Flash Fiction February 2026 Day Thirteen: A Different Set Of Instructions (Valan)

 Flash Fiction February 2026 Prompt: Different (Tell a story about a set of instructions that gradually stop being about the original task) 

Why I agree to do random tasks for Ayron is a question I find myself wondering almost as much as I do with agreeing to do tasks for Neloth. Usually this occurs while in the middle of doing such tasks, and regretting agreeing to do them. Today's task at hand involves doing some work in Ayron's makeshift museum devoted to Dwemer history and culture. A rather impressive collection that was compiled over years of travel, visits to excavation sites, and thoughtful insight from the last known living member of the Dwemer. While the mechanical marvels are certainly technological and artistic wonders, they’re also sometimes quite deadly. Rolling metal spheres unravel into sophisticated fighting machines, giant centurions can crush a man easily, and mechanical spiders are somehow even more terrifying than the real ones. Thankfully there is really only one potentially deadly machine in Ayron's little museum, a centurion that appears to have gotten damaged somehow over its long existence. On a small table immediately left of entering the door to the meticulously organized set of rooms is a note with a list of instructions. In typical Ayron fashion, the list starts off with things that need urgent doing relating to the primary task at hand, and slowly drift further and further from their original point often ending with a completely different topic. The instructions begin by telling me to dust around any objects not in protective cases, then to check the locks on the aforementioned cases, and to very carefully attempt to clean the area around the centurion without touching it- it’s rather temperamental. From there on the instructions fall apart into a mix of different things to do some more relevant than others. The list ends with a reminder to get milk, something not exactly relevant to a day spent cleaning a museum.