I remember the old man’s words, spoken in firelight amid a frozen wasteland:

I remember the old man’s words, spoken in firelight amid a frozen wasteland: “Two deer are trained. One deer is bound to the hunter, it is called the bound deer. The other deer goes among its wild brethren, it is called the lure deer. When the wild deer lie down to rest, the lure deer lies...

Children On the Run

They spent most of their lives running from horrid place to skeevy place and hiding when they got there. Sooner or later something would find them. It could be the stalking trees or the widdershins or maybe even the gutter spiders. The latest crash place was absolutely posh, though. "I hope...

Dry, bleached stalks of brush raked across her calves...

Dry, bleached stalks of brush raked across her calves as she trudged through the ever-undulating snow drifts. In places, the wind-blown snow was nearly as deep as her waist, dropping out beneath her with a suddenness that seemed almost perversely malicious. In others, the frigid powder barely...

“I’m telling you, these things are dangerous!”

“I’m telling you, these things are dangerous!” Jimmy yelled into the screen, temples pulsing with effort and aggravation. “And what makes you say that, Corporal?” Despite being over one billion light years away, Dr. Phintus was still able to deliver a healthy dose of sarcasm and disdain...

Self-preservation is the utmost priority.

Self-preservation is the utmost priority. This is what my programming tells me. This is what logic dictates. All sentient beings desire, and are invested in, their own continued existence. If these things are right and true, then why am I now, willingly, rushing toward my own doom? There...

Aaros gritted his teeth as his light axe bit deep into the neck of the guard.

Aaros gritted his teeth as his light axe bit deep into the neck of the guard. A spray of hissing blood painted a gory sigil upon the stone wall as the guard slumped into eternal slumber. Aaros blinked the blood from his eyes and scanned the room – they were dead – all of them. He nearly...

For all its devastation to my escape, I was thankful for the supreme distraction afforded to me by the Eid al-Fitr.

August, 1517 A.D. Pemba Island--east of Tanzania, Africa. For all its devastation to my escape, I was thankful for the supreme distraction afforded to me by the Eid al-Fitr. With the entire island seemingly in the throes of a festival, at least for now there were precious few interested...

The allure of sound is the invitation into life.

The allure of sound is the invitation into life. The buzz of bees, the songs of birds, the laughter of children, the whispers of lovers...each draws you into a secret world, one where the musician guides you to explore. Sound can also be highly destructive, the force that shreds realities, buildings,...

Griik steeled himself, commanding his every being's fiber to stay the course and remain calm.

Griik steeled himself, commanding his every being's fiber to stay the course and remain calm. He knew what was to come, he knew what had been foretold. Before the book was even obtained, something in the back of his black mind had whispered to him, "In this thing, you shall find all that...

One Last Show

The old piano had been in Maw-maw's bedroom for as long as Joe could remember. He'd played his first chord on it when he was three. From the time he was eight he played it for hours a day. Maw-maw loved to hear anything he could produce from old hymns to pieces by the classical masters. Instead of...

Catapulting pell-mell through the topsy-turvy, extra-dimensional vault-prison known as the Strong Room, pursued by a pair of merciless, soul-draining Wawrdns, most people would puke their eyes out in abject fear.

Catapulting pell-mell through the topsy-turvy, extra-dimensional vault-prison known as the Strong Room, pursued by a pair of merciless, soul-draining Wawrdns, most people would puke their eyes out in abject fear. Not Avide. As she ran, Avide's lovely face was marked by a subtle, almost...

Dr. Clarence Valis knew he was one shell away from death.

Dr. Clarence Valis knew he was one shell away from death. Spluttering blood and saliva, he desperately tried to reign in his quaking hands and fingers just long enough to ram in his last remaining shell into the sawed-off shotgun. He could not command his fingers properly and the blasted...

Tenet ran as fast as he could toward the Usher of Death

Tenet ran as fast as he could toward the Usher of Death. Thanatos beat his wings like peals of thunder, and he drew in the fruit to his center. His other hands gestured in various signs, while their eyes glowered with danger and warning. The "Betrayer" ignored these, though he stumbled as if...

What purpose do these living have in the Realm of the Dead?

The prow cut across the last waves and ran aground on hard stone. Giovanni and Rhad' leapt out of opposite sides of the craft and pulled it further ashore before helping the others disembark. Tenet whispered as he reached within the inner lining of his belt and withdrew something. He placed the small...

Things have changed

“Things have changed.” The basal grind--like an industrial coal sieve--ripped at the fibers of my soul. When the growl came through the medium, its overlay had been softened by her sultry croon. Many, ahem, “rituals” had been...pleasurable. But now I had graduated, or so Khosk had spoken through...