The Obelisk
LightNews LightNews
banner
theobelisk.bsky.social
The Obelisk
@theobelisk.bsky.social
19 followers 16 following 89 posts
a monument to what does not exist

formerly Unreality on Cohost. short and microfiction account
Posts Replies Media Videos
theobelisk.bsky.social
several obelisks appear:
short stone obelisks amid an area of grass and sparse trees with a stone gutter to the right. found in Kyoto, Japan
November 10, 2025 at 10:40 PM
theobelisk.bsky.social
an obelisk appears:
a gray stone obelisk towering into a clear blue sky with the sun almost peeking around
August 4, 2025 at 10:38 PM
theobelisk.bsky.social
4. tech/emotional support

in which we continue to stretch (or outright ignore) the definition of 'networks' in #InvisibleNetworks
4. tech/emotional support Welcome to RoboHelp, where we can fix all of your support needs! Are you a companion bot who feels like you’re being objectified by your human partner? Are you a PC needing to find the motivation to start up for your user? Are you a SmartHome appliance that is scared you aren’t getting used to your full potential? Don’t you worry any longer! RoboHelp can fix those nasty little bugs that are plaguing your software, hardware, or personality chips! Please click {here} to be connected to one of our helpful representatives! For human clients, please click {here} for additional support. [click] Please fill out the following captcha to prove that you are human. [click. click click click. click.] Thank you! Redirecting… Welcome to RoboHelp – Human Edition. Tired of your sex bot complaining that it wants to have more of a connection outside of gratification? Wish your PC would stop lagging on startup due to malaise or ennui? Tired that your dishwasher wants to chat about its features all the time? Don’t you worry any longer! RoboHelp can tweak those little personality chips and get your products back to their full capacity in no time! Wait just a moment, and we will connect you to one of our live representatives to assist you through the corrections process.
April 13, 2025 at 9:13 PM
theobelisk.bsky.social
2. rage quit island

in which a boy finds himself in an unusual rogue-like

#InvisibleNetworks
2. rage quit island He threw his controller down on the couch. It bounced just enough for it to go teetering off the edge and onto the hardwood. With a cry of anguish, the teen showed the TV both of his middle fingers. “Fucking game! Fucking internet! I dodged that shit so many times! But no, stupid game can’t even read my inputs, for fuck’s s-” His words got cut off when the TV strobed black and white. His eyes locked on the pattern as it emerged from the screen and began to surround him entirely. It blinked and blinked and blinked in stripes and dots and chevrons. He felt himself get pulled off of the couch and through a field of static until he dropped down, face first, into a field. “WELCOME, LAD, TO THIS BEAUTIFUL ISLAND!” came a disembodied voice from the sky. “The hell?” he said. “What did…did you just…did I get isekai’d?” the boy asked as he stood. He looked down to find a massive longsword beside him. Far to his left, the ocean. Far to his right, a forest. And a wide stretch of rolling hills between them. He wiped off the dirt from his face and saw that he was still in his pajamas from home. “IT’S TIME TO LEARN AN IMPORTANT LESSON ON ANGER!” the voice answered. The boy scratched his head and grabbed the hilt of the sword, its weight unfamiliar. “What do you mean le-” He jumped at the sound of a war horn from beyond the nearest hill. A hundred soldiers on horseback thundered forth, their battle cries high pitched, some voices even cracking. As they approached, the teen saw that they were all about his age. Worse, they all had thick armor, steel lances, and the glee of an easy kill in their eyes. The boy could barely hold up his weapon before he was trampled underfoot. A moment later, he was back, falling through the static and landing in the field once more. The horseback riders trotted up to the horizon, in preparation of another charge. “I’m supposed to beat them?” the boy cried up to the sky with anger welling up. “How!?” “SIMPLE, LAD!” the voice responded. “GET GOOD!” The war horn sounded again.
April 13, 2025 at 8:51 PM
theobelisk.bsky.social
1. infrascripture

in which we begin catching up on the missed days

#InvisibleNetworks
1. infrascripture “A load bearing book,” Brother Vincent would say. “Without following the ideals inside, I’m sure society as a whole would be much worse off.” It was no more than a few pages thick and sat in a drawer inside a plain wooden altar. The Siblingry would never decorate it with more than a white cotton sheet. Followers of other belief systems would regularly come by to debate its merits and give complex counterexamples, but the Siblingry would merely shrug and point to their number one tenet: Don’t be a jerk. (Sister Samantha’s proudest moment was cocking an eyebrow and telling a prominently rich faith leader that he was sounding very much like he was looking for excuses to be a jerk, to which the man stormed out of the small tabernacle along with the camera crew that he had brought along to show off his now-questionable debate skills).
April 13, 2025 at 8:27 PM
theobelisk.bsky.social
#InvisibleNetworks

0. tragedy of the uncommons

[a strange field appears]
0. tragedy of the uncommons The few of us herders left gathered at the edge of the field where a fence lined its border. Inside, the grasses were a shimmering gradient of changing colors: waves of red were chased by yellow while pockets of purple popped up and disappeared in the blink of an eye. The herd of cattle inside were standing on strong hind legs, doing squats and lifting broken fence posts with clumps of hardened dirt on either end acting as weights. We watched as a flock of tiny butterfly-sheep fluttered by to say Good Afternoon in perfect Tagalog. The farmer to my left waved back as they flew away, not confident enough in her pronunciation to respond in kind. “It’s a shame that the others were so dismissive of our field. It’s really lovely,” she said to us, eyes watching the miniature sheep cloud disappear. The man to my right shook his head. “If it’s not exploitable to those kinds of people, then it’s not worth it. You gotta be weird to enjoy the weird. It’s a shame more people can’t appreciate the nonsense.” In the distance, a pair of cows were arm wrestling on the back of a six foot long bee that was laying face down reading an issue of Mad Magazine. I let out a sigh. “How tragic.”
April 3, 2025 at 12:37 AM