"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…

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…

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…

Glowing green magic flowed out of the green-haired girl and into the rocks, lighting up the etched runes.

Pain shot through her body, and she let out a high-pitched scream. It hurt more than losing the limbs in the first place. She grabbed the bed sheet w…

The small creature jumped up on her shoulder, faintly glowing, perfectly poised with its chest slightly puffed out.

Oh, that was actually a neat idea! The girl picked up her phone and typed a few notes, before setting it down and returning to homework.

Sh…

Malika felt no joy at the destruction she had wrought, only a grim satisfaction. She had spent enough of her anger to bring it back under control, and in the process she had cleared much of the surrounding forest of the evil that had once lived here. It w…

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…

Yellow: the safety, a thing I can touch

White: it will burn, but not yet, as such

Orange: and glowing, inhale and beware

Grey: the remainder, exhaled into air

Orthael breathed out evenly, nodding. He had known, rationally, the moment that Varreniel's Candle had snuffed out. But it was another thing entirely to hear that it confirmed, that all the wards and defenses of a cathedral of the Flame had failed against…

(This was written under the influence of two bottles of wine and a complete disregard for grammar)

There is a belief that, if you look close enough at the bark of trees, you'll see yourself in the grooves.

You, who are made of flesh and blood and mushy…

Cicadas sang in the heat of the day. Mostly. But it was well past sundown and the night was far from silent. It overflowed with strange sounds, as if the darkened woods themselves were awake and agitated. It wasn't just the pulsing buzz of the cicadas e…

Story is marked as mature

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 air was crisp and the dew barely settled on the grass when Orthael left the house. He closed the door behind him with just the clink of his chain shirt and took the stairs up onto the wall two at a time - relishing the lightness of foot and freedom of…

Five men stood around the pool of greasy black tar that used to be Zach Cho. Everything had happened so fast. Even with their suspicion, no one could have foreseen human flesh blackening and sagging like hot taffy. There weren't any bones or organs. All t…

Apparently, the principal had told Lumen to find Toria, she learned later. Lumen was more than happy to eagerly sign all sorts of things at Toria. It was strange.

Toria mostly just listened as Lumen talked about some of the places she'd been, and things s…

Malika slept restlessly that night. Her sleep was plagued by dreams of shadows and flames, the yellow infernos of building burning. Creatures moved among those flames, casting long silhouettes across the carcasses of homes that had fallen into embers. Of …

Each Robin has a red breast, dripping blood,


And ev'ry beaten heart, a bony cage,


And still we sing and bathe ourselves in mud;

From heart to fingers, ink still stains the page.

The pump has sprung a leak for you to read:


A farewell note to say it's n…

Malika was suddenly overwhelmed by the cleansing intent and purity of Flame. It flowed through and over her like an all-consuming heat -- and as it did, it drew much of the pain and fury from her slight frame. She shuddered and screamed, both in relief an…

Orthael felt the glow of satisfaction from Judgement, who had spent lifetimes as a wrath-filled harbinger of death. It had dreamed of doing more, indeed feared that it was no longer capable of anything but destruction. The Flame had swept such darkness as…

But I've no strength, no courage! If I must

Continue living, tread the steeper way,

Climb crises--impulse might o'erride dread; just

An instant could decide things either way.

.

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 …

Transpacific diplomacy warming, like global climate.

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