The Galaxy Cauldron is proud to announce its second writing contest. The theme for this writing contest is "The Reaction Against Vastly Uneven Odds." The writers were told to interpret the theme as they liked.

Entries from the 2nd Writing Contest are posted below in random order. Do not announce anyone's identities or guess at them in this thread. The writers of the entries may still vote in the poll. I trust you all to vote for what you honestly believe is the best entry, regardless of who wrote it.

Note: Voting will be opened for 8 days (until May 8th). All questions may be directed to Sailor Venus.

Entry One
Title: Rising Air
27 Line, Free Verse Poem.
Description: As I thought about the theme, I immediately went to the SuperS finale when Chibi Moon is thrown by Queen Nehelenia, as Super Sailor Moon watches. I always wanted to know how she was feeling. I wrote in her point of view. Hope you enjoy.



Hold it,


Wait.


Breathe, I told myself


As the wind grasped hold


Of my broken mental health.





Hallowed eyes fulfilled


By dark, gloomy


Impactful skies


Heavy is the burden held


Knees buckle as I fell.





Rising above the world


Yet watching it fall


Before me,


I see, clenching, holding


Clouds folding





Precious minutes, wasting


Away she goes


Further, lifeless


I feel it, I know


It’s okay, I know.





Hold it,


Wait.


Jump, I told myself.


As the wind grasped hold


Of my newfound mental health.





It’s okay, I told myself.


I know it will be.

Entry Two
A cool knife met her throat, the edge of the blade biting into her skin as though it were butter. Her captor pulled at her hair again, tilting her head back even farther, supposedly to let this King see her in the better light. She barely saw his seated form from that angle, her brows furrowed helplessly as her eyes pled for forgiveness. Was this man as cruel as rumors made him to be? Images unbidden flashed through her mind, images created through stories woven in the dark of night, of murals of this strong-faced man on his throne of cold steel with his feet resting on the bodiless heads of his enemies. What would he do with her? Would he have her killed on the spot, or held for questioning, torture, and eventual death, publically through spectacle or privately through starvation? There was no hope here for her, not in his throne room surrounded by his court of loyal followers, lords and knights. Even if she could slip this man’s grasp, there would be no escape for her here. Even if she were to somehow escape, what would that mean for those whom she loved?

Briefly she thought of her family, her mother, father, siblings… and of Cale. What would they do to them now? Did they know whom she was, that they might track her family down and make examples of them? Her heart hurt for that – to see her tiny brother in chains, or suspended by his chubby little ankles in the square… it was too much. Her eyes watered, wondering what they would do to her sisters and her mother, for her father and older brothers would not survive an initial assault, she was certain of that. Her mind faltered, weakness stealing through her at the thought of her family being held responsible for her actions, of their taking on her burdens, when they knew nothing of this new life of hers, or even of where she had been this past year.

But perhaps there was hope for them; perhaps the others had found her missing and thought to find her family and protect them. If they left now they could get there ahead of the King’s men, they could get them into hiding and save them. If they knew, if they only knew!

She had been so stupid. Cale would not have wanted this! Her breath caught in her throat in a dry sob; did they know why she was here? Did they know where she was going? What of the poor boy in the dungeons below – what would they do to him if they knew?

“Speak, girl,” the man who held her demanded sinisterly as he pressed the knife even farther into the vulnerable skin of her neck. He turned her head further so that his breath blew against her ears, his malicious whisper causing her blood to cool, “What were you doing in his majesty’s castle, uninvited and unwanted?” She could hear the smile on his lips, the giddiness barley masked beneath his tone. Her heart hammered nervously as he pulled her body closer to his – was he a sadist? Was he to be her fate now?

“Nothing,” she croaked weakly, her words barely escaping her lips as her vocal cords were stretched to their limits.

The King’s cold grey eyes flickered to his left, and a man dressed in black immediately stepped forward to punch her in the gut. Her body tried to double-over, but with her hair wrapped around his fingers she could not manage it; instead her knees buckled beneath her as her eyes rolled back in pain, her abdomen enflamed, the wind knocked out of her. Her captor kept her vertical, pulling her to stand even taller. Her scalp burned as if it would bleed and she couldn’t help but cry out in anguish.

“The King demands truth, girl, and nothing less,” the man hissed again, the glee in his tone coming through strong and clear now. His lips brushed against the top of her ear as he spoke again, “What were you doing in the King’s castle?”

What could she say? … nothing. The odds were not in her favor; this was not how they were to confront the King; and what could she do alone? She depended on them, on all of them. They were a team – wasn’t that why she had done this? Cale was part of this team, of their family. He said it was the first he had ever had, and she told him that families looked out for one another… but all she had managed to do was to get herself caught. The King didn’t know who Cale was, only that his men caught a boy with a fistful of gems. They hadn’t known that the legend came true; they might be researching it now, but with her here – they were bound to find out now! How stupid was she?! She was providing further evidence, further proof, like a warning beacon for the King to prepare himself for the worst!

The man pulled tighter, inching his knife along her throat and breathing an excited sigh against her ear, as if hinting that his fun had not yet begun. “What were you doing?”

She was trapped; what she said wouldn’t make a difference, but she suddenly decided something: she wouldn’t go down without a fight. If her family and friends were to suffer, it would not be her inaction they would suffer for! “Looking at tapestries!” she spat, stomping on her captor’s foot as hard as she could. It worked – his grip loosened enough for her to slip down and through, the knife tip brushing a cruel and hot line in her cheek as she pushed away. She quickly hopped, moving her bound hands from behind her back to in front of her and, as quickly as she could, with guards and attendants coming to attention at either side, she rushed the steel throne.

Entry Three

Sure, Minako had faced these sorts of odds before, back when she had first become Sailor V, the guardian of love and justice. It never seemed impossible when the thought came into her mind, but then she would remember what had happened before. This should never be so difficult! He could be reasoned with, right? With a derisive snort, the blonde shook her head.

Grabbing the towel off the table with one hand, Minako slunk low to the ground and moved quietly toward her target. Little did he know, her training as a sailor senshi had primed her as the perfect adversary. She could move swiftly and quietly, pouncing upon her prey before he knew what had happened. Today, this would be used to her advantage. Her mission would be successful! Today, Artemis would have a bath and Minako would have a clean, sweet-smelling cat as her guardian and ever-faithful sidekick.

Lounging on the windowsill, Artemis lazily based in the sun’s warm and comforting rays. The sun lulled him into a light sleep and a beautiful dream about Luna and catnip. Of course, she didn’t like the stuff, but that did not matter in his dreams. His tail twitched and he mumbled something low in his throat. A smile quirked on his lips and he batted the air with one paw. “Nah, Luna.”

Minako crouched underneath the windowsill with her towel ready. Slowly, she stood up and stretched the towel out to cover the cat. At just the wrong moment, Artemis’ right eye stretched open. The teenager froze with her eyes wide. Oh, no! Both of them stared at each other for a moment, then Artemis yowled and toppled off the windowsill. Minako cursed and dove for him with the towel, but he slipped through her fingers. “Artemis!” She yelled, stomping her foot against the ground as her cat tore out of the living room.

The cat’s eyes were wide and he scrambled across the house as if his life were endangered by the infuriated seventeen year old with a towel in the living room. He had to hide! But, Minako knew all of the good spots! Oh, he was doomed. Minako just didn’t understand that he could clean himself just fine, thankyouverymuch. The water felt so oppressive and the smell of the shampoo followed him for days. Bath time was a form of torture and Minako should be ashamed of herself!

He turned around the corner and dove into a cabinet. “Oh, Artemis,” Minako said, in a singsong voice. The male cat cowered further into the corner and tried to make himself as small as possible. The cabinet door flung open and Artemis narrowly missed being caught by the towel-wielding teenager. He dashed down the hallway, but found his path blocked by a well-placed dresser. Cursing, he skidded to a stop and turned to the right. Again, he was blocked by another well-placed obstacle.

“Dammit, she’s getting smarter,” he mumbled, now regretting any tactical training he had imparted onto Minako. On the bright side, she hadn’t transformed in order to use her powers of love and justice on him. Oh, no! He shouldn’t have thought of that. Surely, she would know and he would have to avoid bath time with Sailor Venus and her Love Me-Chain right on his heels.

Before he knew it, Artemis had only one option: the bathroom door. Minako cackled over-dramatically. “You only have one option, Mr. Stinky-Cat!”

Artemis slunk down low to the ground with his head hung even lower. A tear leaked out of his eye as he walked toward his watery grave. “Seriously, you think that having a talking cat would make this easier.” Minako said, ushering Artemis into the bathroom with the towel and closing the door. The bath had already been prepared with water and soap. All it need was an angry cat.

Artemis stared at the tub and felt determination bubbled up inside of his heart. The fight was not over! He would fight on. Minako paled slightly as she saw the determined gleam in Artemis’ eye. Relying solely on her speed, she lunged for the cat and threw him into the tub. Artemis yowled loudly and flailed with his claws and paws. Latching onto the shower curtain, he wheezed as he clung for dear life. Minako’s face was red. “Not the shower curtain, Artemis!”

The cat laughed proudly. “You’ll never hold me ba--!” His words were cut off short as he felt the pole holding the shower curtain inch downwards under the weight of a full-grown cat. “Oh, no,” he whispered, mortified. The grin on Minako’s face couldn’t have been wider. She grabbed the shower curtain rod and pushed it downward. With a startled scream, the cat fell into the tub, shower curtain and all. He flailed in the water underneath the shower curtain.

Minako seized her opportunity and wrapped the cat in the shower curtain and firmly held him in place by squeezing the rod between the walls. “You’re mine, Artemis!” She said, proudly. Then, with a bottle of shampoo in one hand, she set to work.

Less then ten minutes later, the job was done. Minako posed with one foot on the tub and her hands on her waist. “Once again, Sailor Venus has vanquished Mr. Stinky Cat!”

Entry Four
chaos

Neo Queen Serenity was day dreaming the time when she was not all ways a Queen .when she was younger she would hang out with her friends or go play at the Crown arcade.but that was only half of her life.In realty she was was Sailor Moon,The champion of love and justice.

"huh?"Small Lady woke Serenity up from her day dream.

"Mama can you read me a bed time story"Small Lady said,tugging on Serenity arm.

"Hmm let me think...how about when be and your father first met"Said Serenity with a smile.

Small Lady sat back in her in her pink bed with Luna P in her hands,ready to listen to her mothers story.Serenity took a moment to think on how she could start her tale.she could remember all the way back before she became a sailor Senshi."You knew that I wasn't all always a queen or a Sailor Senshi,I was just a normal middle school girl until I met a black cat named Luna,who helped me figure out who Im really am..... Serenity stop when she heard a knock on the door."May I come in Ladies."[i]king Endymion had came in and sat next to Serenity on the bed.[i]Daddy,Mama telling me how you two met."small Lady said happily.

"Do you mind if I help tell it Serenity? "

"No not at all"She smiled back to Endymion.

"I guessed she already told you about how Luna help discover her powers,most of the time we were fighting together and against each other...."

"CRASSSSSSSSSSH!!!!"

"Mama ,Daddy what was that loud noise ?"Small Lady was frighten to move,she never been in an attack before and never seen one.both Serenity and Endymion knew the attacker was from the dark moon kigdom and afriad that Small Lady would get hurt.Small Lady what ever you do stay in your room and dot come out understand."Serenity said."Both Serenity and Endymion rushed out for battle.Small Lady wanted to help in a way.suddenly she remember the sliver crystal that her mother used in battle.She left her room and went down the hall where the crystal was kept.the crystal was weaken when the enemy attacker broken in.

[i]Maybe if I took the crystal to mama she could win the fight easly and both mama and daddy would love me more."Small Lady reached for the crystal,and that's when chaos struck her....

Entry Five
They took them away.

The Silence, it came and swept the remaining soldiers from the dusty ground; it swept them so briskly into its core, where they dissipated into nothingness. What once stood as matter now reverse exists inside the colourless, intangible Silence.

With a hidden burgundy hurricane it arrived in subtlety, camouflaged with the buildings, the land and the ocean. But soon, the hurricane arose out of its invisible veil and with but a scream of the initial victims as warning, it glided across Earth, destructing, noiselessly and relentlessly, that which developed with the utmost sound, fragrance and intimacy.

Sweep away, and the guardians no longer exist.

Sweep underneath, and the moon is defaced.

Sweep, sweep, into themselves, into the spiral, and Earth is stripped bare. The Goddess of the Ocean, the Sovereign of the Sky, both erased in their entireties and their power converted to dust swirling about the red storm.

Swept off, the layering shields of love, in a vanishing second.

As it approached, Silence halted at the feet of Time. But with a mauve blur Silence destroyed around her, indiscriminately, and loveless, leaving in existence, the fading embodiments of only Time and her spiritual daughter, Rebirth.

__________________________________________________________________________________


Before the arrival, before the first signs of ill-weather, she had been assigned, created from protection itself for the post she was to adhere to, in eternity and unswayable. She held her keys around her long-matured body, and her weapon on her hand, gripping the jagged pole to the point of bodily naturalisation. She was the keeper of time and so keeper of existence. In order to be such, she became the weight-bearing foundation, the unbreakable diamond, her own burdening ankle-cuff. But for the Silence, she went away, and abandoned her impenetrable gate, breaking her first taboo to sever the chain restricting the preservation of her treasure.

Before the arrival, she slept. For the immense and irreversible nature of her power, she slept hidden, even from Time. It was for the purpose of maturing, to develop her control. But the arrival came so soon, and she was found by the two sacred protectors of Earth, whose fears drowned them in disarray and indulged them in an obsession to prevent, for the ultimate power of the sleeping spirit was contaminated by silence’s ghost. A Mistress dressed in darkness.

Now they, dressed in symbols and blades, run together, parallel but opposing Earth, concerned for the safety of existence, further from humanity.

But for the fragile period of calm, they inside themselves were opposing powers: one possessing destruction, to restore existence to its origin; the other possessing preservation, to halt existence to an eternal standing ground.

For the past everlasting moonlight, their cordial powers were veiled by a human manifestation, a sufficient barricade for the unequalled offensive lying half-dormant beneath their armour.

__________________________________________________________________________________


And the time to release the darkness of cessation and the lightness of destruction blew in disruptively. It began to erode away Time’s glass cover and Rebirth’s iron encasement. Whilst silence sped fast around them, and the burgundy cyclone torn ligament from ligament and nature’s infrastructure away into a scarlet lightshed, Pluto declared a halt to progress.


“We are left for a reason, Saturn. See the silence, see its trail and look unto its core, do you see your princess?”

“Yes, she is frowning and her eyes frown too, discoloured into greyness. I can smell the silence even through your frozen time; I can smell dust, and putrid rain.”

“We are standing at a frail opportunity, on one side hollows our valley where all will perish and nothing will fall into nothing, on the other side a plains, filled with fertile and empty dirt. Saturn, do not restrain any longer. Do not hold your head in shame nor let fear grip your hair in its engrossing poison.”

“I can feel it, the silence slipping through, it wants to take us. It wants to destroy us.”

“The silence is a formidable entity, it seeps through impermeable material and I myself cannot resist it. Saturn, I have broken the final taboo, this is for you, this is all for you. I have stopped time for you, for you to return Earth to antiquity’s purity; to sever the contagion of Silence. You are the restoration, I have been the protection.”

“… I understand; I revoke my ancient duty. I revoke my memory. I am Saturn of destruction, I am Saturn of life.”

And under the shelter of Pluto’s sacrifice…

And under the livelihood of existence….

And under her dormant, now ripened, infinity…


Sweep downwards, and her glaive purified the Silent gales with the condemned and exonerated yoked into one white vortex.

The MinakoxArtemis entry made me laugh so much! XD

Voted

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Please vote. Don't forget to also vote in the artist's contest, too!

vooote! XD

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Lolz, Who wrote Mr. Stinky Cat? I loved it!!

*Waggles her finger* No telling until after the contest is over. ^.^ I'm glad everyone is enjoying reading and creating the entries.

Np boss ^^

Buuump!

Voted. ^_^

Wow, it is a three-way tie, so far!

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Please vote! We currently have a tie that needs to be broken.

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