke his silence. And he decided that he will just say it up front. Whatever happens will happen.

"Annie. I have to tell you something."

Annie sat there in silence, eyes widening in anticipation.

"Annie. You are a  robot I created."

Her heart started melting.

Laundrytime

Agent Voltaire's laundry dump has been rotting on the corner of his apartment for almost one year now. His lone skin hanging on his virtually empty cabinet is the last one of his outfit. Unfortunately, he has another job early tomorrow morning. His target is the Prime Minister of the Visayan Republic. High profile. And the day after he has another one. The target is still unknown but is also a powerful person according to his barker.

He really need to get the laundry done. Good thing there's an express washer downstairs from his apartment. Zero evidence. Fast clean. Their ads say. Agent Voltaire smirks at their clever ad. Nowadays, people are not what they seem. Everyone has a second job. Everyone's day job is just a front for the dirty exploits they do after their 8 to 5 work hours.

The barker on the Jeepney terminal is the person giving him the targets.

The washers downstairs are erasers-- they clean up evidence of crimes, dispatches bodies etc.

The cigarette vendor is a CIA double agent.

The tricycle driver is a getaway driver.

The cellphone repair guy is a signal hacker and surveillance specialist.

The girl who sells sampaguita is an assassin-chemist specializing in natural poisons from the flower she sells.

This city is a cove of espionage, assassinations and false identities. Everyone has a dark story they don't want anyone to know about. A dirty story that does not need cleaning. A story that will destroy their entire lives once exposed to the world.

But the dirty will not remain dirty. Soon laundry time will come and no single bad deed will remain uncovered and unpunished.

Agent Voltaire dials the hotline for his laundry. The cellphone repair guy listens to the call and forwards it to the cigarette vendor. The next morning after that, the barker will be whispering something to the sampaguita vendor who will then give Agent Voltaire a lei of flowers as a gift. She will ride a tricycle to her apartment and then remove her skin and throw it to the 1 year-old dump she's got rotting on the corner.

Laundry time approaches yet again.

The Philosopher from Across the Stars

"It is the interaction of but two bodies that gave rise to the entire universe."

Thus said the philosopher from Cygnus X1, whose worldship is parked on Earth's Himalayan parking ranges at the moment.

"In the beginning was Darkness. In the beginning was light. But just that. Light and Dark. Nothing more nothing less.

But Darkness found Light and Light found darkness. And then the Great Explosion came about. And the entire universe was born right after. Did that answer your question?"

"Uhmm... I'm still not quite clear about it, saer." The person on the microphone said. "If everything came from the interaction of Light and Dark, then where did the Light and Dark came from?" There was a soft murmuring among the participants in the assembly hall.

"Ahh. Now you are asking something different. This is a scientific convention. Am I right?"

"Yes saer."

"Then what you are asking is not thematic to this gathering. For it is not something we will discuss in a room full of scientists like yourselves. But If you want answers then so be it. But don't blame if you won't believe it." The philosopehr paused for a while. "So in the beginning, god created..."

"Saer, if I may interrupt. You just said this is a scientific convention. If you are going to preach about god, and religion and those faith-based beliefs, then please just stop because everyone knows..."

"Ahh, but that's what I thought you would say. I will not talk about your religions, or beliefs. Those are things I know you would dismiss immediately and I would too, because they are not based on scientific facts. I'm talking about something else. You all know how knowledgeable our race is. We're far, far advanced than you are, technologically, mentally and in every aspect that you can think of. I have a huge pool of knowledge you can't even fathom how enormous. You're entire body of knowledge; scientific, philosophical, literary, religious, all of those compared to us are just like a baby uttering her first syllable. That's how primitive your minds are.

I'f I am going to tell you the literal explanation of the origin of things, It would be like you talking to a dog about algebra. What I am doing is replacing words unfathomable to you with words that are familiar and would translate satisfactorily in your very young minds. And you'll just have to believe that these are true." The philosopher paused again.

"So, as I was saying," the philosopher continued "...in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of god was hovering over the waters. And god said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light."