One Door To...Wait, Presque. No.

There was only one rule: don't open the door.

As I stand guard at the door, the door that should not be opened. I stand here as a noble warrior. A noble warrior with a helmet, sword and everything.

The door should not be opened even a crack. It should remain that way until further notice. Which may never come. You know it's bad when there's only one rule.

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Only one rule, but of course. It wouldn't be a story if there was 100 rules. Doesn't make for a good setting for an intense humdinger of a horrific tale. Doesn't really scream bloody murder lies behind the door, if you can get past the 100 rules, does it?

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You know it's really bad when there's only one rule. Unless the rule is a fake-out or not exactly true. A lot of people, I've found tend to say, "I have one rule" and then have to backtrack when they remember their other "one rules".

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As I stand keeping guard, I wonder why I am even keeping guard.

Ah, the ring, the one ring to rule other rings. I saw a god, emperor or mage put it on in olde worlde times. He handed me a ring, nearly forced it down my finger to my pretty, delicate but hardy elven knuckle. Told me to keep it on. So, I did. Now, I stand guard on the door, the one door to rule them all. Wait, I mean, the door to which should not be open. The door next to this door. That can be opened. Apparently, they have Orc Karaoke on Thursdays. A Southlander once did a rousing "Castle on the Hill" by Ed Sheeran.

Anyway, This door can’t be opened. The next door, can.

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Thanks for reading!

Author's Notes: Yeah. No apologies. 300 words exactly, according to Vocal's counter system. This was obviously for the one rule you should never disobey first line story challenge. I'm away soon and will not be with reliable interweb connections, so trying to make sure I enter things that might run out while I'm away and so I don't have to rush anything at the other end. This is probably my penultimate entry, as I entered more times than I actually thought. The next one is decidedly more serious.

Here are other things I've been working on.