The ULTIMATE writing challenge 2025 by CK - April
- Apr 23, 2025
- 7 min read
Unraveling mysteries!
It is time to continue the challenge in my Instagram account. If you wish to participate, feel free to write your take on the prompts to the comments of my blog or then to your own documents. Tag me in Instagram if you do decide on participating, even if it's just to a story ;)
Prompts for April:
A centuries-old map leads to a shocking discovery beneath a quiet village.
A ghost appears to solve their own murder—what clues do they provide?
Write about a locked box that no one has dared to open… until now.
My take on the prompts:
A centuries-old map leads to a shocking discovery beneath a quiet village.
-C’mon! We have to leave. NOW, shouted the second in command from the front of the shipwreck. Lais wasn’t leaving without knowing what was in that large chain covered chest. It must be something important based on how heavily it is guarded.
-Sir Lewan! Exit the room immediately, it is a direct order! sir Chani continued her shouting. The “sir” in front of her surname has a tale of respect in front of it. Yet Lais didn’t have time to go through it as he tried to open the chest with his powers. He already felt the pressure in his lungs as his oxygen storage run out a moment ago. He would still have to get to the submarine once the chest would open.
-Sir Lewan?! OUT OF THERE! echoed the crispy voice in the speaker of his diving suit.
The chest finally cracked open. A small bottle was all that was at the bottom of it. That’s all? thought Lais. Why waste all this space and energy on that?
After grabbing it fiercely, Lais proceeded to leave the room inside the shipwreck. His vision started becoming blurry so quickly that he struggled to see into the direction he was supposed to swim...
-Sir Lewan! You are out of your mind. How dare you disrespect my direct orders? I could make you hang from this! shouted sir Chani while looking worryingly at his best sailor who tried to open his eyes on the hospital bed. There were two other sailors behind the second in command, but they had clearly stepped out of the range of sir Chani’s rage. Reasonably so. She was pissed.
People didn’t usually disrespect her orders and stay alive to tell the tale.
-Show me what was the reason for your misbehaviour, she proceeded to command calmly on the chair next to Lais’ bed. The sailor still didn’t understand where he was as his head was as heavy as the ship’s anchor.
He still made an effort to try reaching into his uniform’s inner pocket against his chest. With hovering hands, he offered the small bottle to his commander. She had to bite her tongue to stall herself from laughing in disappointment:
-And what do we have here? she wondered while taking out the small paper roll out of the green and dusty looking bottle. Although small, it seemed to have a lot of scribbling on it.
-A map? chuckled the second in command.
-May I have a look, sir? asked the second one of the sailors. His uniform was slightly different from Lais’, since it wasn’t covered in golden thread. He was the navigator of the ship, one of the best in the kingdom of Cardinia. And Lais was the honoured diver of the same kingdom.
The navigator, Eliso, took the small map from the commander’s hands and squinted his eyes in misbelief:
-I have to examine this further, but so far it looks like something I have only seen in tales. May I go to my desk and study this more, sir Chani? Eliso asked firmly. After an approving nod, he exited the hospital room with haste and didn’t make an effort to close the door patiently.
Lais was still laying on the bed with a blurry mind. Worrying about his survival wasn’t the first thing he thought about, but rather the contents of that map. He needed to know what he had found and what the navy could do with the information. Even if he would die tomorrow morning, he would have to know.
-I know what you are thinking Lewan, and I ask you to stop it for your own sake. Your survival is more important than that map right now, sir Chani almost chuckled in disbelief. She was almost as stubborn as her best diver, yet she didn’t know what she would do with him:
-I will have to discuss your behaviour and future with the captain before I can decide anything. So now your task is to get better and stay here until the next orders, is that clear?
Lais didn’t have to say anything as the second in command got up from her chair, adjusted her coat and left the room. Now there was only one sailor with Lais. But it wasn’t just any sailor, it was Lais’ best friend, Oila.
-Tell me! How was the shipwreck? Oila demanded curiously as they moved closer to the hospital bed. Oila was a good sailor, but a rookie still. They had never dived during their service to the navy. Lais always told stories about his adventures with the other divers, making Oila secretly jealous every time. Yet they were really good friends since childhood. Cardinia didn’t offer many jobs for outsiders, yet Lais and Oila had gotten to know the king’s captain’s sister and gotten into the royal school of the navy. Oila had had problems adjusting to the strict ways of the school. Lais had been introduced to sir Chani in the beginning of his training and thus gotten a trainee spot at the diving unit, while Oila was just starting with the basics.
-It was great. Many objects that used to be shiny but now covered in plants and multiple rooms with all kinds of leftovers. It was a royal ship; I can tell you that! Lais murmured softly while a smile tweaked on his lips slightly.
-One day you will be able to explore one with me, he continued while his eyes closed.
-If you survive long enough, Oila murmured back before getting up and going to continue their work outside.
The next morning the second in command stormed into the hospital room:
-Wake up immediately! shouted sir Chani as she stayed standing beside Lais’ bed. He was half awake and now opened his eyes wide open in surprise:
-I am awake, sir Chani! he declared officially.
-You shall have a trial in five minutes in the captain’s room, and it will determine what will happen to you. That is all I was able to do for you in this case. I hope you understand, sir Chani said without any emotion in her voice as she stared at Lais’ covers on the bed.
Lais had been in the captain’s room only once. In his office at the harbour multiple times, but in the room at the ship… only once, and it was a special occasion not everyone got to experience.
-In five minutes? asked Lais while getting up maybe a little bit too fast and tumbling down onto the floor. The second didn’t have to reply and she just left the room again to wait outside, giving him space to get up and prepare. He would also have to put some clothes on besides his underwear.
-Lais Lewan. One of our best divers, yet still a student. With the audacity to refuse orders given personally to you… Finding that map might be something that we will take into consideration, however you will still face consequences for your actions, pondered the captain of the ship. They were in their forties yet didn’t look a day over twenty-five. Their intimidating outlook could shy away many pirates and commoners at the harbour, yet that was when they were just breathing casually. Now they were furious. Controlled, yet furious.
Lais didn’t dare to say a word, barely even look at the captain who stood behind their beautiful desk clinging onto their sword like a lover. He would die. His life would be over after this. It was impossible to escape the fury of their captain. IMPOSSIBLE.
-We will want to see that you will improve on your misbehaviour in the future and become a diver for the royal navy as a permanent sailor, yet it is not time for that yet. Depending on the contents of the map you found, it shall show your future to you, explained the captain.
-I give you three options, and we will wait until we know about the map. One: you end up in prison for at least twenty years. Two: you go back to the school and work your ass off there, in a suitable way. Three: the map is useless, and you shall die.
Silence filled the room. One could drop a needle to the floor and hear it perfectly. Death? Imprisonment at the royal prison? The school option isn’t nice either because Lais would have to teach or clean or take care of something or someone for years instead of sailing at the seas.
Finally, the navigator rushed into the room with the map. His expression had a glimmer of hope and awe. Eliso set the map on the captain’s table after saluting to them first:
-Permission to speak, Captain?
After receiving an approving nod, Eliso took a breath and pointed at the centre of the paper in front of him:
-It is an ancient map of Cardinia, showing where the fist queen lies. With her, the gloves of justice were buried to hide them from the rest of the world. The location of her majesty’s resting place was forgotten forever and only a few people might know where it is, but they passed away in the last 20 years. It leads to an island village in the ocean, under which the queen was buried, Eliso explains in awe.
-Thank you. You may exit now, and we shall discuss this further after the trial is over, the captain murmured in their thoughts. Eliso left again in haste with the map.
-Well then, that gives an answer to us; Sir Lais Lewan, I sentence you to serve at the navy school of Cardinia for 15 years as your punishment for ignoring orders given to you personally by your second in command. You shall show us that you won’t do such a thing again by doing your best at the academy. And only after that we will reconsider your abilities to be a professional diver in the navy forces.
Thank you again for reading and even participating if you did so! See you in May with the new prompts <3
Comments