The faintly glowing creature approached the girl sitting at her desk, frustratedly typing away on her keyboard. It leapt lightly onto the corner, peering at her work.

It sat, curling a dainty tail round itself, watching as she continued typing, jumbled me…

I am blissful, at peace.

I have worked for so long to achieve this state.

I know I had my personal problems before, but I have wrestled with them and I am doing better.

I hurt people. I didn't do it on purpose, and I have tried to make amends.

I have sa…

The group of three turned the corner slowly, as to not disturb whatever was making the heavy breathing sounds they had heard from down the hall.

"I don't think we woke it..." whispered Lynnia, putting her dagger back in its sheath. "... what is it?"

"Le…

"I'm a bird, you know," Jessica said without any sort of sarcasm.

I wasn't quite sure how to reply. It wasn't the most random thing she'd ever said but it caught me off guard since it was midnight and we were on the trunk of my car behind a McDonald's …

I sobbed. The Dragon saved me from myself. I got lost in the fog. I was stopped by the wall of despair and I caused the explosion that gave me the pieces to build my fortress, all so I could stay hidden deep inside myself. The Dragon refused to le…

Chaos ensues. All that was once so eloquently placed is now thrown into the wind. The pieces land with no apparent rhyme or reason. An intrigued outsider may sit to the side and calmly observe those around him frantically scramble to create some form of d…

My Roller Coaster Buddy,

The man who’d “bomb” my hair,

A man of integrity, kind and fair.

Who loved to tease,

Who was silly and always had fun,

Everyone has a favorite memory of “Brother Murphy”.

To everyone he would meet,

He’d give them a …

Toria walked into the classroom and sat down at her desk with her usual grace. No one so much as glanced at her. That was fine. She didn't mind. She just sat quietly with all the others as the teacher talked. She took notes, and made tiny doodles in the m…

The darkness ahead grew, looming over Malika like a physical presence. She couldn't see it, but she knew it was there all the same. She rushed toward to it blindly, cutting down any and all of the Lesser Dead who dared cross her path. Morduth burned hot w…

I've stopped looking

At the mirrors in my house.

My wife has to tell me

When my hair is becoming

An awful tangled mess,

Or when my face looks

Like I've never held a razor

A single time in my life.

They just feel offensive,

Reminding me over and over

That…

Wallowing in loneliness and sadness, I sank in it, deep, up to my chin. Candles burning in effigy surrounded a warm bath of my misery.

I thought I had gotten past this. I thought that the first time you took a piece of my heart and smashed it that I had …

"Mayfield? Let's have the suits, and a weapon for the lieutenant please."

"That's not necessary, there are suits -"

Nyquist's other guard appeared from nowhere, passing me a dense package that was far heavier than fabric. Seeing my reaction, he comm'd o…

"Your mother teach you any magic, boy?" Thomas scowled again, and Eric thought, He sure does get that from his mother.

"Some. What do you need."

Eric look at the grounds they were on. Just big enough for what he needed. "I need a summoning circle." He…

Orthael gave her a smile and lifted a conspiratorial finger to his lips, then indicated the smouldering taper with one hand and the unlit candles with the other. Sparks flew, smoke rose and embers flared - the taper crumbled to ash, the candles flamed. He…

The reeve waved away his connection to the Flame and gave her a smile that did not quite reach his sad eyes.

"You are most welcome, child. I'm sorry I cannot do more, but such is our lot as mere men."

He glanced at Reliath, who was leaning back now as i…

I never knew what happened to them. I never remembered it when it happened. Sometimes I didn't even remember how I got there.

I could only figure it must be my fault. I was the only person left standing.

Left alive.

I was always unharmed, so I could o…

Inside the safe was a rack of thin metallic briefcases, bearing coded nameplates.

Badger, Dragon, Efreet… Raven.

I tugged on the case, but it wouldn't come free. Then I noticed the warning placard inside the door of the safe.

"NOTICE: Secure Files wi…

Several things happened at once. Orthael and Merall recoiled; even Judgement shifted uneasily in its scabbard. Blood magic was old, from a time long before the first records of the Church. The High Conclave had never formally declared it heresy, though th…

Anger flared inside Malika, and she failed to noticed the light aura of flame that momentarily erupted around her hand, even as Morduth lay by her side, untouched.

He is right, Mistress, the sword declared. There is much about my own history that even…

Orthael was glad to see Merall. He was a fine man, and had always run the magistrate's office with a quiet efficiency.

"One of the Greater Dead have slipped the halls of Ashmar along with a Lesser host. We were caught up in it."

"Flame-blessed you must …

The walls were indeed manned. As they made their approach, someone disappeared from view and a few more torches were lit along the wall. Moments later, a handful of men with bows spread themselves out on the wall walkway. One of them called out in challen…

Malika carried herself through the gateway to Triennell, as the holy man called it. To her it was simply Trien, the next town down from her now desolate village. If only there had been walls... no, she wouldn't think about that. It was too painful, too fr…

He felt the barrel of the shotgun against the back of his head. He never even heard the old man approach.

"Boy, you have 30 seconds to explain why you're in my house," Eric growled.

Thomas cleared his throat. "I'm your son."

The pressure on the back of…

Story is marked as mature

Sigh. Scream. Cry. Maybe wordlessly, certainly breathlessly. My jaw is locked, my lungs crunched up like paper bags. My fingers dropped off one by one. By rights, my brain should have shut down too.

And yet it moves.

Matter in motion. And a universe wit…