The winning Arena stories are posted below!
PROMPT: "Rubble"
July 2022
Winning Story:
My hands fought the battles that my tongue could not win. The fire I summoned, built deep from within. A crashing of wood. And showering sparks.
This war rages on and it tears me apart.
The kingdom I long for, the place I call home.
Has turned into ashes and burnt down my throne.
This rubble I sift through, to lift up my crown. Is the home I was born in, now razed to the ground.
My tears cutting trails through the dirt in my face. I can never go back now, no way to erase.
My people lost faith and my servants gave all, my secrets revealed when I answered the call.
I am no longer hidden, and no longer safe
The beast demands honor, a debt cast in my stake.
So I let go the dragon and scream with my pain. For all has been taken aside from my name.
They started a war that now I must win.
For the sake of my line.
And the scales on my skin.
~ Alyssa C.
PROMPT: "Battle"
June 2022
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Winning Story:
Kincaid thrust his sword upwards. The enemy who had climbed on top of his Tortoise felt his sword’s punishment, and then fell to the ground. Kincaid knew this war would not result in anything. All he had to do was protect the fellow warriors in this dome of shields with him. Kincaid could barely spot the rest of the Blue Army retreating, leaving his brothers and him to face the wrath of the Gray Army. Just another day in Gunvald, the land of war. Kincaid knew all of his men were getting tired. The men thrusting spears, and the men holding shields.
“Stay strong!” Kincaid yelled. “Not for yourselves, but for each other! We are all that we have now!”
Why, Kincaid wondered. The Gray King wanted a battle to show his might, but the Blue King wanted a war. But they have no idea what war is.
~ Joshua Kaiser
PROMPT: "Rift"
May 2022
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Winning Story:
When you had spoke of immortality I thought I'd heard wrong. Even with magic none could live for so long. You smiled and whispered so none other could hear, of a chalice and a fountain, so crystal and clear.
You'd drank from the water and spent much time alone, now you pulled me into the forest, to the heart of your home.
Leading me to the pool, with the goblet in hand. The temptation overwhelmed me, and I drank at your command.
The water tasted of sorrow when I partook of its cup. Never knowing mortality would be so bitter to give up.
Then the pain as I saw that your smiles hid lies, that you were bound to the fountain till my one sip severed your ties.
You promised forever now I sit at your grave. Immortal with a chalice that makes me a slave.
~ Alyssa C.
PROMPT: "Team"
April 2022
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Winning Story:
“Better watch it, Travis, I’m coming up behind you!”
My laugh echoes hers. My shoulders shake, my cheeks hurt from grinning, and I’m losing my grip on the controller. “We’re on the same team, Mere!”
She flings her arms in the air as her car crosses the finish line. “I won! I beat you!”
I laugh uncontrollably as she gets up and starts a victory dance. “You’re such a dork.”
“Least we’re dorks together.”
I can’t deny her claim so I just smile and watch as the TV light illuminates her pretty face. Her wide, blue eyes sparkle and her brown hair curls around her chin.
Mere sits back down and leans against me. “Sucks you’re moving tomorrow.”
My eyes drop to the floor. “Yeah. But we’ll always be a team, right?”
“Right.” She lifts her pinky. “Dork Squad forever?”
I grin back and link my pinky with hers. “Forever.”
~ Kenzie
PROMPT:
March 2022
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Winning Story:
Always protect the pup, Brody thought as he padded up to the small, copper-haired boy in the sunlit room. Protect Lukas.
“Brody!” Lukas grabbed at Brody’s tail and missed. “Fetch!”
Brody shot straight up, squinting from behind his own coppery fur. Where is it?
“Over there!” Lukas pointed at a rope toy on the edge of the rug in a patch of sunlight. “Can’t you see it?”
Aha! Brody’s tail wagged. He bounded over to the rope and brought it back to the pup. To Lukas.
The boy and the dog tugged back and forth for a happy minute. Then Lukas sat back and sniffled.
Brody dropped the toy and nuzzled closer. What’s wrong, pup?
“I miss when you were my REAL Brody. I miss your big hugs.”
Me too, Brody thought, ears drooping. But even cursed to be like this, I’ll always protect you, little brother.
~ Rachel Kimberly
PROMPT:
February 2022
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Winning Story:
Assumptions are one's greatest enemy because they are based solely on one's view and perceptions. Therefore, they are always tainted. That's why I never assume, why I always prey on others' assumptions. Because they are often their ultimate weakness.
When you use their assumptions against them, you have the upper hand because it's unexpected. It could mean the difference between success and failure.
As my white wings carry me over the death-filled battlefield, a wave of anticipation washes over me. I've been waiting for this for months, for the moment I reveal who I am.
I glide to the ground, a smirk on my lips as my fingers graze the dirt. Seconds later, my wings disappear, and I land on my feet.
"You!" he shouts, eyes wide.
My smirk grows. I twirl the sword in my hand.
"You should've listened to my father. Assumptions will be the death of you."
~ Kathryn H.
PROMPT:
January 2022
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Winning Story:
“This is all your fault.”
“How? I wasn’t the one who set the tavern on fire!”
Tiberius threw his twin a murderous glare as the guards pushed them up the gallow steps. “It was your idea to invade it.”
“We were looking for Healer Haelon!” Lennox hissed. “That’s not an invasion.”
‘Ri stepped onto the platform. “Call it what you will, but when we die, I’m killing you.”
‘Nox rolled his eyes. “How mature of you. We’re going to be hanged and you want to kill me.”
‘Ri grinned as the guards tightened the nooses around their necks. “You’re the one always saying I’ll be the death of you.”
‘Nox scowled. “Of all the heartless . . .”
“Don’t worry, I love you, too. At least we know our intentions weren’t bad.”
“We burned the King’s tavern to the ground!”
‘Ri smirked. “‘We’. Not ‘I’. You knocked the lantern from my hand.”
~ Kenzie
PROMPT:
January 2022
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Winning Story:
Her hair is black. I stare into the mirror and straighten the folds of my gown.
Her hair is white. I pick at my sleeve. "It doesn't suit you."
"I'm expected to wear blue for the ceremony." They must see me as a strong future commander.
"I wish…" My husky voice cracks. Those words never work.
"You can't come."
"Don't you need me?" I twist a strand of my hair and curl deeper into the glass. "No, of course not."
"I have to establish myself." Not as a girl who talks to mirrors. "Then you can come."
My dark hair falls over my face. I'm only good if I bring something to the table. Maybe I'm tired of serving others' convenience.
I lay one hand against the glass. "Don't worry. I won't forget you."
But she already has.
I peel my hand from the cool glass and leave.
I slip silently from the glass.
~ Rachel L.
PROMPT:
January 2022
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Winning Story:
Dragons fated to be long dead
Have risen to the skies again
As fortune honors not my life
Here I stand before their strife
​
The glinting scales on one of Red
Reflect their color upon the dead
The fallen souls these two have claimed
Are far greater more than those they've maimed
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In a twisted dance they paint the sky
I cannot move and I cannot cry
My only wish is one day more
To preserve in page this pair at war
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The one in White like fallen snow
With streaks of red to match his foe
Like a cloud of death he carries on
Only one will live to see the dawn
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Long through the night they did engage
And rattled my bones with the screams of their rage
Until all is struck silent in one fell blow
As the Dragon of Red forever sleeps in the canyon of snow
~ Alyssa C.
PROMPT:
January 2022
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Winning Story:
I toed the edge of the floating platform. A gray void surrounded it, endless in its nothingness…
Whack! “Focus!”
I flinched back from the sudden sting of the blade across my left shoulder. “What was that for?”
Whack! Another hit, this time on my side. “You’re forgetting the first rule I taught you: never take your eyes off your opponent.”
“But we haven’t started yet!”
“You think your enemy cares about formality?” This time I saw the blade as it snapped in my direction. I leaned away to avoid it.
My teacher’s masked face revealed nothing, no emotion, as usual. “Begin,” he said.
A breathless lunge later, a buzzer sounded in my helmet, signaling that I’d lost.
“Again,” my teacher said.
I shook my head. “I’m ready for the real fight now.”
“No, you’re too impatient and you need practice—“
I removed my helmet. “End program.”
The void fell away.
~ Rachel Kimberly