Historical

The Dragon Hide
There weren’t always dragons in the valley. Lyra, holding back a swathe of brambles for her customer to squeeze by, hoped that today she would be lucky and there would be lots. She needed the money. And she’d already seen Jonquil heading up the steep ravine a way ahead of her with two or three followers of his own, making decent progress.
By Kate Mitchell4 years ago in Fiction
Aria
“Damn broad…” he mumbles while holding his stinging cheek. Even if I had stolen her stupid jewelry, it wasn’t worth enough to hit me for it…. I shouldn’t have run out before grabbing something to put on my cheek… *shrug* Oh well, sweet justice will make all the pain go away in no time. Adam Walker’s shoe scuffs along the dirt & grass and dislodges a pebble from the soil. It bounces off a nearby root and returns to block his way once more. This is the manner in which he heads off to his secret meadow in the nearby woods; a short stop while on his way to find the true culprit. He’s got all night, so no reason not to take his time and make a pit stop to sulk for a bit.
By Kasia Love4 years ago in Fiction
Flash of Lightning
A glacier of fog lumbered down the mountainside, freckled by the tall pines which raised their heads to the constant downpour of Scotland. Inside the tavern though, the air was filled with a different smoke, the kind that developed from the hearth and men’s pipes as they drank their pints and argued over clan issues.
By Ashley Maureena 4 years ago in Fiction
Masque of the Black Death. Content Warning.
Once upon a midnight dreary, as I sat lonesome and weary. I thought of all the events of the night before. My deepest fears now confirmed that I was to blame, of all the ones who have gone the same way before. Carrier of the disease, survivor that I am, immunity a blessing and a curse. On the day of Hypomone, the fall of Constantinople and the death of Constantine XI, so we celebrate the birth of the helpful, Ruin of the twenty first year. With décor and aesthetic of the macabre, beauty and of fear.
By Raine Fielder4 years ago in Fiction
The Silence in the Hills
There weren't always dragons in the Valley. The legend of Pelchor is a story told through the centuries to all young boys and girls. Throughout the country of Maal, children would learn of the chaos and devastation that Pelchor inflicted on the northern territories. A dragon so large it would partially block the sun as it flew through the sky. Fire from deep within so hot it was said to come from the depths of hell itself. His eyes a mixture of black and red, like they had been stained by all his victims. However, the most terrifying aspect of Pelchor is that he was never found to live anywhere, and that no one had ever found his remains. The attacks just stopped. The community of Tyran came together to rebuild their homes and their land, but without any trace of Pelchor, the threat of his return was ever present.
By Ethan 4 years ago in Fiction
HER HANDS #11
Installment 11 Chapter 5 Scenes 45-50 After their meal, the women returned to the damaged men and resumed the care that was to become a patterned routine over the next several weeks. Not only for Sarah and Joan but the other nurses and aides as well, observing which initiatives and responses succeeded or failed, sometimes miserably, while soon learning that previous experience was not determinative for any subsequent interaction. And yet, patterns could be discerned and the discernment was greatly aided by the women sharing their experiences with the others, reflecting on the significance and efficacy of their endeavors. They discussed what relief they were able to provide the suffering men but also how they were withstanding the grueling twelve hour shifts of tedium which ah been re-established, their frustration, dissonance, discord and occasional mayhem.
By Ed Burke4 years ago in Fiction
Prologue - Florence, April 1378
"Life is a hard and weary journey towards the eternal home for which we look, or if we neglect our salvation, an equally pleasureless way to eternal death." Francesco Petrarca
By Ian Pike4 years ago in Fiction
A Kobold, Summer 1899
A Kobold, Summer 1899 Ahead, he could see the mouth of the mine, a dark and forbidding void incised into a moon-whitened wall of rock. Now that he was here, he found he was afraid to enter into its daunting maw, though not from concern for what creatures - fox, wolf, bear, or mountain lion - might be lurking inside. As he had climbed the narrow path from the town below he had persuaded himself that the smell of the men who had been working there that day would keep such predatory animals away. Nor was it a childish dread of the dark that halted him momentarily; of the unnameable demons darkness could conceal. During his climb, with the accompanying echo of every step, the possibility of being followed each of those echoes had contained, he had gradually come to lose the certainty of his enterprise. He still did not know if it was a good thing or bad, where it might lead.
By Ian Pike4 years ago in Fiction
The Falcon's Son
There weren't always dragons in the Valley. As he wiped the sweat from his brow, Tekem’s eyes lit up. His grandfather was about to tell him the story of the serpent dragons, which was his favorite.
By Prateek Dasgupta4 years ago in Fiction
Lee Jin In "Orange, Peeling"
The second-story man turned out to be… a woman, of substantial temerity and aptitude. Not only was she able to determine, in the darkness of a mid-October night in 1937, the exact fire escape, and floor, of the room she was intent upon infiltrating; she was able to sidestep the unwelcome attentions, both benign and hostile, of neighbors and cops alike. Until she was not.
By Eric Wolf4 years ago in Fiction
Planting the Seed
Alexander the Great could not believe he found himself in the company of the Amazon Queen, Thalestris. She was a legend and he had half-believed she did not exist at all, but here she was before him. They had gotten into such a weird, non-stop flow of chit-chat, one topic to the next as if time itself stood still. Days had passed in an instant.
By Jennifer Thomas4 years ago in Fiction
Vitus
I. Mad Dogs and Romans The only thing hotter than this infernal Judean hillside was Captain Vitus’ temper. And the moment the crazy Rabbi called Jesus said something stupid enough to deserve punishment Captain Vitus would be on him faster than a hot wind from Egypt. Jesus was wasting Vitus’ time and costing him a lot of money.
By Stew Redwine4 years ago in Fiction