"The Coin of the Black Order"
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I shrugged, weighing the little metallic disk in my hand. “You mean this little old thing? I thought it was just some dandy keepsake left in the trash.” I was pushing my luck, but fear was dribbling down my spine in cold rivulets. I swallowed hard. The honks and hums of the city echoed from below.
"I was going to buy myself a sandwich, you know? I think I deserve one after the things I've done for you," I said. His glaring eyes flicked over me as the edges of his lips twitched. Suspicion was written all over his cruel face. He stepped forward, inching closer.
“Just toss it over kid,” he asked, not with sympathy but impatience. I looked down at the tiny object. For just a silver coin, it seemed to weigh too much. I weighed my options. He had me cornered, the army of guards made sure of that.
As he moved forward for it, I suddenly slipped the coin into my pocket and looked up. "How about this... you want your precious coin, huh? All this, for just this little coin. Who are you really?” I asked.
Something flashed in his eyes. Fear or surprise, maybe both. But his smug expression returned instantly and he chuckled. The cold wind swiped at his coat, blowing it like a cape.
“Really? You ask me that question when I hold your life in my hands? Allright, alright, have it your way Deandre. Who am I, you ask? You ever heard about the Black Order?” he smirked.
I stared at him, confused. I stumbled back as he stalked forward, stretching out his arm for the coin. His lips split wider, revealing a glinting gold tooth that held an engraved symbol. It was the same one embossed on the so-called precious coin. The symbol of the Black Order.
“I guess I didn’t need to read that letter after all…” I muttered under my breath. I backed away towards the edge of the skyscraper. If I survived this, if I saw the light of another day, I swore to hunt down every last one of these scumbags including 'the boss’. But first, I had to survive the current predicament.
With a grin plastered on my face, I took a couple of steps back to the very edge of the building. He screamed something, but I couldn't catch it in the roaring wind. Bracing myself, I took a deep breath. With the yells of disbelief from the guards and their boss ringing in my ears, I launched myself off the edge of the building into the darkness beneath, leaving my past, my fears, and anger behind me, coursing up into the stormy night.
The last thing I saw was the horrified expression of the boss as I disappeared over the edge. Above me, on the rooftop, the boss reeled back, screaming, "STOP HIM!"
From then on, my life took a deep plunge into the dark abyss, becoming a terrifying game of cat and mouse. I became the target of every shadowy figure, every sinister organization, every power-hungry maniac, and also, the symbol for every protecter of justice. Yes, most people would say it went from bad to worse, but these were the moments when I found my true self, cloaked in shadows and armed with courage.
And so each brutal sun dawned upon a day of my horror-filled life…
This story was generated by user joshua71 with assistance by one of OpenAI’s large-scale language-generation model; prompts used to help generate the story are shown below.
Images were generated with OpenAI's AI system, DALL·E 2, or uploaded by the user.
AI Prompts
Prompt: Hey, My name is Armaros Deandre but you can call me Armar and I’m fourteen. This is the story of how my life went from bad to worse… I had to get out of this city for once and for all, I was done with New York, I was done dealing with people around me blaming me every time something went wrong so I left. I hate stealing in general but to the people who have been making my life a living hell ever since I can remember and I decided to make a one time exception just for them. I ran up the stairs past the lounge and took a right turn right through the double doors into the office. My eyes were sharpened in the darkness and every tiny little noise made me jump. I could feel the vibrations through the floor and hear the pounding of my heart in my ears. I slowly opened the bottom drawer and pulled the box where all the money was kept. I pulled the paperclip out of my pocket and bent it into the perfect shape. I turned the clip left and right and the lock made a soft click as it opened. I grabbed the black and silver coin in it, locked it and put it away hastily shutting the drawer. I froze, someone was turning the door handle. I knew I had seconds to hide so I dove behind the thick black curtains by the windows. The door opened and three people walked in talking and having a heated debate. Only too late did I realize that I left the paperclip on the desk with the chair four feet away from where it started. The guy in the black suit noticed it and frowned, instinctively he opened the bottom drawer and pulled out his key. It opened and he froze… One of the security guards that walked in with him coughed and asked “Is everything okay sir?” The “boss” looked up and raised his voice 'NO everything is not okay’ and chucked the little black money box at the wall ‘LOCK DOWN THE BUILDING, NO ONE LEAVES UNLESS I SAY SO!” The security guards ran out the doors and yelled in their comms “LOCK DOWN THE BUILDING NOW!” The boss overturned his desk and stormed out the door slamming it shut behind him. I quietly moved out of my hiding place and for the first time I noticed an envelope on the floor right by my foot so I did the only thing I should not have done, I picked it up and opened it, I frowned. I had dyslexia and ADHD. I couldn't read this but still I looked at the paper, the words were written in some of the language but somehow I recognized some of the words and phrases like, “Suspects nothing’ and ‘Armaros” I froze… No one and I mean no one knew my full name except me, so what was it doing on this letter? I wanted to get out of that building as fast as possible so I balled the letter up, shoved it in my pocket and ran. I pushed past security guards and other kids but I didn’t care, I just wanted to put as much distance between me and my room as possible in as little time I could. I was almost to the doors when I saw them. The guards standing in front of the doors with the ‘boss’ smiling cruelly trying to hide his fury that ‘someone’ was able to sneak into his office without getting caught by the guards or the cameras. I looked for another way out but every door that led outside was blocked by two guards and or had an active camera watching the exit. There was no way out… except for one way but I hated it, but it was the only way. I turned and bolted towards the stairs as fast as I possibly could and then I looked back towards them… That was a mistake. My eyes met with Mr. ‘Infuriated Boss Guy’ and he yelled something, he knew I was the thief. I ran through the door and slammed it shut behind me with the final view of dozens of guards running towards me. I bolted up the stairs and without looking back… I stumbled through the roof door of the building and ran to the edge and stopped. I was twenty-three stories above the road with no way down. I turned around to see ‘the boss’ smiling cruelly at me with ten guards on each side of him. ‘Did you really think that you could get away with this?’ I responded with ‘uh maybe…’ he laughed ‘end of the line, give it back now.’ I faked a puzzled and clueless ‘Give what back?’ he growled, ‘the coin, Now!’
Response: I shrugged, weighing the little metallic disk in my hand. “You mean this little old thing? I thought it was just some dandy keepsake left in the trash.” I was pushing my luck, but fear was dribbling down my spine in cold rivulets. I swallowed hard. The honks and hums of the city echoed from below. "I was going to buy myself a sandwich, you know? I think I deserve one after the things I've done for you," I said. His glaring eyes flicked over me as the edges of his lips twitched. Suspicion was written all over his cruel face. He stepped forward, inching closer. “Just toss it over kid,” he asked, not with sympathy but impatience. I looked down at the tiny object. For just a silver coin, it seemed to weigh too much. I weighed my options. He had me cornered, the army of guards made sure of that. As he moved forward for it, I suddenly slipped the coin into my pocket and looked up. "How about this... you want your precious coin, huh? All this, for just this little coin. Who are you really?” I asked. Something flashed in his eyes. Fear or surprise, maybe both. But his smug expression returned instantly and he chuckled. The cold wind swiped at his coat, blowing it like a cape. “Really? You ask me that question when I hold your life in my hands? Allright, alright, have it your way Deandre. Who am I, you ask? You ever heard about the Black Order?” he smirked. I stared at him, confused. I stumbled back as he stalked forward, stretching out his arm for the coin. His lips split wider, revealing a glinting gold tooth that held an engraved symbol. It was the same one embossed on the so-called precious coin. The symbol of the Black Order. “I guess I didn’t need to read that letter after all…” I muttered under my breath. I backed away towards the edge of the skyscraper. If I survived this, if I saw the light of another day, I swore to hunt down every last one of these scumbags including 'the boss’. But first, I had to survive the current predicament. With a grin plastered on my face, I took a couple of steps back to the very edge of the building. He screamed something, but I couldn't catch it in the roaring wind. Bracing myself, I took a deep breath. With the yells of disbelief from the guards and their boss ringing in my ears, I launched myself off the edge of the building into the darkness beneath, leaving my past, my fears, and anger behind me, coursing up into the stormy night. The last thing I saw was the horrified expression of the boss as I disappeared over the edge. Above me, on the rooftop, the boss reeled back, screaming, "STOP HIM!" From then on, my life took a deep plunge into the dark abyss, becoming a terrifying game of cat and mouse. I became the target of every shadowy figure, every sinister organization, every power-hungry maniac, and also, the symbol for every protecter of justice. Yes, most people would say it went from bad to worse, but these were the moments when I found my true self, cloaked in shadows and armed with courage. And so each brutal sun dawned upon a day of my horror-filled life…
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