Veron Gerrick scrolled through the palace alerts looking for anything that demanded his personal attention. Much of his staff had been inherited from his mother and their loyalty had transferred to him when he had assumed the position of High Lord. They w…

They had taken the light. All lights everywhere were gone. First the stars winked out one by one. Then the Sun grew dark before vanishing. Without the Sun there was no moon. It was probably still out there in that deep darkness but we couldn't see it.

We…

Rebecca, distressed, started ripping up the seams she had just completed, her mouth pursed and disapproving. "No, that'll never do," she fussed. "The edges aren't matching up and it just looks so sloppy. I'll just have to redo that whole stretch. Hand me …

My eyes narrowed. A tell, which I self-consciously tried to hide behind a quick flip of my hair.

"As I communicated to Navy Systems Command, shakedown trials are tentatively scheduled to start in three months' time. Please -"

"Ms Sayre, I do hate to rep…

The morning did not improve Sadie's mood. There was the rare luxury of hot instant coffee with milk powder, but that was where the positive outlook ended.

A thin mist blanketed the surrounding Hills, reducing sunlight to a faint glow and visibility to a …

The larger man seemed to immediately forget about me, going back to waving the knife at the smaller one, so I deemed it suitable to have my swallow. Sally at the sandwich place really did wonders with salmon and king prawns, I reflected, wincing as the sm…

As the finely honed edge of his opponent's weapon sliced the air where his head had been a mere fraction of a second previously, he would have sworn to the gods that the blade sang, not with anger but joy. Stinging above his left eye told him that the bla…

Every night is the same.

The sun descends below the horizon, leaving the sky a desolate black. From within the village, the cries of the frightened form a chorus that pleads for light. They are waiting for the gondolier.

He is not as swift as he was …

Several years later, I was sixteen. Life had continued much the same, although Verux was now hesitant to send more people. We'd been pretty successful in beating them back, especially with Nochra on our side. She was an incredibly skilled fighter, with a …

It was the captain.

"Captain. What a pleasant surprise."

"Quite so. There is a communication for you, monsieur. My communications officer tells me that it is addressed to your good self."

"Thank you, Captain."

"Monsieur."

"Yes?"

"You are not going t…

The Growth has covered the entire coastline for as long as we could tell, and it grew out onto the ocean in some places. Some kind of toxic organism, killed five of ours. No safe landing anywhere.

It had been too long. Rations were dwindling, the crew sta…

The battery of sensors in the hood of the police car tracked the signal, the shining beacon of radio waves emanating from the van. It plotted the location onto a GPS map in the dashboard.

Meanwhile, a small army of police waited behind the barricade. Near…

How sullen is eternity! It sits sulky through the years,

Softly murmuring of boredom to a crowd of heedless ears.

Satisfaction needs a structure. Stories must begin and end.

In between, we need a climax, where we lose or gain a friend.

Life is not some mi…

I watched you burn.

I watched as your multi-hued plumage singed and reduced to grey, dead ash.

I watched powerlessly as your skin, flesh and bone blistered, seared and charred. Before long, a pile of soot and slag was all that remained where you had bee…

Winters here are not bitterly cold, just barren. The acid rainy season drives everyone underground as the leaves melt off the trees. Harvest was good, we will survive until the leaves sprout again, but the council meets every day to craft more rules.

The…

The hallway wasn't long enough to break into a full run and Lenn barely registered the pictures of strangers that lined both walls as he went by. Guided by the only light coming out of one of the three doorways at the end of the hall, he felt like the cap…

There was a big thunderstorm in the night, starting at around 00.00. I thought the lightning was the brightest I'd ever seen - like it was day for a second.

I turned off all the lights, pulled up the blinds, opened the window and just watched for a whil…

She mourned him. Not even the real him. She mourned the loss of the fantasy she'd made of him.

In her dreams he said all the right things, had all the right moves, shared the same jokes, had the cutest smile and softest touch. She happily stayed in bed …

We talked every night. We wrote letters. The distance never diminished our love for each other. We had it all figured out.

I flew out to see you on Valentine's day. You baked me a cake for my birthday. We had Thanksgiving dinner with your family. …

"Who are you?" she asked after several moments of silence.

"N-" I realized I didn't have to keep going by that name. I had a chance to tell someone something different. What I'd been thinking was... "Tourmaline. My name is Tourmaline."

A few more tense mo…

Liz' thoughts were interrupted by a flash of fire and a dragon's roar.

Across the small park, a winged beast, its crimson scales glittering in the midmorning sunlight, loomed over a trio of fantastical figures standing knee-deep in the sea of swirling gr…

The festival passed by absent either girl's presence, as neither felt particularly festive. When the time came for Taka to return to her studies, she did so eagerly, searching for any distraction from the painful fissure in her heart.

When her own gempuk…

"The average human being is about 40 percent mitochondria by biomass," you said. "Mitochondria are wicked tiny, but their job is to produce energy, right. Like, tons of it. Well, it's tiny in our perspective, but if you were their size, it's like a ligh…

Bundled up against the autumn chill, Liz wandered the city streets, alone with her thoughts.

Stopping to let a train of delivery-bots cross the sidewalk, she glanced around, noticing again just how empty the streets and walkways were on a Saturday mornin…

Smoky morning eyes made the light blur,

but I knew where I was.

I was home.

I woke just before she left,

just before she came to gently shake me

to tell me goodbye and

that she loved me

and that she'd be back in the evening.

The holes in my socks and ne…