The Pyramid of Peace loomed over the city. The city dwellers shuddered when its shadow fell over them. They chanted a prayer whisper loud and hurried to their destinations. Inside the pyramid was the gauntlet. It ate the souls of any who were deemed unworthy. Every resident of the city had seen a loved one perish at the hands of the priest who wielded the gauntlet, an emaciated man who was immune to the gauntlet because he led a life devoid of living. He was addicted to the power and spent seven hours a day on his knees in penitence. A pirate sat upon the rail of his ship and contemplated how he could pluck this jewel of a city. He watched the residents scurry and on an impulse he hatched a plan. He had his men deliver barrels of gunpowder to the base of the pyramid. On a Tuesday morning he lit the fuse himself. He watched with glee as the pyramid collapsed, burying the priest and the gauntlet. The residents screamed in terror and fled inland. In the harbor boats were crushed like toothpicks by the monster the pyramid had warded against.
The prompts for this short story:
gauntlet
addict
pirate
impulsive
pyramid of peace
Copyright 2019 Klaudia Grady