Together they walked into the softly lit apartment. A half of dozen candles offered warm light and Lenn could feel some heaviness lift off his shoulders. After a moment the front door closed behind them and Ruger's footsteps followed them.

“You'll have t…

“Come on, man. Just move. I'm not leaving the cat out here in the storm.” Lenn said. “There's no food, it's wet, and it has nowhere else to go.”

Ruger hunched down. “I told you, I'm not letting you bring your damned cat inside.”

Lenn didn't move any clo…

[To go to the main stairs, please visit this page: https://ficlatte.com/stories/41127]

This hallway stretches out on the left and right.

On the left side, the hallway ends soon with a large pane of glass that overlooks the front of the building; it is not blocked by metal bars or anything like that.

On the right, the hallway is longer…

"But they don't have heads!"

"As I understand it, that's voluntary."

"That's ridiculous."

"I'm telling you, 'Haunted City' is a democracy. Its real name is 'Crossroads Hill', and it's perfectly safe to visit."

"But there's a necromancer overlord, and…

I don't know why this time things are different. Maybe it's because I finally stopped hoping for my fantasies to become reality. I gave in. I gave up.

It doesn't sting anymore, doesn't hurt. There is only a hole. I'm halfway in the hole and halfway out. …

The voices in my head talk over each other, a multitude of conversations all happening at once. I press the palms of my dirty hands to my temples, willing them to shut up, but to no avail.

Little iridescent beetles scuttle over my feet and through the …

I don’t know when I stopped

the daily painting of my face

On a Monday?

Maybe a Sunday

or some other day between

-

It could have been deliberate

an attempt to feel more proud

But it's most likely I was exhausted

and my teenage fears just weren’t as loud

-…

The hidden thing inside the pipe twisted, thrusting deeper, spewing waxy slivers of ice in its wake – a fixed point around which their world revolved.

“It can’t be stopped,” he stated.

“How much further?” asked Srinin.

“A few hundred metres; a few …

The disaster happened. What I feared the most, really occurred. I lost it all, all I wanted to keep, and all the things that scared me the most were right with me to rip me asunder.

And they left me for dead. No, not for dead, but for finished. Nearly r…

I vented to a friend, relatively new one but on the whole levelheaded and sympathetic. Basic advice is talk to them, tell them to quit, or else just block them

which would be good except I'm anxious about telling anyone so directly that they're bothering …

My dreams trace your laugh-lines

and sparkles part grey clouds between light lashes

Fingertips brush tensed lips to release breath

held within a chest hungry for my hands

...

My muscles clench at the rustle of my lonely sheets

Sticky with desire I cage b…

A bright pink teddy bear was banished to the back of the closet

And its glassy eyes shimmer with painful memories

As vicious dirt stains its velvet heart

~

Tear-stained sheets lie crumpled upon the floorboards

While a silent bed frame dreams of past creak…

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…

(Temporarily taken down as it is part of a school assignment, I'll put it back later)

Months went by,

Since she left the only way of life she's ever known,

Simple life, hard life, workers' life,

City life she now knows.

Spruced up her wardrobe,

With 15 hour works days,

Not much better than before,

But the energy here- it keeps here alive.

…

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…

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…

Strong's cat roamed their rented studio office space like he owned the place. Sarah found the matted fur ball curled on top of her desk, arrogant tail thwacking the keyboard of her laptop hard and steady, like a Sousa march.

"What, are you composing the…

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…

Osterley and Beckton exchanged a practical, functional look. She took a step back, while Beckton made ready his weapon. There were no theatrics, no heartfelt exchanges. Those prone to those gestures were no longer around.

Newkirk nodded, muttering the la…