We’ve celebrated our Plutonium Anniversary, and we’ve celebrated Thunderdome New Years. Now it’s time to go back to basics. Now it’s time for a new beginning.

Your prompt this week is simple, if not easy. You are to write the first episode of a series. The pilot for this years hit TV show, the first volume of an epic trilogy, whatever. This means that your story must accomplish, at minimum, two things:

1) It must be a complete, stand-alone story. It starts, it ends, stuff happens in between. It stands on its own two legs, and it doesn’t fall apart if there’s never any more.

2) While not failing Requirement 1, it must leave an avenue open for more stories featuring your characters within your setting and it must make us actively want to read those stories. Maybe there’s a hint of a larger story arc, maybe your story sets up a premise that supports future episodes, you get the idea.

I’m not gonna say “no cliffhangers”, but I think you’d have to be at the top of your game to fulfill Requirement 1 while ending with a big ol' TO BE CONTINUED. Are you at the top of your game? Is it worth the risk? Only you can answer that question. And then later, I and whoever I sucker into judging with me can answer it.

The usual no-fanfic, no-porn, make-me-give-a-damn rules apply. Genre and setting are wide open.

Everyone who enters will receive a flash rule.