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...

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...

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...

"Our troubles have only begun."

Giovanni threw his forearm against the broken stump of a petrified tree. He stared back through the vaulted cavern. Roksana braced her lithe body in the hollow of the column, while the shadows seemed to slip over her rather than her into the darkness. Rhad' planted his svärdstav into a divot in...

All who walk this field will cross the Styx.

Hearken! Tell of fell Reknown: Two Houses fed on the Earth Two Trees split from lowly Dirt Three Judges peer past mortal Bone Three Paths held by sacred Stones Seven's Sect stand on fallen Ground Seven Sins break each stout Convert One Road leads to death's dark Hearth --One Lord rules...

"Shomriel."

"Shomriel." The voice, though unspoken, nearly destroyed the fallen. Just the utterance, directed solely at one being, was far too...large, far too...significant to be borne by just one living thing. In truth, if the word had been directed at a mortal creature, the poor, piteous thing would...

Olarus turned from his task, irritated.

Olarus turned from his task, irritated. The Curtain was beset from all realms and upon all sides, and despite his most valiant efforts, the Once-Angel was barely able to bridge merely the most critical of the tears. All around him, the tendril-world of Between--the Space-Betwixt-Space--flickered...

With the horn he drank his last Supper's Wine

"With the horn he drank his last Supper's Wine, His libation pouring through feeble bones, still he holds his justice close, while he waits an alabaster Throne..." "Do not mock the dead," Tenet answered harshly. The fleshless voice replied, "I do no insult to a fallen blood brother. An oath I swore...

"You have found the Hall of the Headsmen..."

Anishkar stroked the feline head that crowned his staff. He gazed at the shrouded figure before him, who knelt because of the spear against his back. Another prisoner hung its head, chafing its chin on the iron collar around its neck. "You have found the Hall of the Headsmen, but I do not think...

"You're too late, Investigator."

"You're too late, Investigator." Soot and embers whirled in a lazy vortex around the cave opening. The voice bounced off the walls in a gravelly tone akin to basalt grinding against itself. The accused slipped off his grey woolen cowl, peering deeper into the gloom in hopes of spying the speaker...

"A Boogaloo," Tenet said

August, 1685 Port Royal Island, South Carolina "A Boogaloo," Tenet said, glancing up from his near-prone position in the soft, powder-like sand. "I'm almost certain of it." "How kin ya tell?" James Reston, Sheriff of the newly established Stuart Town, spoke quickly but did not move. He...

You should well know the price of the secrets you seek before seeking them

"You should well know the price of the secrets you seek before seeking them," the crone hissed through yellow-stump teeth. "The price may be well more than you wish to pay, Fool. Are you willing to barter with the Wrembhwicce?" The hooded figure nodded curtly. The motion was not one of respect,...

I Am...the Curtain.

I Am...the Curtain. The Curtain Between Worlds. The Curtain and I are one. The Curtain was the very reason for my Creation. I control it. I conserve it. I continue it. I cultivate it. I am Olarus. And now, I am Fallen. This, I think, was not the intent of He Who Was My Master and yet the...

The rising sun kissed the clouds over the Roman city that would one day become known as the City of Lights.

258 A.D. Lutetia Parisiorum The rising sun kissed the clouds over the Roman city that would one day become known as the City of Lights. The subtle roses and salmons that overtook the quickly fading purples and blues of the night were utterly breath-taking. It was as if God Himself was finger...

I don't expect them to understand. After all, I am a living...well, technically, unliving...contradiction.

'I don't expect them to understand. After all, I am a living...well, technically, unliving...contradiction.' Roksana shifted ever-so-slightly, feeling the stirring of the cold winter wind, but not sensing its bite. She stared down the length of the arrow's shaft, still--even after all these...

I woke up face-down in the sand and rock.

Spring, 1963 Dead Man Peak, New Mexico I woke up face-down in the sand and rock. A voice sounded from somewhere over me. "Hey..uh...mister. You alright?" I think I grunted. I was not entirely sure. Tentative, the voice came again. "Mister?" I felt a hand on my shoulder. A hand that slowly,...

Ija the Indestructible

Ija the Indestructible Abhorrent. Abased. "They call me the Hitman of Heaven, and the Hitman of Hell." Bitter. Blistered. "Pain is my bread and butter, baby..." Cold. Calculating. "I'm a rock 'til th' target's locked." Disgraced. Degenerate. "Oh, my how the mighty have fallen..." Killer-for-hire....

"Th' name's Deacon. What's it to ya?"

"Th' name's Deacon. What's it to ya?" the mountain-of-a-man turned as he grumbled, a look of irritation on his face. There was something else there, something other than the petulance at being bothered after a long day's watch. Sadness, perhaps. The vampir opened herself up to the damnable...