Flash Fiction # 26 - Ultraheightened Senses
- Jacob RD Johnson
- Nov 30, 2025
- 2 min read
Picture Prompt:
300-word Flash Fiction
Post # 26
Week Ending: 12/5/2025
Genre: Fantasy
Title: Ultraheightened Senses
The stakes were so high, all six of Tobias's senses were ultraheightened.
He was very aware of the hard seat beneath him and the stagnant, warm air lingering in the room. His vision was so crisp, he could not only see his opponent well, but every pore throughout the goblin’s green, sallow skin and oils gathering on its nose.
There were few spectators allowed to witness the match. None uttered a word. Normally, he would've described the room as silent with anticipation, but today, the whoosh of their breathing sounded like ocean waves thundering in his ears.
The acrid air carried the scent of sweat, fear, and adrenaline. Condensation clung to the stone walls, embellishing the stench of mildew collecting in the crevices.
If he thought the smell of the chamber was putrid, it was nothing to the taste of the expanse. When breathing through his nose felt unbearable and he tried to draw through his mouth, the same aromas gathered by his olfactory sense, caused a metallic, dank flavor infiltrating his tastebuds as the air washed over them.
The overstimulation was oppressive. Though the strongest stimulant of all was his clairsentience pulling emotions from the other occupants and confusing them with his own. Fear, eager anticipation, morbid desire, and general malice. It was all so intense, he couldn't even tell how much of that was coming from himself.
Tobias dropped his gaze from the oily nose of the goblin down to the chessboard. He focused on his outnumbered white pieces and the positions of the black queen and knight—he finally saw it. Nine moves away and he could turn the tides. He could come from behind, so the board that was enchanted to play to the death would spare him, and instead take the life of his sinister opponent.
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