The Mysterious Artifact.
🜁 The Artifact:
A Story Lab Prompt for the Creatively Possessed
Welcome to the underbelly of imagination, where myths rot in alleys and time forgets what it once knew.
You’re not here by accident. No one ever is.
Somewhere, beneath centuries of dust, bone, and forgotten prayers, something has been found.
It pulses. It hums. It does not want to be held… and yet here we are.
The Artifact is yours to summon. It might be a shard of obsidian that weeps light, a rusted device from a future that never arrived,
or a cursed ring that still whispers the name of its last owner. It doesn’t matter what it is, only what it does to you.
Now, this isn’t just about stringing pretty words together.
This is a ritual. A conjuring. A descent.
We’re inviting you, no, daring you, to build a story (or a comic strip, if that’s your vice)
around this forbidden find. We’ve carved the path. You choose how deep to go.
Your Mission, Should You Choose to Survive It:
Who Found It?
Is your protagonist a battle-scarred relic hunter?
A bored librarian with too many dreams and not enough sleep?
A child digging in the wrong backyard?
Give us the marrow of who they are.
What keeps them up at night?
What secret are they running from?
Are they looking for power, truth, escape, or just a place to bury the past?
Where Did It Hide?
In the belly of a crashed satellite.
Behind a church wall, scratched with symbols no one dares translate.
On the bottom shelf of a pawn shop, collecting dust and daring someone to touch it.
Paint it vividly, make the setting so immersive we can smell the mildew and hear the rats.
What the Hell Is It?
Describe your artifact like it’s an old lover: intimately, dangerously.
What does it do? Speak in riddles? Resurrect the dead? Unravel time? Rewrite memory?
What makes it irresistible, and why should we fear it?
What Changes Now?
This thing wasn’t meant to be found. So, what breaks first, the world or the finder?
Does it awaken something ancient? Spark a war? Fracture a mind?
Show us the ripple effect, the beauty, the horror, the inevitable price.
What Gets in Their Way?
No good story is safe.
Enemies? Definitely. Maybe a secret order of monks with burnt-out eyes.
Maybe a rival with nothing left to lose. Maybe guilt, grief, or the ghost of a choice never made.
Twist the knife. Then twist it again.
Build the World, Brick by Haunted Brick
Whether your setting is a dripping sewer under a cyber-city
or a remote monastery where the birds speak in Latin, make it breathe. Make it bleed.
Character Development (aka, Who Are These Poor Souls?)
Protagonist(s):
Give them scars, not just smiles.
Let us feel their heartbeat in the dark.
Antagonist(s):
The villain isn’t always the obvious one. Sometimes it’s ambition. Sometimes it’s regret.
Supporting Cast:
No one survives alone. Who follows them into the fire? Who pushes them in?
Story Structure (Cheat Sheet for the Damned):
Main Conflict: The central knot of the tale.
Rising Action: Things fall apart—on purpose.
Climax: Blood, truth, or both.
Resolution: Is it over? Or just beginning?
Deadline for the Brave
Submit your tale or comic strip by the end of the month.
We’ll feature our favorites, and maybe even crown one “Keeper of the Ink.”
Use the hashtag #InkwellStoryLabs and tag us so we can share in your descent.
And remember:
Once an artifact is found, it can’t be unfound.
Welcome to the lab.
Now tell us a story worth bleeding for.