Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hello and welcome to the Lines section!

This activity is simple. I will give you lines of text, you choose which one to use then you write that line into a short writing piece. These are simple easy to use prompts to get you writing and get those creative juices flowing.

When you're done, post your piece in this forum for all to read and maybe even critique! Critique may be offered by anyone, but it will only be offered if you ask for it at the end of your post. I will change the prompts periodically and will be offering critique where it is wanted.

Before you start please make note of these rules: keep everything appropriate to an age 13+ audience, follow the TOS, no spamming, bumping, flaming or any nastiness and rules may be added by me at any time if any mishaps occur.

That's it! See the prompts in the next post and enjoy!

(Here is what I came up with. I would like to hear people's opinion of it.)


The wind howled madness as it tore through the trees. It was heading straight for me. This is what became of my life from the moment the true world was revealed to me. The moment that my hand took hold of the hilt of the sword. Once a human takes hold of the sword it is theirs to wield, it is theirs to use to protect or destroy.

I run faster as the sword swings in its sheathe at my waist. I need open space if I am to kill this monster. This one is proving more difficult than the others. Finally a cleaning! I think as I rush to the center and turn around to face it while ripping the sword out while keeping my feet spread and my weight balanced. Power flowing between the sword and myself while the trees were ripped from the ground and tossed aside easier than a piece of paper. The monster slowed as it walked into the cleaning and the wind eased as the monsters speed slowed and his power became focused on me.

The misted around the monster was more than an illusion. It protected and amplified the beast’s power. It was only a little more than mist or a cloud of smoke. The only way it kill it is to destroy its source of power. As I circle and it mirrors me, I look over the beast to try and find it. The beast shifted from a humanoid from to that of a four legged animal. Wait. The eye. The eyes glowed dark red, but as it changed one eye glowed brighter.

Bringing the sword back as I charge at the beast and it charges at me, the wind following the beast and pushing against me. Rolling to the right I swing my sword upward, the blade passed through the mist as the beast moved passed and turned around to face me as I quickly turn to face it. It lunged at me while I was turning and in a movement of pure reaction I swing my sword up, hoping against hope that I destroy it. My sword slices through the mist and hit the small stone in the center of its eye, destroying it. The mist stilled and held a moment before flying in all directions, forcing any trees still standing around the clearing to the ground. Breathing heavily I put away my sword and stand slowly.

"Hey, watch it!" A man in a black leather jacket with the collar popped in the back snapped, turning as he was jostled. It was a normal occurrence in NYC, but what happened next wasn't so typical of the day. All the man saw was a pair of intensely garnet red eyes, then everything went black.

The next thing he knew, the man woke with his wrists tied above his head, and all his weight was supported by those tied wrists. His jacket was gone, and he was bare from the waist up. He flexed his biceps to try to lessen the pressure on his wrists, but it didn't help much. Then his head snapped up as he heard a sound like the creak of a footstep on old wood. Wherever he was, it was dim and full of shadows so dark he couldn't even see the eyes of the rats he heard scuttling around in them. The footsteps were getting closer, and out of the shadows in front of him stepped...a little girl?

"Hey there, sweetie," he said, giving her a smile that was more like a grimace because of the pain he had to endure. "Think you could help me here? See, I dunno how I got here, but I need to get home. My sister'll be waiting for me and--" He cut himself off, seeing the girl's eyes. They were the same red he'd seen earlier. He swore under his breath and let his head loll against his chest. Something glinted in the little girl's hand. The man's eyes went wide, and he started to struggle against the ropes that bound his wrist.

"No! No no no nononononoNOOOOOO--AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHH"

Out on the street, no one heard the screams over the hubbub of the New York traffic. It was just a day like any other.

Yes, please.

Thank you. I almost gave the girl yellow eyes, but then I realized how close to Supernatural that would have been making it. I like straying from the normal when I can.

Yeah. I don't use them unless I absolutely have to.

( Feel free to criticize. )

xxxThe day started out as any other, children playing their games while parents still seemed to twitch at him passing by their homes. Just as he did every day that he'd been in the kingdom, the long haired male just flashed a gentle smile and waved a hand briefly at those he passed by. It was difficult sometimes not to find the looks the adults gave him as cruel and judging, but he always managed to pull through with a smile. Ever since they found him and convinced the king to allow him to stay, the bright blue-green eyed male had been trying so desperately to blend in yet something always dragged him back into the spotlight. Events since his arrival to this kingdom didn't exactly help with the rumors and the lies either.

xxxContinuing his journey up to the palace, Runealis noticed one of the seniors of the kingdom fixing to try hefting a rather good sized box amongst many others. Choosing to go against his better judgement, he opted for doing the right thing and assist the man with his boxes. Jogging over to him, he almost seemed to hum in his smooth Romanian accent  “Hold up there a minute, sir. I don't think it's a wise decision to attempt carrying all of these boxes yourself. If you'll just point me to where they need to be placed, I can take care of it for you.” His offer was simply responded to with a gruff sounding grunt and the elderly man pointing him over to a nearby shed. Not wanting to upset the man any further, he simply nodded at his elder followed by a soft “Yes sir."

xxxAfter scaring the elderly man and his wife by hefting two of the heavy boxes at the same time, jogging in a smooth pace to the shed, setting down the boxes carefully and then returning to do it several more times without ever seeming winded, Rune opted for running to the palace before the newest rumor could start up. He didn't like being the weird guy in the crowd, but he had to stay longer in the kingdom since the princess's female bodyguard had said she'd help him with figuring out what he'd forgotten. Besides that, several of the royal guard had already made it obvious that he'd already been designated as the second bodyguard to the princess after the attack on the kingdom two years ago. It was really just an urge he'd had to attack the invaders, but apparently he'd fought a lot before his bout of amnesia since the invaders seemed to freak out once the first two to try striking him at the same time had been taken down with relative ease. His body remembered how to fight while he was still trying to figure it out.

xxx“River, Rune,” a female voice called from his right, the long, dark haired male responding like a car slamming on it's brakes. It didn't quite work like he'd wanted it to so he practically tripped and rolled to where he was in a crouched position, his deep blue-green eyes settling upon a woman in light leather armor smiling slightly at him. “I see you're still reacting the way your body remembers instead of what your mind remembers. Instinct may be a good thing at times, but it can destroy you at other times. Remember that.”

xxx“Of course, Silk... Why are we heading down to the river though?” Rune responded while standing back up and giving himself a brief dusting. When the snowy haired female didn't answer his question, he started to approach her only to see she was already walking towards the exit of the kingdom that was closest to the river. While her silence wasn't odd, nor her love of walking around the river, something about her just seemed off. Not wanting to seem paranoid, he just followed behind her in silence while still waiting for her usually delayed answers to any question asked.

xxx“Tintlet's not feeling well today so her father is spending the day with her. We all know how you get around his personal guards so he asked me to take you elsewhere for a little while. Once they leave, you may go see her,” the female smiled lightly once the two reached the riverside, her brilliant magenta eyes staring into the water flowing so undisturbed. Her words, however, just made Rune frown and briefly shift his gaze away from her figure so as to hide his shame of getting into several fights, verbal and physical, with the bodyguards of the king. It wasn't his fault that he'd slipped up and called their strategies of defense ridiculously stupid. He just ended up word vomiting that statement, but was pushed into proving it by the king's bodyguards after they'd called it flawless. “I wonder why you do things like that... I'm also curious about the burn around your left hand's ring finger, your abilities to fight, your lack of fear in extremely high places, your flexibility and how you find weak points in strategies at the snap of your fingers. Unfortunately, I know you can't answer that question and you're still nonexistent to the rest of the world. At least in the areas I've checked for a missing male of your description you are. If only you knew a little bit about yourself...”

xxx“Sorry... Let's walk around a bit instead of talking about that,” Rune mumbled before shoving his hands into his pockets and starting to walk along the river. Silk, noticing he wasn't liking the news of not knowing who he was, followed quickly behind him in silence. She wasn't sure how to make him feel better so she figured it might be better for him to sulk a little about it before saying anything else. What should've been a little bit actually ended up being a long walk around the river, a few hours of fishing, a couple of hours of cleaning the fish, eating the fish and another long walk.

xxxAs the sun began to set, Silk finally just shooed him away. She told him to go see how Tintlet was doing and he responded with a soft sigh. He obeyed after making sure Silk would be safe by the river by herself at least. At least that's what he thought he did. As he made his way through the trees, Rune still had that feeling that something about the whole situation seemed off. Tintlet being sick, Tintlet's father actually being around his daughter, Silk dragging him down to the river, Silk then telling him he was obviously a nonexistent being followed by her shooing him away so she could continue watching the sun go down. Then again, none of the people in this kingdom really made any sense to him whatsoever.

xxxAs if from nowhere, a silent warning of danger became louder. The wind howled madness as it came through the trees. Although he should've turned back when it came, he ignored the warning nature was giving him and waited for it to pass before continuing on towards the palace. It would be a decision he would soon regret for tomorrow, he would no longer just be the weird guy everyone was slowly getting used to...

Thank you for what compliments and critiques you've given to my writing. If I would've started at the very, very beginning of the story, it'd have taken a much longer time to type and you'd understand the story better. It's based off of a character I created a while back called Runealis Sareila who was born in Romania thus the accent. The kingdom, however, is part of the fey realm which is attached to the human realm ie why he's the outsider/stranger to the kingdom. That was also just a rough draft of the middle of his story. Trust me when I say that his story is a long story. I'll try using your critiques to make his story, should I ever really write it down, better. :3
May I ask what typos there were also? Does the language have to be "men and women"? Maybe I just wanted to use "males and females" since the other titles are far too common. I could've gone back to the terms "ladies and gentlemen" if it's preferred. I'm not meaning it to sound offensive, but it seems a little odd to point out terms that basically mean "men and women". It also takes some people to get a few paragraphs into certain types of writing before something catches their interest. I've read many books and if a book doesn't catch my interest after a few pages, I'll stop reading it. Again, these are just my personal opinions. Everything has been noted though.