His hands are driven by the fervor of obsession. It is the same unrelenting force that drives a drug addict to push the needle into his flesh and a gambler to hemorrhage her funds on the chance that he might, someday, see some benefit. It’s the same toxic pressure that forces an obsessive-compulsive to repeat … Continue reading The Mask
Tag: Short Fantasy
The Green Lady
There is a Lesser Entity in my garden, but I must not tell anyone, or the shaman will come along and banish her. She is very pretty. I don’t want her to go. She looks like a little lady made of leaves, with bright pink eyes the color of spring flowers. She likes to dance … Continue reading The Green Lady
The Cairn in the Woods
My grandmother had beautiful hair. It grew in full, thick, and luscious up until the day she passed away. In the daylight, it gleamed with its own solid radiance, pure white in contrast to the sun’s golden hue. At night, under the stars and the moon, it glimmered with coruscating points of light ranging from … Continue reading The Cairn in the Woods
Goodbye, Emarta
Emarta wrung her hands. She was nervous, and deservedly so, but Cyrène felt oddly calm. This still felt like her room, even if she knew it wasn’t anymore. She wondered if it ever had been, or if she should have felt like it was her mother’s space that she had just been permitted to live … Continue reading Goodbye, Emarta
What Was Lost
There was once a dragon who loved beautiful things. As a youngling, in his first years of life, he loved to collect stones. He liked smooth river stones the best, polished by years of water and sand, because he liked the way they shone in the light, especially when they were wet. He kept them … Continue reading What Was Lost
The Mountain Town
See Torna: Introduction for the first part of this story. We knew, from our debriefing, that the mission would be one of collection. Loyal servants of the Empress had written to the gendarmerie to complain that one of the town’s mine, a primary source of income for them and an important resource for the Final … Continue reading The Mountain Town
Torna: Introduction
See also: The Sword, The Birth of a Blade, The Park at Night, and Father, Son, and Sword for more excerpts from the same world. Today's entry was intended to be done in one go, but I ran out of time. Expect to see it completed tomorrow (unless it grows out of control, which experience tells me might happen). I … Continue reading Torna: Introduction
