Today's #flashfiction #EmotionVision

“No such thing as bad publicity.”

Genghis Khan*

Today I've been working on writing for my next entry into the Writers of the Future contest. It's rolling out to look decent so far.

Emotion Vision

      Cryii are a very rare race of fairy that see both visually and through emotion. One layer atop another. People in the world they live in often think they are more common then they are just because they travel so often. The fairies travel out of a near religious devotion to recording what they see visually and through their emotional vision. They way they record it vary as they become educated and learn more methods. The eldest learn how to do it mathematically so that computers can store it. Children start with mapping words so that other species can at least get an idea of what their sight is. Below is one of the emotion vision word maps of a young fairy girl named Alex. The map is of the moment of the emotions spreading out from a man named Johnathan when he kissed his true love on one of those nights it takes a poet to capture.

Unity	Unity	Unity	Unity	Unity	Unity
Love	Love	Understanding	Understanding	Nervousness	Comprehension
Love	Bonding	Tension	Mind	Nervousness	Bonding
Love	Heart	Resolve	Nervousness	Fear	Bonding
Love	Bonding	Resolve	Timidity	Empathy	Unity
Love	Bonding	Bonding	Soul	Bonding	Unity
Love	Joy	Unity	Yearning	Joy	Love
Love	Joy	Unity	Satisfaction	Love	Love
Love	Joy	Unity	Possession	Love	Love
Love	Love	Love	Love	Love	Love

Author Comment: I always feel like these odd format ones where I use tables or something besides normal narration can be hit or miss. I always wonder if I get across what I was going for. This one especially. Though the “perfect” form of emotion vision I imagined would be fourth dimensional spreading through 3D space and then the dimension of time but I couldn't exactly put that on paper. I hope you enjoyed this version though.

#Todays #flashfiction #PsychicPolitics

“You only live once!”

Lazarus*

Today I watched grass grow. It was intense.

Psychic Politics

        Two lobbyist met in a room too innocent looking for what they were doing. They say smoke-filled room in politics but really for convenience this was the kitchen of the grandmother of the younger lobbyist Tommy. Tommy had a rotund gut, a massive attachment to his grandmother, a reputation for being a nerd, and owned a massive technological corporate empire at a mere thirty from a few software inventions and clever business dealings. The convenience of meeting at the grandmother's house came from the fact he wouldn't leave it.

        The other lobbyist was an older woman named Li who moved to the United States in 2068 from her native China after marrying a fairly slow-minded man that she truly loved dearly. She didn't care much for his love of environmentalism but with some time she realized how much money she and her husband could make off of it.

        “So Tommy do you think it would be easier to win over Senator Bill or Senator Gerald?” Li wanted to get to the point in most of their conversations.

         Tommy fiddled with a comic book in his hands. He bent it back and forth in his hands. He loved comic books and would read them for hours. But his constant fiddling with them ensured they would never have any collectors value. “Senator Gerald breathes bribes. But that's mostly because he needs the money for ads. He needs the smear ads because people are starting get tired of him. Bill wins easy but he's one of the few saints in politics. Honestly I have no idea how he wins without the ads. He's an instant celebrity. He just smiles and people love him.”

         Li took a sip of water. During conversations a quick sip of water helped her think. “Should we take a gamble and go after the politician who's platform would best support what we need and past the most laws in our favor?”

         Tommy started speaking with a harsher tone, “Now I'm starting to get mad. Why? Because your starting to make a suggestion that goes along the train of thought that I don't have any street smarts. I know that the 'laws in our favor' often can go in your favor. Laws passed that say that your environmental agency is that one that uses my product. I don't need you. I could work to lobby senators to pass laws to have many environmental agencies besides you to buy my product. We're only limited because of the senators that can reasonably pass laws for you. I can go to other areas or other agencies. I don't need to take on your risks. Don't insult my intelligence.”

          Li took a sip of water before giving a response with a harsh tone, “Yes, but wouldn't you have to spend time before the election finding an agency with a corrupt contact like me willing to lobby and find a corrupt senator? Tick-tock. Elections are coming. Lobbying takes time and you have competition. And how many people are willing to take on the idea of your mind-controlling devices for environmental use in animal control? Lobby it? Psychic tech is new. New is controversial. Controversial is expensive.”

Tommy gave a quick retort, “This is politics, I can find someone, besides, controversial gives chance for plenty of pork and earmarks. They'll love it.”

        “They don't need you for earmarks. Earmarks happens after you do all the work.”

         “Cookies?” Tommy's senile grandmother chimed in, ignorant of the subject matter of the conversation. No matter her senility the grandmother couldn't forget how to make her cookies. They were those kind of cookies. Grandmother cookies. The smell broke tension and they had no choice but to accept them as well. Even if they didn't smell good they couldn't say no to a senile old woman's request despite their nature and situation.

        “So what Senator should we pick?” Li said.

        “Perhaps a third option?” Tommy proposed.

        “Who then?”

        “How about we go and bribe Senator Jeremy?” Tommy suggested with a big shrug.

        Li looked at him confused. “But Jeremy is an idiot. The biggest idiot in all of politics. Ever. I mean he got in a Senate seat in the strangest case in history. He ran out of a dare and people voted for him because it became in an Internet meme in the week before an election and the other two major candidates died in strange, comedic accidents.”

        “It was pretty much impossible that someone wins in a week or any Internet meme explodes like that. But yeah, he is an idiot. He does kinda just sit in congress and does nothing but plays video games he brings in saying 'no rule against it'! He doesn't accept bribes either though. He just does nothing and goof around.”

Li responded, “You think someone simple minded would love money to throw around. On paper he doesn't have much.”

        “What if he has a lot and is hiding it?” proposed.

        “That doesn't make sense because then he would have secrets and he wouldn't be much of a basic simpleton.” Li sipped some water.

        “What if he wasn't an idiot?” Tommy kept fiddling with his comic book.

         “All an act?” Li kept sipping water. “No, him? He doesn't put anything on paper, he doesn't talk to many people besides stupid remarks. How could he be a puppet master or anything.

Tommy shuddered. “Mind control. Like I'm doing with the animals.”

         “But that's impossible. Humans are too advanced for tech like yours to do that.”

         Tommy set his comic book down on the table. “Exactly. Tech like mine. I think the game he's holding isn't a game. I don't know how but I think we need to break it and lobby for something to stop that. Who should we do?”

         Li sipped some more water. “Tommy he isn't doing it alone. He couldn't have made it himself. They'll get us or make something else. We're going to have to pay someone besides the politicians."

Author Comment:I don't know all the politician names currently or throughout the past. So if the names line up with anybody they are not supposed to be them. These are all fictional characters that have nothing to do with them. I say this because writers sometimes do political parodies of people. I'm not one of them.

Today's #flashfiction #TheGreatSoulThief

“Everything is half off!”

King Solomon*

Today aliens attacked. CJ and I fought them off. I let him do most of the work.

The Great Soul Thief

        The last step of stealing a soul is the easiest, you run away as quickly as possible. With all the magical taps they put on the glass ball that holds the soul there is no way you're not going to trip an alarm. Some other soul thieves like me work on hiding and sneaking out. They have too much faith in their skills. They'll be caught by either the magic identifying touch of a wisp or the simple things like the mundane camera technologies if they were too stupid or arrogant to wear a mask. (Some great thieves don't wear masks to show off) They may plan extravagant strategies to beat strategy, maybe through elaborate movements and magical spells. Counteract magic security with more magic.

       But really I became the best soul thief from one simple plan. I sneak in like the others. Then I grab the soul. Then I just run. Run like a scared little girl. With the assistance of enchanted boots and stamina potions.  A person running normally would be caught by security, the pursuing officers, their cars, dragons, wizards, golems, etc. But like a superhero, well supervillain I guess. I outrun them with my super speed. I didn't need much of a calling card because I always seen fleeing the see. They couldn't catch up to me though. I figured they would never catch me. I'd just retire when I got too old run. Another five years I'd say.

      One day I was watching the news. The story was that a great thief had been captured by Detective Kraug. I hated Detective Kraug. A stupid green-skinned ogre had become the greatest detective on the planet. Great thieves, corporate schemes, government coverups. He could solve any crime. Quickly, efficiently. I wouldn't care about him doing his job normally. But there's just the fact he's busted great thieves, he's a stupid ogre, and he's so openly smug about it.

     “Detective Kraug. Now that you have captured this great thief what is your next case?” the newscaster asked.

The Detective grinned. “Why another great thief of course.” His expression then turned more worried.     “Though this time it may be quite tough. I'm going after the Soul Runner.”

I jumped out of my couch. That was the nickname the media had given me.

The newscaster looked puzzled. “Why would it be so difficult? His methods are so simple!”

       “But that is the problem. There is no puzzle for me to just keep thinking about until the pieces fall into place. I can't just 'logic' it together. No clues. No calling cards. Just a man who flees the scene of the crime faster than any of us can hope to catch him by our usual methods. Though I will find a way to catch him. Some way.”

      I wondered if I should keep stealing at this moment. Some thieves retire when they have the Detective start going after them. Some keep stealing. Based on his puzzlement I decided that it would be safe to pull off one more heist to shove it all in the ogre's face before I retire and hide myself.

I grabbed the glass ball that the soul I was stealing was contained it with ease as I usually did with ease. Alarms sounded and I began running. As usual I began running. The police chased me as usual I was ahead of them as usual. Like clockwork. But then I started to feel funny. Then I blacked out.

I woke up in a jail cell. My enchanted boots had been removed along with my mask.

Detective Kraug looked at me. “You're awake.”

       “What happened?” I asked him. I really hoped I had been dreaming.

       The Detective smiled smugly with his obnoxiously huge ogre teeth. “I lied on the news earlier when I said I didn't know how I was going to catch you. I already had a plan. But this plan was to catch you in the middle of a heist, if you had know I knew how to get you, you wouldn't have done one. I couldn't figure out your identity from normal deduction so instead I spent months locating your stamina potion supplier and poisoned them so that when you pulled off a heist you would collapse and we could catch you red handed. Checkmate Great Thief.”

Today's #flashfiction #HumanitysWrath

“I am the terror that flaps in the night.”

Batman*

       Still hanging with CJ. The reason he is staying an extra day more than planned is not because of a failed doomsday device we were creating.

       Anyway onto the flash fiction!

Humanity's Wrath

       The bombs fell all around the outside of the Martian capital. The humans had been bombarding its shields for days. And that was after they had bombed the cities around it. Since the explosions didn't break through the shields they just stopped on top of the shield. The explosions looked like mixing, swirling, dancing fiery clouds. The martians may have called it beautiful if it didn't terrify them.

       When they realized that as soon as their shield ran out of energy that cloud would erase them they surrendered to the humans. Within the day their king met with a human general.

The meeting place was docking bay of the spaceship of the general. The general didn't care much for formalities. Except for the formalities armed guards.

       “King Gojlkihgf. I've been looking forward to meeting you.” The general wore all his decorations on his clothing along with a smile.

      “I have not been looking forward to meeting you,” the alien king replied, his Martian accent being particularly thick.

       The general laughed. “You should be happy. The people of Earth would want me to push hot iron through each and every one of your eight eyes before even starting to speak with you. You should be glad you got me instead of another general because I'm the only one that wouldn't have ordered you to be immediately tortured. You have no idea how much humankind wants you to suffer.”

      “The bombs you have dropped on my cities have given me an idea.”

The general shrugged. “Bombs are the quick way to go. The terms are simple. Complete surrender of everything you have an own and all your people.”

       “Those terms are ridiculous. You think I would give up my people to you legally? That would make them slaves.”

        “Would you rather have me bomb them into nothingness? Of course maybe what the other generals are doing to your people will change your mind.”

        “Your generals could not be doing anything to my people that would justifying signing away ourselves.”

        “Our generals are doing the same exact things you did to us when you attacked.”

        After a quick moment of silence the Martian King spoke, “I accept all the terms.” The Martian King remembered of his earlier invasion of Earth, his mass bombing of all the continents, his landings into the capitals and the mass torture camps he employed through the war.

Today's #flashfictions #TimeCheckers

“Laughter is the best medicine.”

Hippocrates*

      Today I've been hanging with my friend CJ. We have not been constructing doomsday weapons.

Anyway onto the flash fiction!

Time Checkers

       When Fates played checkers they needed many more pieces than humans. Here, there and when they would place the pieces on a board that extended across a minute's worth of time in a pocket dimension. They would use their powers to move the pieces across the board as it extended through time and lock the pieces in a second of time so they wouldn't move unless the fates force them to. Each piece was allowed to be placed in one of the sixty seconds in the minute of time that existed in the pocket dimension. Pieces moved forward and backward a second in time in the same position on the board unless another piece was in that spot. They could move forward like normal checkers in the second they were in.

       The Fates start out with pieces matching what humans would have in normal checkers but for each second of the minute in the pocket dimension so they have sixty times the pieces in their games. The lose condition is the same, players make moves until the other cannot or surrenders, and the Fates often grind at each other for a very long amount time until this is done. Time has a different feeling for the Fates and stubborness has a new element.

      “Getting frustrated yet Tom?” One lady fate said to the other as he moved one of his king checkers from forty nine seconds to fifty.

       “Just impressed by your cowardice. King dancing? Wanting me to get frustrated enough to quit?” Thomas normally was a polite, traditional gentleman and watched his tone around women especially because of this game had tried his patience. Sarah, the other Fate, actually provided an honest challenge and turned this into a dreaded stall match.

Sarah smiled. “I'm going to win. I'm not dumb enough to try to take your pieces so I'll just take my king and move it back and forth until you get frustrated and quit. Forward and back through time or across the board it doesn't matter.”

       Thomas glared at the girl. “So this is how a woman managed to win so many matches isn't it?”

Sarah just about leaped out of her chair floating above the pocket dimension after that statement.

       “I know how to get under your skin as well,” Thomas said with a smile. He moved a checker of his own. “And now I've turned one of my own checkers into a king. Now why'd you let me do that?”

       “But you can't catch my piece. We've played this game long enough so that no matter how many kings you get you'll never be able to get all of my pieces and I'll be able to make a move,” she told him.

Thomas laughed. “You really thought that far ahead? I doubt it. You're no supercomputer or world champion. Let's see if you're right. Let's see if I can pin you down or not.”

       The Fates kept playing. They did their moves back and forth. Thomas worked harder to get more and more kings into play, Sarah got a few more as well. But Sarah often spent most of her time making the same pieces of hers move back and forth and wiggle between specific positions. And after a long setup Thomas saw it.

      “You did actually set up a loop.” He noticed that among the many instances of the board among the sixty seconds the kings Sarah had gathered made a sort of box that protected itself from many angles in time. No matter what angle he approached from it seemed that his pieces would only be lost. And in the middle of the box were a set of pieces that she could move without breaking her defenses. If she wasn't lying this had been strategy from the beginning.

      “The question is who will get frustrated and quit first. Those are the rules after all.”

       “I'll break it.” And so Thomas began working at it. Thinking and moving pieces about while Sarah just moved hers. Their pieces moved like clockwork. In the dimension they played the game there wasn't anything like the sun or moon to tell them the passing of time, and the Fates never grew hungry or thirsty so every moment started to seem the same as the next.

That is until someone broke into the pocket dimension they were playing in.

      “We thought you were dead!” It was actually the brother of Thomas. The two players had been playing the game for about a year. When not performing their job of manipulating time to push worlds along their proper course they tend not to keep track of it perfectly. Sarah's family were notified as well since she had also been reported missing.

       After this incident the rules of the game were changed officially by the professional leagues but truthfully by the police. Pieces could not be kinged, moves could not be looped, and a match could not last longer than a day without notifying a third party.

Today's #flashfiction #LayersOfTheGodsWorld

"Everybody loves an underdog."
Apollo Creed*


Well, CJ might come over tomorrow so yay! Also I ate Jack in the Box today less yay but still a level of yay that is appreciable.

Layers Of The Gods World

      These gods birthed their world in layers. First came the land. People would hope that a world would first start out born beautiful, but the land started out as just ill defined pieces cobbling together. A mess. Most of it gray. As things took form and the pieces came together color poured into the land as well. Objects took form and definition soon applied. Rocks were rocks and trees were trees. Things were no longer odd blocks and blobs.

      Next came the seas and oceans. The gods didn't put corals or anything special beyond their beaches. The land just suddenly cut off into the oceans. More often there were cliff faces than beaches. The oceans had no life. Just solid masses of water. Deep and blank with their only feature being their waves on the top.

The sky was instantly blue. Pure blue without any variation beyond some unmoving clouds. The clouds had that fluffy shape but because they didn't move they had a feeling of stone about them. With these clouds the world's basic features had been completed.

      People and buildings and life were plopped in specific places as the gods planned with thoughts planted in their heads. Thoughts that told them what to do and when to do it. Until those specific moments arrived to move them along those thoughts their impulses to only stand still or wander.

      And once the world had been rendered the gods could begin playing the videogame and have their fun. One of the things complained most about the game in reviews though was the long load times.

Today's #flashfiction #SantaVSMerlin

“Merry Christmas!”

The Easter Bunny*

Today, instead of a carol, as was originally planned(I did love them so though, and I hope you did to) I created a Langdon's Flash Fiction's Christmas Special! (Don't think I'll rerun this every year Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer style)

Santa VS Merlin

       “So you're the most powerful wizard on Earth?” Merlin looked Santa Claus. Over the years Merlin had battled many wizards. He battled them for many different reasons. Often it was to prove strength. Most wizards who battled Merlin wanted to prove they were stronger and place themselves in wizard history. They failed. Here Merlin wanted to prove that he was stronger. His crystal ball had signaled him to St. Nick's power and Merlin, who had developed an ego about his wizarding power, needed to prove that he was the better wizard.

      “I wouldn't call myself a wizard,” replied Santa Claus. “Ho, ho, ho! Why I'm no wizard at all. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get back to working on delivering toys.”

       “Liar. I have enchanted my crystal ball to detect wizards of the highest strength and it has found you. Now ready yourself wizard. The only way I can prove I am the more powerful wizard is with a duel.”

Merlin immediately waved his wand to summon a fireball to launch at Santa Claus. The fireball hit Santa Claus. Nothing happened. The wonderful, jolly old man was unaffected. In the middle of Santa's Workshop Merlin summoned fierce tornadoes, sheets of ice, and lighting. Merlin waved his wand to pull forth a mass of debris from a pocket dimension to throttle Mr. Claus. Once again nothing happened. The Elves fled in terror.

       “What is the meaning of this?” Merlin stepped back.

       Santa Claus walked towards Merlin. “Please stop. You're scaring the elves and destroying the workshop.”

       After a moment of thought Merlin then shouted, “Your coat is enchanted isn't it? It's the only way you could have survived!”

       “Of course it is. I have to deliver presents around the world. I need to be able survive any sort of weather conditions I run across. Any kind of temperature, wind, ice, lighting, debris if there's a volcanic eruption, I need to survive anything. I can't let anything ruin Christmas.”

       “A coat that grants you such invincibility. Impossible! Unless that red is...no that's Arch-Demon blood isn't it? You're a demon slayer!” It had been a hundred years since Merlin had met one.

       “Possibly. Now please leave my workshop. There are toys to be made.”

       “If you were capable of killing a demon were all those other tales of your powers true? I thought they may have been exaggeration just as I have had exaggeration of my powers.” Merlin started to run the tales of Santa Claus through his head and wondered if they were something he should consider in battle. “Are you truly all seeing?”

      Santa's face grew more serious as he gazed at the clock and saw that Merlin had been adding more time onto delaying Christmas progress. “As in 'he knows if you've been bad or good'? Before you came to fight me you jaywalked as a shortcut to get some soda that you stole by temporarily dematerializing the machine.”

      “What?” Merlin found the demon slaying shocking enough but with his vast knowledge of all that is magical besides being born a god of some form he could count the ways he could think of obtaining omniscience on one hand. “Fine. You've impressed me. But I will just cast a simple aging curse and that will be the end of you.”

       “I will not age. I distort time to deliver my gifts and to live long enough to make every Christmas splendid with them. With how much time your wasting I may have to use up more time magic in this room. Time is already slowed enough to make room for making toys but now with all the repairs, you've really set things back.” Santa Claus looked at the clock once again. Then a clock beneath it that showed time in the world outside. He was disappointed. Eating cookies in slower that usual time would be even more difficult if he would have to repair the entire shop.

          “Oh? You care so much about your workshop? Well I just turn the entire thing into ash for you! How about you repair it after that!” Merlin stopped caring about proving he was better than the red coated wizard and just showing spite to make up for his wounded pride. Merlin hadn't been shrugged off like this before. He waved his wand and a sort of red aura began to surround Merlin. It seemed like a simple heat at first. But it began to grow. Soon Merlin started to resemble a growing star and began consuming what was around him. By the time the elves realized what was going on Merlin's fiery girth blocked the way to the door.

Santa Claus remained calm and thought for a moment. Then he pulled out his cellphone from his coat and pushed a speed dial number. A small blue sprite appeared and Santa Claus whispered something to it. Soon snow and ice fell upon Merlin's fireball. In contact with the heat the snow melted into water. The heat was incredible but eventually enough snow and ice absorbed Merlin's ball of fire.

Merlin exhausted looked at the sprite. “Who are you?”

        “Jack Frost!” The sprite merrily replied.

        “He's one of my many friends. I take it with your hot-headed nature Merlin you haven't made many of them have you? Now please leave my shop before I call the Easter Bunny. To protect himself while he delivers eggs all around the world he has trained in every martial art on the planet.”

      “Threatening me with a rabbit? You mock me you fat fool! If I can't kill you normally I hit you with every curse I have and then end it all by making you a miserable little toad! You'll regret immortality when you're hopping around while suffering through fifty different Nightmare Curses!”

Santa Claus walked up to Merlin and placed his hand on his shoulder. “I have had to deal with villains who have tried to ruin Christmas with magical curses so I found an enchanted belt that protects me from all curses to make sure that I can always do my job to fill Christmas with cheer.”

        “No. But that kind of belt doesn't exist. It's no magical artifact I've heard of.”

        “Alright I lied, I didn't find it. I made it with the same magic I use to make my toys.”

        “No one could be that powerful,” Merlin mumbled. He looked at his wand, what he thought to be the most powerful magical tool ever made. He thought about all the years he had spent in all those realities gathering all that magical power and wondered about how St. Nick had gathered his. “You may think you're the greatest wizard but we will meet again!” Merlin shouted in an attempt to save face with himself.

         Santa Claus looked around. “Time to start repairing the workshop.”

Author Comment: The moral of this Christmas story is don't mess with Santa Claus.

Today's #flashfiction #OZombieTree

“Two heads are better than one.”

The Headless Horseman*

Christmas Eve was awesome. Because we're spending time with extended family tomorrow we opened gifts early today and did our immediate family celebration. We enjoyed each others gifts. Christmas is splendidly splendid. Huzzah! Onto the Christmas carol!

O Zombie Tree

O Zombie Tree, O Zombie tree,
How boney are your branches!
In chilling white will always grow
Through summer sun and winter snow.
O Zombie tree, O Zombie tree,
How boney are your branches!

O Zombie Tree, O Zombie tree,
You are the tree most feared!
How often you give us dementia
In brightly shining Christmas light!
O Zombie Tree, O Zombie tree,
You are the tree most feared!

O Zombie Tree, O Zombie tree,
Your chilling white will teach me
That hope and love will never be
And the way to death and silence for me.
O Zombie Tree, O Zombie tree,
Your chilling white will teach me.

Today's #flashfiction #TwelveDaysOfAWizardChristmas

“C'mon, I dare you.”

Jiminy Cricket*

Hurrah, hurrah! With Christmas Eve tomorrow the actual day draws ever closer! (Though if you suscribe through email the timing of this is probably off by a day). Now for another carol!

Twelve Days of a Wizard Christmas

On the first day of a Wizard Christmas
my true love gave to me
a griffon in a pear tree

On the second day of Wizard Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
Two cursed turtle doves,
And a griffon in a pear tree.

On the third day of a Wizard Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
Three warlock hens,
Two cursed turtle doves,
And a griffon in a pear tree

On the fourth day of a Wizard Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
Four chanting birds,
Three warlock hens,
Two cursed turtle doves,
And a griffon in a pear tree.

On the fifth day of a Wizard Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
Five rings to rule them all,
Four chanting birds,
Three warlock hens,
Two cursed turtle doves,
And a griffon in a pear tree.


Whats' a griffon?
and what's a pear tree?
I don't know so please don't ask me
But I can bet those are terrible gifts to get.

On the sixth day of a Wizard Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
Six geese-a-teleporting,
Five rings to rule them all,
Four chanting birds,
Three warlock hens,
Two cursed turtle doves,
And a griffon in a pear tree.

On the seventh day of a Wizard Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
Seven swans-a-timetraveling,
Six geese-a-teleporting,
Five rings to rule them all,
Four chanting birds,
Three warlock hens,
Two cursed turtle doves,
And a griffon in a pear tree.

On the eighth day of a Wizard Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
Eight maids-a-summoning,
Seven swans-a-timetraveling,
Six geese-a-teleporting,
Five rings to rule them all,
Four chanting birds,
Three warlock hens,
Two cursed turtle doves,
And a griffon in a pear tree.

On the ninth day of a Wizard Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
Nine zombies dancing,
Eight maids-a-summoning,
Seven swans-a-timetraveling,
Six geese-a-teleporting,
Five rings to rule them all,
Four chanting birds,
Three warlock hens,
Two cursed turtle doves,
And a griffon in a pear tree.

what's a griffon?
and what's a pear tree?
I don't know so please don't ask me
But I can bet those are terrible gifts to get.

On the tenth day of a Wizard Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
Ten demon lords-a-leaping,

Nine zombies dancing,
Eight maids-a-summoning,
Seven swans-a-timetraveling,
Six geese-a-teleporting,
Five rings to rule them all,
Four chanting birds,
Three warlock hens,
Two cursed turtle doves,
And a griffon in a pear tree.

On the eleventh day of a Wizard Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
Eleven witches witching,
Ten demon lords-a-leaping,

Nine zombies dancing,
Eight maids-a-summoning,
Seven swans-a-timetraveling,
Six geese-a-teleporting,
Five rings to rule them all,
Four chanting birds,
Three warlock hens,
Two cursed turtle doves,
And a griffon in a pear tree.

On the twelfth day of a Wizard Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
Twelve wizards wizarding,
Eleven witches witching,
Ten demon lords-a-leaping,

Nine zombies dancing,
Eight maids-a-summoning,
Seven swans-a-timetraveling,
Six geese-a-teleporting,
Five rings to rule them all,
Four chanting birds,
Three warlock hens,
Two cursed turtle doves,
And a griffon in a pear tree.

Today's flashfiction #WeWishYouAnInterdimensionalChristmas

“No such thing as bad publicity.”

Genghis Khan*

Brother and Grandmother came over to visit. Bro will be staying through Christmas so yay! Now onto the flash fiction, another Christmas Carol!

We Wish You An Interdimensional Christmas

We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
And a Happy New Year.

We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
And a Happy New Year.

Good tidings we bring
To you and your Alien Overlord
Good tidings for Christmas
And a Happy New Year.

We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
And a Happy New Year.

Good tidings we bring
To you and your Alien Overlord
Good tidings for Christmas
And a Happy New Year.

We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
And a Happy New Year.

We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
And a Happy New Year.

We wish you an Interdimensional Christmas
And a Happy New Year!

Today's #flashfiction #ScienceBells

“Keep it simple.”

Rube Goldberg*

Today I went to a wedding celebration of the wedding of my Aunt. It was fun and I really enjoyed it. Only had a single seizure and it wasn't a problem. The groom was actually a friend of my father's from his sword fighting days. (My father was in the thing where people wear knight armor and do pretend fights.)

Anyway onto the flash fiction!

Science Bells

Dashing through the snow
In a mad scientist's open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Manically laughing all the way
Bells on bob tails ring
Bringing robots to life
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight

Oh, science bells, science bells
Science all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a mad scientist's open sleigh
Science bells, science bells
Science all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a mad scientist's open sleigh

A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon Doctor Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
We got into a drifted bank
And then we got upsot

Oh, science bells, science bells
Science all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a mad scientist's open sleigh
Science bells, science bells
Science all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a mad scientist's open sleigh yeah

Oh, science bells, science bells
Science all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a mad scientist's open sleigh
Science bells, science bells
Science all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a mad scientist's open sleigh

Today's #flashfiction #DeckTheDragonsCave

“It's peanut butter jelly time!”

George Washington Carver*

       Today I worked on that little comic idea and my book. Also now for the rest of the Christmas season Langdon's Flash Fictions will be presenting to you Sci-fi and/or Fantasy Christmas Carols for you to enjoy and spread around!

Deck The Dragon's Cave

          Deck the Dragon's Cave with boughs of holly,

          Fa la la la la la la la la. 
         Tis the season to be jolly, 
         Fa la la la la la la la la. 
         Don we now our scaled apparel 
         Troll the ancient Dragon carol, 
          Fa la la la la la la la la.

See the blazing breath before us,

Fa la la la la la la la la.

Strike the harp and join the chorus.

Fa la la la la la la la la.

Follow me in merry measure

While I tell of Dragon's treasure,

Fa la la la la la la la la.

Fast away the old year passes,

Fa la la la la la la la la.

Hail the dragon, ye lads and lasses!

Fa la la la la la la la la.

Sing we joyous all together,

Heedless of the wind and weather,

Fa la la la la la la la la.

Today's #flashfiction #Knightlyness

“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.”

Nostradamus*

Today I worked on that comic idea. Father assisted. His solution to a problem we were having involved a hammer.

Anyway onto the flash fiction!

Knightlyness

      When your young you learn about things. Things like chivalry. I learned about it from a great knight named Sir Grahn I didn't know the word for chivarly so in my head I could only call it “knightlyness”. It was the best word my six year old brain could invent for it.

       I learned of Sir Grahn's knightlyness from the way he walked and talked. The way he treated the people of my village when he arrived in our kingdom. With his position he could have looked down upon us but he treated us well. He had manners like he walked with nobility. I learned of Sir Grahn's knightlyness when he gave our village some gold to help us through a drought. Even more so I learned of his knightlyness when the bandits attacked and he died defending us from them.

Today's #flashfiction #EvolvingAWorldThroughEvil

“What's love got to do with it?”

Cupid*

      Today I came up with a new way for me to do stippling. I may do a comic book(or graphic novel depending on how awesome I want it to sound). Heh, guess I like doing a few projects. Well, I don't have to brainstorm my book straight(or novel depending on how awesome I want it to sound).

Anyway onto the flash fiction!

Evolving A World Through Evil

     Survival of the fittest. Got that phrase on a poster in my chamber. The same chamber that lies in a Dimension Cage between worlds. It's where I send evil into those worlds for their own good. You may think that paradoxical in it's nature but it is not.

      Today one world needed a hero. A hero who would be willing to cut down any villain who stood in his way. Who else would be able to defeat the evil overlord destined to rise to power in that world in twenty years. So I sent dark desires for killing and wealth into the minds of bandits nearby his village and they raided it. He became the hero that world needed. He became a part of culture. Those that needed to followed in his footsteps. People learned from his mistakes. That world evolved.

      I've made people's lives miserable just so that strive to find purpose. Many artists are born that way. I've introduced plagues so that scientists may cure them. Started wars so that the countries may reach treaties that would last in peace for the next five hundred years. I can't feel guilt for doing my job as a god of fate. Society only marches on because I give it something to march over. All the hours where I just sit here coming up with evils for the worlds beneath my Dimension Cage do tire me.

       All in a day's work.

Today's #flashfiction #WorkingAroundTheGenie

“Tag your it!”

The Grim Reaper*

Today worked on my book and some such. Going through my usual motions eh?

Working Around The Genie

         Okay so I found a genie. His entire shtick is to make you learn a life lesson by giving you three wishes. You're supposed to wish for everything you want then have it all backfire or something. They have a whole plan for it.

         But I wasn't going to go through that. I was going to come out on top. And despite the fact he listed a whole bunch of rules that I couldn't wish for more wishes, can't wish for more genies, can't wish for more creatures that can get me more wishes etc. I still actually managed to find a loophole in all the 50 minutes rules that the genie listed(seems they've had a lot of people work around their wishing rules) What was my loophole? I wished that the rules didn't apply to me. I made sure to say I got another wish each time I wished because saying infinite or endless could have been reinterpreted by genie by using the various mathematical forms of infinity or endless so he could screw me out of my wishes.

       So with my forever replenishing wish supply I now could do whatever I wanted. Especially after I wished for immortality. Now I knew the dangers of this too. I wanted to make sure I wouldn't die and I wouldn't be stuck in the scenario where I'm forever alive but my body is decaying. So when wishing for immortality I didn't define with my own words I used example characters from fictional novels that had been meticulously outlined and the type of immortality those characters had(forever alive while still retaining their youthful form, memories and ability to learn new things) was also a general consensus by the population. That kept my scope of definition narrow. Especially when I used as many works as I could with characters with the exact same kind of immortality.

       And from there I could get whatever I wanted for as long as I wanted. I made sure to use my wishes to declare that everything I wished for was defined as it was in my English language definitions and gave several examples for everything before finalizing my wish so the genie could never contort my words.

       Did I mention I was a lawyer?

Today's #flashfiction #MindExcavation

“You can't only eat one.”

Godzilla*

Posted this story right-quick because CJ is over.

Mind Excavation

       There are those angels on your shoulder. There's the being that floats in the back of your head and gives you another perspective. There's the being that's the guy or girl that is internal voice. There are a great deal of beings in your head.

       The most unappreciated and never thought of is the memory gnome. The one that digs up what you forget. The reason it takes you different amounts of time to remember things? Some poor little guy has to dig it all up of course. There's tons of em' too. Working for hours on end while you remember things. They all have to work for minimum mind wage because your subconscious is cheap and they can't unionize because of brain laws. Their lives are filled with constant labor.

       So what did you eat for lunch yesterday?

Today's #flashfiction #MerlinsTeacher

“From each according to his abilities, to according to his needs.”

Groucho Marx*

My friend CJ is over for today, and as usual we are not scheming global domination.

Merlin's Teacher

        Despite the fact that over the years he's gone a little, okay, really, nutty I can't help be proud of my student Merlin. Hi, I'm the great and powerful witch Gerini (My parents tried to pick a traditional wizard family name. Didn't end well. So I have everyone call me Stephanie.) I didn't cheat death in quite the same way Merlin did. I chill as a ghost. He decided to experience multiple lives through memory-keeping reincarnation. I told him not to do it. Did he listen to me? No. Well, he didn't listen to me a lot when I was teaching him so I wasn't to surprised when he did that too.

       It's a really pity he went batty. He's not the first immortal wizard to do this. Near all the other ones have had their names faded into history. Merlin's just the one currently on the radar if you know what I mean. I'm proud of him getting so much magical talent. Going beyond all the incredible powers I've taught him, but of course, turning into one of those crazy wrathful wizards makes me regret teaching him. I don't know where he came up with turning people into toads as his favorite curse. I've taught people the same powers he had but none of them tried to go for the madness that comes with immortality. And oddly enough when Merlin came to me he seemed the nicest.

       He came to me humble and with simple robes. Improvised really. They weren't the usual silk or anything. He took shirts or probably whatever he could find that he could make look like a wizarding robe and made it into one. He also improvised a wand. I'm a very good witch and I could tell it wasn't store bought. But I could tell it wasn't stolen. When I took him in I gave him one of my own because what he crafted would have probably exploded eventually upon use.

        His vocabulary almost seemed entirely comprised of “please,” “thank you” and “I'm sorry”. It took me awhile to figure out exactly why he was at my place. At first I thought he was someone pretending to be broke. A panhandler. But in a few minutes intuition told me he was actually broke.

       He explained to me he was from Earth. I thought to myself “Oh great, an Earthling.” Ah, think I sound like some sort of creature with tentacles saying that? No, I assure I'm very human. You just don't get how realities work. So many of them that reflect each other. On Earth I'm speaking something called English but where I come from it's called Prorri. Just as other realities share beings like humans they also share languages, often with a few changes in name and some word differences but not too many. You'd probably have to scour an entire dictionary to see em all besides the name. The current Merlin usually reincarnates into worlds that have some form of English because he's too stubborn or lazy, whatever you want to call it, to learn another language. At least another language besides the ancient magical ones.

      And I've been to a few Earths, spoke my fair share of “English”, and Earth isn't one of my favorite worlds to say the least. A few versions I like. Preferably the ones with magic. There was this one with this very fine wizarding school. That is until this one boy with a scar came and brought nothing but trouble. I swear kids can be such trouble. Different Earth versions can be in different relative time periods from each other. I've seen some future variations and it still isn't the best place.

I had some feeling that Merlin was not going to be the best student.

       But he actually had a purpose to learn besides just the sake of learning. He actually had a quest. He wanted to help someone. Someone destined to be king of his land. It was a pure purpose. Earnest. Other students wanted revenge on people or to conquer things. I usually learned this after I taught them. Which is why I started to ask people why they wanted to learn from me. Eventually I learned that this king hadn't even been born yet. It had been a vision. The wizard wanted to do good so much he was willing to help a vision.

Arthur was his name if I remember. As I ghost I “lived” long enough to see him become legend but not history. Interestingly enough Arthur's significance was so great that his legend echoed into the many of the instances of Earth along with Merlin.

        I remember Merlin's purpose over these many years. Not sure if Merlin, through his many reincarnations through time, remembers or cares about it any more. I hope he does really. There's not much of the boy I remember left in there.

Today's #flashfiction #PartofTheBattle

“Who let the dogs out?”

Cruella de Vil*

Today I came up with an idea for pure, clean energy. I then forgot it. I'm really sorry.

Anyway onto the flash fiction!

Part of The Battle

     My last memory was of my morning jog in the park. I awoke tied up with several people hearing booming laughter. Crazed laughter. The kind of laughter I've heard again and again on the news. It was the laughter I heard in court because even those kind of people had trials before the jury sent them to prison. I often prosecuted the kind of people who laughed that twisted way.

It was super villain laughter.

     “Mwahahahhahaha! Oh, you are some very lucky people my hostages! You get front row seats to my domination of the world! You will witness the rise of Doctor Metalmind as new king of the world.” The supervillain spread his arms high into the sky. When I looked at him I immediately noticed his namesake. Behind his normal face he head became a sort of metal ball. I assumed it housed a robotic brain. Well, at least some portion of his brain was robotic and it made him a “genius” yet also crazy at the same time. That's usually how this works. I've run into plenty of his kind before in court. It's pretty easy to prosecute them when they start with the insanity plea and don't realize how that works. “I was crazy so I didn't know what I was doing.” Is what they say on the stand. You hatched an entire evil plan that took months of preparation, networking with minions, and you knew the complete consequences of your actions and monologued about them to people. You knew what you were doing. Well, makes my job as a prosecutor easier. Though the smug look on their faces when they first announce that and think they have some sort of golden ticket and they've beaten me with a single sentence really insults my intelligence.

      “Please, we all know you're going to screw up and fail. Again. Hey, what's your threat level?” Superheroes keep a record of what considered the relative threat level of supervillains. This is to better distribute groups of superheroes. For example a lowly crook would be class Z while someone as scary as Lord Zauyiz, one of the ultimate supervillains, was class A. Supervillains keep track of it as an ego thing.

Doctor Metalmind then hit me straight across the face. “Shut up!” He then pulled down my hair. “You'd better watch your tongue. The more I think about it the women hostages like you are more in-need-of-rescuing by heroes if they're wounded and beaten so you'd better not make me angry.”

That was a really stupid idea. I had become way to accustomed to being around supervillains who had been cuffed and their powers neutralized in court so they were harmless around me. I should be glad he didn't do something worse to me.

      I then heard a huge explosion and a tall figure walked through a hole in the wall. His body was so muscular and packed it looked almost like its edges had been defined by a ruler. I knew those ridiculous proportions but sight. They were the kind of people who brought the supervillain defendants to me.

      “Your evil plans end here Doctor Metalmind!” The superhero walked confidently into the room while knocking a few minions aside with little effort. One of the many heroes with super strength. I didn't see any technology on him. Maybe one of the super-serum or mutation guys, I dunno.

     “Captain Super-Justice we meet again! Things will not end like they did before! I have trained my mind. Upgraded my tech. You will not stand a chance against my robotic psychic powers! Mwahahahahaha!” The villain's laugh bounced through the lair like a bullet.

     “Ha ha!” The hero laughed in return. “You think a 'genius' villain like yourself would be able to recognize simple patterns. I've beaten you countless times before. I'll do it again.” When I heard the hero exchange the laugh with the villain I realized that over the years in court with heroes and villains they both often had the same kind of arrogance in their laughs.

      They began their fight. At first I thought I would be blown away by seeing them fight personally. Doctor Metalmind tossing equipment from his lab, and even minions at the superhero and him bashing them away and throwing things back. An exchange of power. Psychic blasts. Seeing what other powers were in store. But it was boring for me. Even the lighting that Doctor Metalmind shot and the rocking quake that the hero caused by smashing his fists to the ground.

      It bored me. A fact in life is that supervillains often keep absurd amounts of surveillance so their battles are often recorded and after their battles with heroes take place this is seized by the police. I use this as evidence to prosecute them. I've watched so many battles between heroes and villains they've become boring for me. I watch them over and over too. I have to show that even though the hero is storming the villain's base the confrontation is of a superhero nature. Superhero law is a very strange thing. I can't remember how many psychic battles I've seen. I can't tell you how many different battles I've seen.

      When Doctor Metalmind started losing he actually started to use us. “You failed to notice that I had hostages hero! You may have gotten close to beating me in combat but you will let me finish my plans if you value the lives of these hostages!” Doctor Metalmind started moving towards some sort of contraption with numerous unnecessarily large buttons. Since I woke up later than the other hostages I had no idea what it did, but I assume it was the device he planned to use to take over the world.

      “You monster!”

       I had seen this in so many of my court cases. How many hostage cases had I prosecuted? And how did the superhero solve it? He found some way to attack to villain. How was it? Oh right, now I remember how half of them did it. In fact, looking at the hero I was kind of annoyed he couldn't figure it out. If the heroes asked each other how they did things they should know.

      “Just hit him!” I yelled at the hero. “He can't be in multiple places at once. He can't defend himself against you and attack us at the same time!” Thinking about it Doctor Metalmind could threaten us and defend himself with his psychic powers he was bright enough to carry a gun but apparently he decided to only give them to his minions. Apparently having his superpowers makes him not need one. Arrogant supervillains. I suppose I should be glad though.

     A swift punch knocked out Doctor Metalmind. The way the superhero told the story to the media it made it sound like I was just a helpful contributor and just helpfully gave inspiration. When it came up in court though the truer version was shown from Doctor Metalmind's surveillance. (The ever so useful supervillain surveillance. It really is one of my best friends.) Though being one of the hostages I couldn't prosecute the case. Doctor Metalmind did get extra prison time for hitting me. But unfortunately like many villains he did escape. It's like they're made of cardboard I swear.

      Least that means I'm never out of a job.

Today's #flashfiction #GreenhillChurch

“I've just perfected an Electronic Hair Bat-Analyzer which may hold the key to this baffling question.”

Christian Bale*

      Today I fought my evil twin. The battle was intense. Now since we both share some personality traits we didn't go with straight physical violence we battled via a video game. That video game being Pokemon. His Pokemon team was vastly different from mine(him being the anti-me) and incredibly powerful. I almost lost at first. But I pulled through at the end which was fortunate because as with most evil twin battles the entire world hung in the balance.

Greenhill Church

       In the American Civil War deep in the south between two towns a bundle of houses existed. There weren't enough houses for it to be called a town. However there were enough houses for it to really be considered its own place. It wasn't on any map though because of its tiny size and the only thing that made it able to named was the little church on the hill. When people said they were visiting the church they often meant they were visiting the area because there really wasn't a name for the place.

      The name of the church was Greenhill Church. It had gotten that because the hill it was built on seemed to always have some green grass no matter the season. Saying you were visiting Greenhill Church wasn't the necessarily the most common thing for most of the areas existence. But when the Civil War came around and the war became so bloody people came to the area often. The fact that there were a group of houses that were almost large enough to be a town but not on any map made it a wonderfully safe place for those who knew about it. On maps it looked like a blank space where hills should be.

     Soldiers, citizens, and slaves hid in the place the mapmakers forgot. The rules were simple: Keep it a peaceful place and make your own living. These rules were established by the priest of the actual church and was enforced well. None of the soldiers who wanted to hide there wanted to be thrown out. The kind of soldiers who went back on the cause of the south would leave all the slaves hiding in Greenhill alone if it meant escaping the war. Many of the soldiers who fled their were Confederate soldiers who saw the Union soldiers outnumbering them and ran. But also Union soldiers who didn't want to fight but didn't want to live in the open as traitors ran to Greenhill. Slaves had their natural desire to escape and citizens wanted to avoid the war.

       The Greenhill population grew because of the war. The valuable nature of it staying a secret haven became threatened. Soon a union general learned of its existence and grew enraged. A hiding spot of cowardly soldiers, slaves and the like. It had grown enough it could have started to be put on a map but the general came in and burned the whole place to the ground and killed the soldiers he viewed cowardly. With all its buildings burned to the ground, Greenhill could never appear on any map.

Today's #flashfiction #TheUnderAppreciatedPixie

“Drink responsibly.”

Dionysus*

      Well worked on my book as per usual and workin' on arranging on having my friend CJ come over. Also contemplating guest posting on blogs. Guests posts would be stories unless determined otherwise. If any of you have websites you'd like me to guest post on or if you'd like to guest post here please email me: llkenne1@asu.edu I'd love to write for other people's sites and spread my stuff.

       Anyway onto the flash fiction!

The Under-Appreciated Pixie

      Everybody talks about those fairies all the time its fairy this and fairy that. It sickens me really. They're so special because their dust has so many properties. Even between worlds fairy dust is different. Different kinds of fairies do different things. Faeries are the cutest celebrities out there. And fairies are oh, so adorable too right?

      Well I'm Rose the Pixie and I'm just as adorable as any fairy. I'm even cuter that those arrogant creatures. All of us pixies are. We have dust too. It has magical properties. But you don't see it getting regulated between worlds. I hate them. You know witch models and actresses pick the creatures they summon on stage based on looks. Fairies, fairies and more fairies. You know what I'm going to advertise myself in the summoning realm as a fairy see what happens!

      And within a day I'm summoned. Faster than the fairies. Wow. Of course. It's all in the name. Of course I have to steal dust to spread because if they see my dust has pixie effects then my cover is blown. I love the spotlight though. For the moments it doesn't remind me of the fact that I got the job because I named myself a fairy.

      I become absurdly popular. Proves even more its all in the name. Salt is rubbed in the fairy wound when people start summoning pixies because they look like me, the most adorable fairy ever! Then it's one of the biggest stories in all the magical lands when I was lying all along(I accidentally used my own dust instead of stolen dust so my identity was revealed). I was let off the hook because I was so popular. But really it was in the name?

      There's another creature I sometimes hate more than fairies; humans.

Today's #flashfiction #SolvingMagic

“This. Is. SPARTA!”

An Idiot Abroad*

       Went to a meeting/Christmas party gift exchange thing for my mother's writers group. It was very fun and I enjoyed myself. Huzzah for parties!

       Anyway onto the flash fiction!

Solving Magic

       One time, long ago, a world that mastered science traveled to a world that had mastered magic and took it over with its magnificent machines. That isn't this tale. There's a tale after that, where Merlin, enraged at the conquering of a world of magic, attacked those people as revenge. He more cared for the honor of magic than the victims in the world of magic. This isn't that tale. This is a tale in the next step where a scientist decided to fight again for his world in this struggle for proving superiority.

       Doctor James was his name. He had more than one degree and they may have well made up a few just for him. The first stage in his revenge came through a letter. A massive letter. Hundreds of pages long. It actually came in a huge box and not a simple envelope.

The letter began:

“Dear Merlin,

       My name is Dr. James. My colleagues and I have worked it all out. The rest of this letter will contain documents that explain all the rational behind magic and derive theorems for all its workings. Though not perfectly we have made magic a science just as much as everything else we know.

      You're playing by our rules now.”

      Merlin went through all the documents. He saw pages and pages of complex math and textbooks worth of explanations in the documents. It disgusted Merlin. It enraged Merlin. He had reincarnated thousands upon thousands of times in near uncountable worlds to acquire the magical knowledge to understand magic and the scientists and deduced it and put it to equations.

      That part of Dr. James plan was meant first as psychological warfare against Merlin, but also as something to recover his ego from the domination of the wizards. The second part of the plan involved his army. With the help of oppressed non-magical people his colleagues had made am army of robots to fight wizards. They were prepared with technology that could counter magic with methods unknown to wizards.  Some countermeasures had the robots using electromagnetic pulses to disrupt summoning. Some used radio waves to prevent curses from taking form. Wizards didn't know why x-rays stopped curses. The scientists knew why though. Why, when in the perfectly proper order radio waves could stop curses.

       Merlin had seen wizards die in wars in other worlds. Sometimes easily. Usually at the hands of other wizards or gods. Technology had done it before. Atomic bombs was one of the few cases he could ever think of. Wizards were really supposed to be the final evolution of human enlightenment. Embracing a new kind of knowledge. He wasn't used to these kind of losses. How these robots just massacred the wizards. Last time he saw wizards with these power levels fall was in worlds filled with superheroes. The kind who could lift buildings with their bare hands.

       The old wizard started casting his strongest magic. No matter how powerful their counters were he could conquer them with brute force. He rained the heavens upon them. Lighting, ice and fire. He invented new spells with his vast knowledge to fight the machines. He had to. So many of spells proved worthless to them. After destroying enough of the army he could use tracking spells to find Dr. James and corner him in his hideout. Him and his colleagues had been careful to separate themselves. Merlin just hunted James first. He put his wand to James's head, ready to kill the scientist.

“Once you're gone, you're knowledge will go with you. Magic will no longer be solved.”

       Dr. James laughed. “It's pointless. The documents have been posted on the Internet. Emailed to everyone on this planet. And soon a ship will launch to travel to another Earth to spread the knowledge even more. We know how to now. It has instructions to spread the knowledge even further. We will spread the knowledge everywhere. You've lost Merlin. You're magic has been defeated.”

Merlin thought of many of the universes he had been to. All the magic he had seen. All the magic he had loved. He imagined them all dominating it. Taking it away. Taking away the dominance of wizards. Taking away all it meant to be a wizard and himself. If magic meant nothing he meant nothing and neither did every other wizard.

     “No, I can stop you.” The wizard held his wand up high. “I'll just wipe this whole world from existence and there won't be any of you or your ship left!”

      Merlin used up nearly all the magic in his body to destroy that world. There wasn't a “destroy world” spell that he knew. Only forbidden knowledge he had learned to destroy universes. He wiped out the entire universe that Earth inhabited. He had just enough magic left in his body to reincarnate himself in another world as he always does, memories intact, which meant he carried all his regrets.

    He felt happy as he entered another world of wizards.