Fantasy
The things never said
In a dynasty of killers, two names stood above the rest—Zhào Bàtiān and Lín Ruòyǐng, generals whose cruelty was spoken of in lowered voices. Beyond the borders of China, their names travelled like a warning. To imagine them face to face was to imagine a blade at the neck—for they were serving to rival states Hán and Zhèng, bloodthirsty for each other, yet fated never to meet on the battlefield.
By Eiman Asif6 months ago in Chapters
Replica
"My darling, I have returned to you." His voice low, masculine, and caressing. "W-What?" I stammer; echoing the perplexity I feel within myself. Searching his features quickly for familiar; voice similar to the seductive charm of past lover. However, this being has silver eyes, so unlike my ex's amber flexed with gold dust.
By Kami R. Taylons6 months ago in Chapters
The Talented Blackwoods Chapter 4
David waited for his aunt to speak. She had been sitting contemplatively for around a minute, stroking the fabric of her luridly coloured skirt, with those irritating bangles rattling away like chattering teeth. They were in what she called her study – a small room at the back of the house, with just one window, across which she had drawn a curtain so they sat in a fake twilight, on hardback chairs, facing each other.
By Matthew Batham6 months ago in Chapters
The Talented Blackwoods Chapter 2
A few days earlier... David Blackwood was eleven when his first short story was published. It was the tale of a talking horse that made friends with a boy and then ate him. It was published in a special booklet compiled by the school, with a comment from a visiting writer that read: This is a dark but well-rendered story.
By Matthew Batham6 months ago in Chapters
The Talented Blackwoods Chapter 1. Top Story - April 2026.
Jason lined up the plastic plant pots along the front wall. Each one contained a lump of earth dug from one of the flower beds in the back garden, and a sprig of green – a nettle from behind the shed, a leaf from a rose bush, a dandelion (although the pretty yellow head had dropped off during transmission from lawn to pot), and a leaf from a shrub that he didn’t know the name of. Each pot had been marked with a price. He’d used his dad’s fat, black marker pen for that. The rose bush leaf was the most expensive – premium, his dad would say – at 4p. The headless dandelion was the most affordable at just 1p. If he sold all four, he’d have enough for the cool monster mask they were selling in Joy’s, the toyshop in Meadow Lane. It was just a plastic thing, almost paper thin. “Won’t last a week,” his mum had said when he’d begged for it the day before. “If you want it, you’ll have to earn the 10p yourself, I’m not wasting my money on it.”
By Matthew Batham6 months ago in Chapters
When the World’s Oil Lifeline Was Threatened
The Strait Crisis: When the World’s Oil Lifeline Was Threatened In an increasingly interconnected world, few events can send shockwaves across continents within hours. One such moment emerged when tensions escalated around one of the most critical maritime chokepoints on Earth — the Strait of Hormuz. This narrow stretch of water, located between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, carries nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. When uncertainty surrounds this vital corridor, the entire global economy begins to feel the pressure.
By Wings of Time 6 months ago in Chapters
