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Killing me right from the front,
the soil will turn over,
without you won't be able to live for long.

Stab me in the back,
I'm faster gone than you can run,
and yet you don't want to live without.

Rip my innards out,
all what's left is an old shiny antique
and yet you can't hold what you just removed.

Grabbing a pair from me,
you will either have something colorful
or something really old.

Hint 1

Each stanza has one rule and two results.

Hint 2

You can create 8 different words from the hints out of the parent word.

Hint 3

There are no duplicated letters in the word and only a single vowel.

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3 Answers 3

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Partial...Long shot. May not be correct answer but may be related to what OP mean by those lines..Might help someone.

Is the word -

Heliosphere

Killing me right from the front,
the soil will turn over,
without you won't be able to live for long.

HELIOSPHERE -> HE LIOSPHERE -> LIOS which is reversed SOIL

Stab me in the back,
I'm faster gone than you can run,
and yet you don't want to live without.

HELIOSPHERE -> HELIOSHERE -> HELIOS is God of Light and light is fastest.

Rip my innards out,
all what's left is an old shiny antique
and yet you can't hold what you just removed.

HELIOSPHERE -> HELIOSPHERE -> HE. May be HE -> Helium -> Helium balloons are shiny. But its a stretch.

Grabbing a pair from me,
you will either have something colorful
or something really old.

No idea...

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  • $\begingroup$ You are on a good way, but this is not the correct word $\endgroup$
    – Zibelas
    Dec 15, 2016 at 11:01
  • $\begingroup$ @Zibelas- Yeah. I got the way. Hope someone hits the right word. $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Dec 15, 2016 at 11:06
  • $\begingroup$ I suspect answer is something about elements. Oxygen seems related but not sure. $\endgroup$
    – shyos
    Dec 15, 2016 at 14:25
  • $\begingroup$ @shyos- I am not sure about that. But the word should follow the rules mentioned above. $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Dec 15, 2016 at 14:27
  • $\begingroup$ I was under the impression each line was a separate word, not each stanza/paragraph, but okay $\endgroup$
    – TrojanByAccident
    Dec 17, 2016 at 3:21
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Another partial, another long shot, and some really tenuous references... ;)
Also couldn't connect it to the title of the riddle.

Kudos to Techidot for some of the concepts they demonstrated.

Is the word:

NEOLITHS

Killing me right from the front,
the soil will turn over,
without you won't be able to live for long.

N EOLITHS (wouldn't live long without Nitrogen + anagram of THE SOIL)

Stab me in the back,
I'm faster gone than you can run,
and yet you don't want to live without.

NEO LITHS (reference to the superfast Neo from the Matrix + liths, which is from an Old English word for 'limbs', which no-one wants to live without, I'd imagine)

Rip my innards out,
all what's left is an old shiny antique,
and yet you can't hold what you just removed.

NEO LI THS (anagram of STHENO, one of the Gorgons, who Perseus defeated using a polished shield + Lithium, which you technically could hold, but probably wouldn't want to due to its corrosive nature)

Grabbing a pair from me,
you will either have something colorful
or something really old.

N EOLITH S (eoliths were once thought to have been artifacts, the earliest stone tools + can't figure out the colorful reference...)

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  • $\begingroup$ Great answer but still not the correct one, I added another hint. $\endgroup$
    – Zibelas
    Dec 23, 2016 at 19:51
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The answer is

Card

Killing me right from the front

Take away the C -> Ard, an old plowing tool, without Vitamin C, you won't be living long

Stab me in the back

Take away the D -> Car and another Vitamin

Rip my innards out

What is left is a shiny old CD and AR (or Argon)

Grabbing a pair from me

Gives you Cr (or Chromium - another shiny silvery metal) and AD (Anno Domini)

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