Faster than I could react, she pulled something from her apron and pushed it into my hands.

"Please, stay safe. I couldn't... if you..."

This wasn't what I had expected. Still trying to catch up to the present, I looked down at the object she had given …

The fire rain came again last night, driving holes in the already pitted metal over our heads. Cossa and Sandry caught some splash drops with their faces and woke with permanent tears. Fire rain burned but everyone in our holding catches what they can to …

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…

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 …

Email:

I want you to know my feelings in detail, so I type them into a single message that may be long, but at least I have provided good communication of my wants and needs.

Texting:

I return your communication sometimes with a similarly long winded mes…

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…

Ryle stepped over the broken bodies littering the floor in order to retrieve the knives.

"Ryle, do you ever think about the men you've killed?"

He didn't answer immediately, instead choosing to wipe down the hard black blades with the edge of the dead m…

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…

Their little faces crumbled from surprise and delight to tearful and shock. This large thing crashed their party, stealing their gifts and eating their cake.

He sat back, grinning maliciously over his multiple chins. The children's large eyes swam with…

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…

"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…

She stumbled out of the alleyway onto the busy street. A few people jumped out of the way, barking at her to watch out. Her muscles trembled as she leaned against the brick building.

He walked out of the alley and smirked at her. "Tough, isn't it?"

She …

"Alright, you can only play with it for 30 minutes"

"Ok mum, thats fair enough"

15 minutes later

"Honey, can you do some chores for me? It will only take 20 minutes"

"But you're a fairy Godmother!" screamed Cinderella before collapsing on her bed and sending a dozen birds tittering out of her window. She began to sob. It was all right there before her, the castle, the perfect life, the perfect husband, and just like t…

--

Greetings. It is the thirtieth day. Food remains in good supply, but our morale has taken a beating. Captain Marseilles announced to us that he has received a message on the Return Ticket. As we had been told, that system was primed to engage around Da…

It's the heart; the best part. I saved it for you.

I protected it, made sure it stayed whole and as innocent and full of light as possible. I used it only to build you up, to raise you from the darkness. I used it to praise you and to welcome you with op…

Boldly I fear, oh so boldly I stride,

For I dare to be frightened! I shan't be denied!

There are others who cower but meet with bad ends;

There are mothers with power, het up with a lens,

But the timid who bluster are rare, dear my friends.

I will strike…

This glass of liquid seems to weigh a ton. I about dislocated my shoulder trying to pick it up.

Why don't you give me some lighter fluid?

The pile of rejects on the end of my desk grew with a haste I wasn't quite expecting. This was the first I looked down to see that sometime through the day it spilled down to the floor under my feet. Of course picking it all up meant I sat reading them ag…

The knock came just after midnight. I’d been laying in bed listening to this old 80s band called the Cure when I heard it. A soft tapping, so faint that I almost missed it. Then it came again, louder and more insistent.

I rolled out of bed and saw a b…

She watched from the bushes in cat form. The window was curtained, but her yellow eyes could see the magic rise into the air. She purred, her favorite part of this transformation. The magic rose like a blanket, rolling into a twist and smoothly slid throu…

Story is marked as mature

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…