The smoke merchants pace along the streets of the Market. The cowls of their grey cloaks are pulled up over their heads, obscuring their features. Everyone who comes to the Market maintains a level of anonymity, but the smoke merchants even more so. The p…

Barris, commander of the Republic troops strode forward. No armour, no weapons.

Acheson turned to his troops. "No one fires a shot until I say." He stepped out from behind his barricade, meeting Barris half way.

"Colonel." Barris said. "I've been waitin…

She came home and began to write by the light of a candle:

When it started, my forced adulthood, I chose solitude after a childhood of endless interruptions of privacy; we were abandoned by Father and death took Mother away. As soon as I could find a way,…

Inspiration sought

but just for a thought

a snippet of something to say

Longs' been the time

when my heart penned a rhyme

emotions inspiring some prose

A muse just to bring

to light a small thing

that awakens creativities flow

when quite so suddenly

I …

Alcohol.

Water.

Lime.

Salt.

The mixture looked like diluted blood.

It tasted like flat soda mixed with antiseptic.

It burned.

Every chewed fingernail, every crack in those dry lips, the bloodshot eyes, the sleep deprived mind, all burned.

He was split be…

Last Friday, I went to see my grandmother. Growing up I didn't find it funny that our name for her, Popo, was pronounced how some people say dad or grandfather.

Even though her hair was wispy and mostly gone and her speech was much more slurred, she stil…

She'd never seen Elora that upset before. Never worn one of the necklaces? She wasn't really much of a jewelry person. Elora knew that. This one was special.

She waited a few minutes before pulling out her phone.

"El, please, don't be like this. You can…

Tonia saw the tiny robotic bug skitter underneath the sealed metal door and into the Writing Room. Xe knew that there remained less than a minute before the fuse it carried would reach the bomb and tear the room to flinders, and Grace along with it. Tonia…

"What a pain." She pulled the scythe back out. Not a drop of blood on it, and not a mark left on his body. Not by her scythe, anyway.

Eris walked off. She'd become numb to death by now. Being there and collecting the soul was just part of the job.

A cou…

Orthael was quite content with the part of supporting swordsman. He stayed on her weaker side, ensuring that she could focus her attention on cutting a way through the Lesser Dead. Claws rang against steel; he used his shield more and more, less as a laye…

Empress Melinda the IV ignored the cries of the man being dragged away by two guards. So few people accepted their notice of execution with any sense of dignity these days. She should know, she had sent hundreds of men, women, and the occasional child, to…

Hard Drive's sobs racked his body as he buried his head in his arms beside the still, milky white form of Fetus on the table.

I fumbled with the small cylinders I'd removed from her body without even pausing to consider how they were a part of her. I kne…

"Chick Fight" was the name of the organization (and that term is used very loosely) that Jovie had found to make a few quick bucks so she could continue to do things like eating and sleeping in a place with a roof and such. She wasn't crazy about the name…

The process had begun.

She knew better than to play in the Rhoka woods. There were evil things there. Magic of the worst kind.

It'd been many years since the town rose up against the evil Lord Bahlo but while he was gone, his curse remained in Rhoka.

S…

Unapologetically together,

seeming like we're teeming with

something you'll never know.

Seeping with tingly feeling,

I am not ashamed.

Sometimes almost instinctually

jealous.

Green and calloused...

your face.

Are you sick?

You should be ashamed.

Others' h…

This i slovely

I was so hungry

I want more, but that was really nice to eat

Fresh bread would be even better though.

Thanks Ramon!

The key was engraved with MEMENTO.

"Undelete. What could he mean by that?" I asked the room in general. Hard Drive, looking depressed, did not answer. He was waiting for confirmation that Scroll and Locke were in fact compromised in our last mission. He'd…

As silently as the High Angel before it, Judgement whispered echoes of its past to Orthael. There had been many who had made similar vows in a time long before, when the Dead had arisen in such numbers that the darkness had very much threatened to overwhe…

We moved lightly through the corridor, which eventually opened up in a larger space, pocked with deep pools of the evil liquid. We paused, scanning the room, then looked to each other. Without a word, we clasped hands.

We moved quickly but carefully acro…

Beckton leaned out sideways and pulled the gun into his shoulder in one movement. He placed a little nugget of his attention right between the two burning coals that seemed to serve as the creature's eyes and pulled the trigger. The gun shivered a little …

Beckton stepped through the fourth row of bombe racks, trying valiantly to ignore the incessant clicking of the cryptologic machines as they crunched their way through yet another coded message. He drew from his right pocket one of the large box magazines…

Transpacific diplomacy warming, like global climate.

................................................................................

A barista pulled levers on a machine that belched steam, grinded a few gears, and jiggled menacingly. If it wasn't bolted to the floor, the ancient contraption would surely take off through the roof.

"Caramel Frappé with a side of coconut oil!" barked th…

A grisly, grating moan spread across the warrior tribe as they discovered their kin at the shrine.

They heard still the beyond's war drum beating across their hearts, and they thrashed like raging bulls in grief.

Michael's spell ceased stasis; the red…

The transition from mundane to extraordinary was mind-numbingly quick, that day. I was storing a recoilless hammer back in an equipment box and when Fuel Tank 3 exploded in a blinding flash.

Before my conscious brain could process what this meant, my mam…