"You should have let me kill the child, a kinder fate for all."

Heru looked down from the balcony, watching the toddler chase a fox.

"Except for our daughter, who would be dead, of course." Leneya would.

"Life is not so kind a fate, when marked by misf…

Tamori Heru paced frantically. He hadn't slept in 36 hours. He wasn't aware of any birth taking this long in recent memory. His wife, Leneya, has been in labour for the past 27 hours, and Heru was starting to worry.

The door creaked ajar and the nursewif…

There's something high up in the sky

I saw it flashing by my eye

And then it soared into the clouds

Its shouted hums, its muffled louds.

I'm frightened, dear; what can it be

That's sneaking there on top of me?

Is it a drone? A bird? A bomb?

Will I be …

I don't know science, but I've heard some stories

Of physics, chemistry, and bio-glories

If I could be as steady as the nat'ral laws,

I'm sure I'd find self-confidence, because

It seems that all the world will just obey

Their mandates strict, no matter …

If I were to tell you, my darling friend,

That I think that I'm falling for you,

Would you feel I'd been lying? Would our friendship end?

What would you say; what would you do?

Well, I know well I shouldn't, I know in my place

I must only be strict…

If I told you what is really on my mind

Right now,

How would you feel?

And how would you react...or respond?

Would you give yourself time first to process the information?

If not, that could maybe be worse.

If you responded, would it be with patience, sa…

Dust. It was the dust, Tenever had decided. A very simple phenomenon that somehow accurately described everything that was FUBAR about this current situation. Normally any arcane practitioner of just about any ability had at least one warded layer to prot…

Story is marked as mature

If anything happens between you and me,

To bring us together, I hope it will be

Fulfilling and comforting: both equally

For I feel you are where I belong.

I hope there is friendship, exuberant, lasting

I hope there are hugs, for too long I’ve been fasti…

Story is marked as mature

Story is marked as mature

I'm such a loser.

There are a million excuses for not doing what I know I should do. Still, I don't do it.

I avoid it until the guilt is so heavy on my heart that I have to alleviate the pain. I have to stop not doing it and face it and just do it.

I…

"Do it. Bring me along. We'll give him a hell of a special night."

I nodded.

Looking both over her shoulders and glasses, she raised her penciled eyebrows.

Prunella turned from her novel and rolled her eyes in copious disgust.

I turned to Prunella, hand covering the mouthpiece, and whispered, "Should I?"

Sadie and one of Gulmar's rangers were on watch. Atull was her name, and that was all she knew. When Sadie had walked over, the orc had motioned to a place beside her. Sadie had taken the seat, and neither had said a word since. They stared into the darkn…

Eraeon turned to Tenever as Gulmar launched into another epic tale. Though his face was ever blank and featureless, the wizard noted what might almost be concern in the elf's demeanour.

"Before, when you took control of the orcish teleport. There was a w…

"Ain't natural, Karl."

"'Course not."

"Fog's 'sposed to burn up in sunlight, not pile up against the edge of a man's property like it's beatin' on a wall."

"Ever'body knows that, Carl."

"Yeah? Well somebody 'parently forgot to tell ol' man Hemp. Ain't n…

Chaz raises the weapon he holds in his left hand. He can feel the Weight of it dragging his arm back toward the earth, but it is that very same Weight that allows him to wield the hand cannon at all. When he first claimed the Kraken, when he first held th…

Story is marked as mature

Some people think of troubles as burdens. Like their only purpose are as inertia against life's upward progress. But I preferred a different outlook. I would look out from the wide, bright windows of the coffee shop on Fifth Avenue and look at the people …

Calloused feet, like sandpaper, were no match from the hot, midday sidewalk. She had considered the grass, but thought better of it. She was an outsider, and it wouldn't be polite to walk through a stranger's grass.

The houses lining the streets were al…

Of all the applicants, there was something about Lena that she couldn't shake off. Her short black hair, smooth tan skin, and deep coffee-colored eyes looked straight into your soul. She dressed informally, mostly in black, and wore a purple gem necklace …

"Hraz'Elarion!"

"Hraz'Elarion, have you been climbing trees again? Look at the state of your clothes!" Selura fussed over the young half-elf. In truth, she was proud of the boy. He had grown up to be a compassionate, charming, benevolent contradiction …