It's an honor to call the Ranger my friend. We've shared stories with each other for years. Many of my old drafts for the latest concepts and ideas I came up with - and there were many - were often only read and digested by the Ranger. I have yet to officially dedicate myself to one project that I can work on and publish, but I'm inspired by my friend. And we all have to start somewhere, like here, where we'll be challenging ourselves to write short stories, to create new and fascinating worlds, all in the space of a few paragraphs or sentences.
Today the Ranger challenged me to write something using the word "lantern" and I challenged myself to write it in under 500 characters (spaces not included). I hope you enjoy it:
They huddled cold and in silence, a pathetic mass trying to conserve heat between thin bodies and a dying lantern. Oil – what an archaic concept. It was only ironic that they needed it most now. As a small child carefully emptied the last miserable drops of oil left into the lantern, the sudden roaring engine of an Inquisitor ship nearby startled him. As the pathetic mass dissolved into frightened individuals and the snow-covered ground was stained in the last of the black oil, the child looked up in terror. The last he would remember were the bright lights and the echoing screams.
-Gabe