Welcome to Round 1.

Sub-Genre: Alternate History

"If someone told you they'd experienced an alternate timeline you'd call them crazy, right? Of course, if that same someone was to prove it to you then it'd be a different matter entirely.

"You see, there's more than one alternate timeline. Fuck, there's... I dunno'... Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? They come about every time someone makes a decision and I'm not talking about the little things. What you have for breakfast is your own fucking business and choosing between a boiled egg with dippy soldiers or a bowl of your favourite cereal has never and more to the point, will never, make a blind bit of difference.

"No, it's the big stuff. Left or right? Going out on the piss or curling up on the sofa to watch crappy TV. It's the things that put you somewhere else, somewhere other than where you might have been.

"In this timeline you might turn right whereas in the other... Well, you catch my drift.

"So what's it gonna' be? Left, or right?"

"..."

"Nah, gotcha'! I'm just fucking with you. I mean, sure... If you were to make that decision right now then you'd definitely create a couple of vastly differing timelines but that's not why you're here, you're not ready for that!"

"..."

"Awh, shucks... Got nothing to say? Well I... Shit, d'you hear that alarm? Means someone has managed to go back and alter something in the past, someone's trying to create an alternate timeline where something big didn't happen.

"Yeah, damn straight that's a problem. See, there are a few things that're set in stone. They happen in every timeline and if they're taken out of the equation... Well, suffice it to say that 'cataclysmic event,' is probably an understatement... Now listen close. We don't have long at all before all of this, everything you see before you comes crashing down.

"I'm sending you back, kid.

"Fix it..."

Below you'll find eight pictures, one of which has been assigned to two of you. That's right, whoever you're competing against you'll be writing about the same person! Don't worry... If you're not sure about the details surrounding your assigned individual, they're all pretty easy to find on Wikipedia (because we know how accurate that is, right?) 

In a maximum of 3000 words, write an Alternate History about events involving your assigned historical individual taking the italicised text above as a starting point.

#1 - WilliamKlett vs CarolinaC

Pachacuti

#2 - MadMikeMarsbergen vs EllieHall

Winston Churchill

#3 - Ascension2197 vs WeLovelyBurns

Windradyne

#4 - elveloy vs KarlOConnor

Joan of Arc

#5 - MoonLoop vs paolojcruz

Sitting Bull

#6 - jinnis vs elatedANDspeechless

Boudica

#7 - torontojim vs jewel1307

Genghis Khan

#8 - bloodsword vs TheRobot

Adolf Hitler

You have until Sunday, September 11th at midnight BST to complete this challenge - that's a little over under three weeks, aren't we nice?! 

When your short is complete, post the link into the comments' section below!