A couple of weeks ago the GISHWHES craze was all over Twitter. It is an acronym for “Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen”, an annual charity sponsored by Misha Collins (of Supernatural fame).

One of the items this year was to obtain a story of no more than 140 words from a published author, that had to include three items:

• Misha Collins
• The Queen of England
• An elopus (octopus / elephant hybrid)

Well, amazingly enough, I was asked by two teams to contribute. I did, except I completely failed at reading comprehension, since I thought the stories had to be 140 characters. Because, you know, Twitter was on the brain.

Regardless, both teams actually enjoyed the stories I provided, and I was grateful they overlooked my snafu.

Here are both stories…

“Albion Ascendant”
(c) 2014 Julio Angel Ortiz

The Queen struck with an uppercut and screamed, “Now!” Misha flew in on an anti-matter Elopus and pierced the Kraken’s heart.

Silence fell.

“Void Wake”
(c) 2014 Julio Angel Ortiz

The Queen’s console beeped. ‘It’s time.’ Misha nodded and opened the hatch. He watched the Elopus’ body float away into the yawning void.