Flash Fiction #22 - Odyssey
- Jacob RD Johnson
- Nov 2, 2025
- 2 min read
Picture Prompt
300-500-word Flash Fiction
Post # 22
Week Ending: 11/7/2025
Genre: Adventure
Title: Odyssey
What an odyssey…
I've searched seven castles, yet my quest remains unfulfilled.
I’m at the last possible fortress to find my quest’s end. It lies upon grounds among flower beds and greenery, but make no mistake, scoundrels abound. I barely make it to the castle gates alive.
I feel small, hungry. I must forage, but there are poisonous plants and fungi within the premises. Fortunately, I find a large, edible mushroom growing out of a crack in the bricks. I break the stony surface to extract my sustenance. It gives me strength. Now, larger than life, I foresee success.
I navigate the maze of corridors, but every wrong turn restarts me at the beginning. Then I realize, I can use pipes. Careful to avoid poisonous plants, there to discourage my descent, I press on. It empties into a chamber filled with water and I'm surrounded by killer squids, I manage to swim past them and make it out the other side through another pipe.
Upon my exit, I face a crevasse of lava so hot that flames shoot randomly into the air. With a running start, I leap across, narrowly missing a flame rocketing from below.
I land unharmed, but with a horrible beast before me. Gigantic, part dragon, spiked armor on its back like the shell of a hellish turtle.
Weaponless—no way to vanquish this—thing. But if I get past it, I can release the bridge, dropping it into the lake of lava below. I dart forward and backward, baiting it to jump at me.
Timing my charge, I dash beneath as it jumps, just avoiding a spike on its back armor. I reach the release and send the monster to its boiling death.
In the room it guarded, I see—Princess Peach.
“Mario!” She swoons.
I've finally saved her.
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