flash contest

Our December Flash Contest was based on Creativity Prompt #181 (provided by Molly Torinus, Stone Soup contributor), which challenged participants to write a creation story for a fictional world of their own imagination. For the third consecutive month we set a record for number of submissions, all of them worthy of recognition. Molly’s ingenious prompt led to a breadth of creativity, with creation stories for fully realized worlds containing mathematical sets with biblical influence to anthropomorphic clouds to the misadventures of a musical note. In the end, we selected our usual five winners and five honorable mentions. As always, thank you to all who submitted, and please submit again next month! In particular, we congratulate our Winners and our Honorable Mentions, whose work you can appreciate below. Winners “Darkness” by Kimberly Hu, 9 (Lake Oswego, OR) “Adventure to the Lost Kingdoms” by Tang Li, 9 (Palmetto Bay, FL) “The Beginning, the End, the Rebirth” by Lui Lung, 12 (Danville, CA) “The Fearful Cloud” by Julia Ma, 11 (Portland, OR) “The World of the Grand Staff” by Maya Mourshed, 10 (Silver Spring, MD) Honorable Mentions “One Dance” by Audrey Billington, 10 (Hillsboro, IL) “Math: The Origin” by Lucas Hinds, 13 (Lenoir City, TN) “The Creation of Warland” by Sophie Li, 11 (Palo Alto, CA) “Eternalia” by Brooke Negin, 11 (Kanata, ON, Canada) “The Fourth Dawn” by Divya Srinivasan, 12 (Sammamish, WA) Kimberly Hu, 9 (Lake Oswego, OR) Darkness Kimberly Hu, 9 Where am I? What am I? Why am I here? What even is this place? Is this even a place? What is happening? I glance around. Complete darkness. Complete darkness is everywhere. There is only one word to describe it. Darkness. That’s it. Silently, I repeat the questions over and over. Still, no answer. I don’t know what I’m expecting. Here, there is just darkness and no accompaniment. Just nothing. I am in the World Of Nothing Darkness. I wonder, are there really any other creatures out there? Am I the first? Am I the last? Am I really the only one? But deep down, I know it’s pointless asking. I am the first and last. I am the only one. But the first thing I need is— A name. A name. What even is a name? Something like Martha? No. I am lone. I am alone. I am the only one in the complete darkness, the nothing. The World Of Nothing Darkness. So yes, my name is Lone. Will I stay here for eternity, with no meaning of creation, but then, where do I even come from? How did I end up here? Those questions repeat in my mind over and over, and all the questions I have possibly asked, here in my mind. Those questions remain unanswered. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to think. Can I even speak? I search myself. I search my insides. I close myself, looking in the deeps of Lone. Of me. And I find something surprising. I find… the bit of creation that was used to create me. But why is it left in me? I find feelings. I can feel? What can I do? Do I truly have a meaning for existing? A spark of hope jolts through me. Do I? I dig deeper, willing myself. I find creation. More and more creation. I find… I can. I can! I, Lone, eagerly, willingly, opening my mind. I want to create a world. Not a nothingness world, a true world. Where peace can be found. What will the world contain? A mysterious whispering voice asks me. I feel more hopeful at the thought that another exists, but first I reply: A world full of creatures. Creatures that live in peace and harmony meaningfully, beings. I picture the creatures in my mind. I can imagine! Does my existence have a true reason now? Now, I create. I create more and more. Things I never imagined I could create. Plants—like flowers. Animals—like birds. More creatures—like kyones. Things that couldn’t be seen with the ordinary eye. I create Artara, the world of pure magic and wondrous creatures. I create Universe, the world of mortality and simplicity. I have created all. My name is not Lone. I don’t know what my true name is, just yet, but I will figure it out. I, the creator of the Two Worlds, have finally learned that no one’s life is meaningless. Mine included. Tang Li, 9 (Palmetto Bay, FL) Adventure to the Lost Kingdoms Tang Li, 9 Introducing the Kingdoms Plantasia: This kingdom was a clutch of forests and meadows. In this lush green territory lived all sorts of plants and animals as well as Plantasians. The Plantasians had the ability to create plants. Their enemy was the inhabitants of Virsca. Their king was Pothos and their queen was Lily. If humans didn’t protect nature, Plantasia would disappear. Virsca: A kingdom full of devils and monsters, along with fire-breathing dragons. All these creatures were banned from the other kingdoms and were given this piece of land. The land was rough and many parts were covered with lava. All the trees were dead. No outsider has ever been able to get out of there alive. The Virsacans had the power to destroy things. Their enemy was the Plantasians. The land had no laws and no rulers. Cloudpolis: In this kingdom made of clouds, everyone had flowing blue, pink, or white hair and their hair was as soft as silk. Their queen was Cloudia and their king was Cirrus. The cloud fairies collected children’s dreams and turned them into soft silky clouds. It was said that if the world below them ran out of dreams, Cloudpolis would disappear. Cloudpolisers was the name of its residents. Munchville: A piece of land that was made of food. The houses were made of gingerbread and the windows were made of pretzels. And the mountains were crackers and cookies. The snow was ice cream. The clouds were made of cotton candy.