He unfolds the cloth first, revealing the medallion hidden within. The face that peers back is profane and vulgar, but it is not unknown to him. It is the sigil of a creature whose existence has long thought to be past but whose influence garners follower…

Everything seemed to happen at once. Stella lived at two speeds simultaneously. In what felt like it should have taken only a second or two, the moon sprang upon her back and spread out like an effulgent tarpaulin, pressing her skin into the pricking fenc…

“In the event of a gravitational storm, please return to your seat and buckle your restraints as demonstrated by the hologram in front of you. In the case of decompression..”

I tuned out the flight attendant. I'd taken this trip many times recently as bo…

My words made me a puppet in your eyes

And though I cannot say as much

The truth is not as such

It comes as no

Surprise

You sorrow for the lie that I believe

Has now misplaced what I made clear

Why I could not stay here

And why I had

To leave

And what y…

Story is marked as mature

There is a kind of self loathing that exists beyond the burn of violent hatred and far from spineless apathy, that rests solidly on what can only be described as having become despicable in my own eyes.

It is one of the worst sensations I have ever experi…

Dear Diary,

I killed a man today. At least, I think I did. I was alone in the room one minute, and the next there was a man in front of me. I'm not sure who was more surprised -- him or me. I know I was pretty shocked, but by his expression, so was h…

Judgement shifted in his slackening grip, causing Orthael to clench his fist with a hundred battles' worth of instinct and experience. The point dipped, causing golden droplets of fire to drip down to briefly illuminate the forest floor before disappearin…

Old walls, sunk deep into the earth, slick with moisture and trimmed in dripping weblike vines, rose well above toward a sky of flat white. Two halls of this kind met, creating a cross of light overhead. The floor was long lost beneath brackish brown wate…

I think I've figured it out.

Why I've been so blazé about work. It's not that the students need a break and they've shut down for the rest of the year. It's me. I'm not trying to be a super teacher these last few weeks. Not days, no, weeks.

I'm the o…

Dark nights often lead to dreamlands.

<->÷<•>~<=>÷<•>~<->÷<•>~<=>÷<•>~<->

It is night now, and moonlight pours through the one open window in the room. The moon outside is full, the light it casts bright and rich. Almost the moonbeam reaches the table. Almost it reaches the box. The moment he has been waiting for has very nearl…

Laying inside a field of wildflowers, Lana stretched out luxuriously, feeling every blade of grass slide along her skin. She felt so intimately connected with her surroundings, not just the flowers but the tree in the distance, and the vast pink of a dawn…

Story is marked as mature

I shall read. I shall watch and listen.

I’ll dance as much as I can.

I’d like to be the one you can come back to relax with, sometimes, after you’ve danced yourself into ecstasy, and you want a change of pace. I know dancing isn’t done only with the bo…

Porcelina stood on the shore, her bare feet covered in sea foam. A soft breeze rolled across the ocean, carrying a whisper over the waves.

"It's time to come home." The voice said.

"But I'm not ready." Porcelina said, "There's still so much to see."

F…

Story is marked as mature

He lifted his head, unscrewed the top of the whiskey and took a big swig of it, holding it in his mouth for a moment to savor the taste that only good whiskey can provide before swallowing it in an attempt to make the girl disappear.

"I'm not going anywh…

"You drink too much" she said to him. "Or not enough. I guess it depends on what you are going for."

"I'm going for the 'forgetting my misery'" he said with a sigh.

"What you need to do is write more. Especially if you are drinking. All the great writin…

She wasn't the prettiest girl that he knew, or even the kindest. She plied her razor tongue on the "stick insects" and "puffed up princesses" that he had crushed on and asked out and been dumped by. But she had a sharp and hard morality that left her appa…

Pandemics have wreaked havoc throughout human history. In the 14th century the bubonic plague, or “Black Death”, killed an estimated 30-60% of Europe’s population. Close to one hundred million people died of the disease. According to the Italian poet B…

The old men say that singing the fidjeri makes one go blind, but what can I do? I am al naham on a pearl ship and it is my job to sing while stronger men risk their lives diving beneath the surface of the coastal waters. The hours are long and the days …

The King sent out a messenger into the Wide World to seek out information. The messenger did not return. So he sent out more than four hundred servants to seek the messenger out. The King then assembled these servants to inquire as to their progress.

KING…

"There is blood in the rain," stated the Deep One, matter-of-factly. He stood at the deck railing, staring out over the city spread out below.

"What do you mean, sire?" Kolster asked, looking up at the imposing figure looming over him.

"There is blood i…

There aren't many frogs out and about now, being late autumn and all. By this point, most have already burrowed into the mud to hibernate for the winter. As the ground around them grows colder, their bodies will eventually freeze into solid blocks of ice …