Adventure
Man of the Plains, King of the Jungle. AI-Generated.
The sun blazed over the wide, open plains where Aarav, a solitary wanderer, roamed. A man of few words and hardened skin, he had spent years drifting from village to village, helping where he could, living off the land, and answering to no one. The plains had taught him everything he knew—how to survive, how to wait, how to fight, and most importantly, how to endure.
By Adnan khanabout a year ago in Fiction
The Prince and the Honest Girl
A long time ago, there was a young Prince who wanted very much to find a wife. The Prince wanted his wife to be beautiful, but much more than that, the young Prince wanted to marry an honest girl whom he could trust. One day, the Prince decided how he might find such a wife. 'There will be a competition,' he said, 'and all of the girls in the village will be able to enter.' So the girls of the village gathered to hear the Prince speak. They were all very beautiful, and all very eager to marry the handsome Prince. 'I know how I will decide which one of you will be my wife,' declared the Prince. 'I will give each of you a flower seed, and the one who grows the biggest and most beautiful flower will be my bride.' Each of the girls took a seed and promised to return the following month to attend a festival at which the Prince would choose his bride. The festival would be a great celebration, and the whole village would attend so that they might see who would become the Prince's bride. The month passed quickly and the day of the festival soon arrived. There was food and music and much celebrating and anticipation among the villagers. Each of the girls arrived in turn, each with her flower in a small clay pot, each flower more beautiful and more luscious than the last. But one girl, a shy and quiet girl from the village, arrived with nothing but a pot of sand. In the middle of this pot was a seed but no flower. The girls with their beautiful flowers said to her, 'Why have you come when you have not grown a flower from your seed?' The villagers jeered and laughed at her for not being able to grow a simple flower when the other girls had done so well. 'How is it that you have grown no flower from your seed?' They asked her. Suddenly the villagers fell silent. The Prince had arrived and it was time to choose his wife. The Prince examined all of the flowers and remarked how beautiful they were. And each girl was sure she would be chosen as the Prince's bride. But when the Prince stood before the girl who had nothing but a pot of sand, he said to her, 'You shall be my bride.' The villagers were very surprised, but the Prince spoke to them, saying, 'I choose this girl because none of the seeds that I gave were fertile. I had boiled them and so they could not grow into flowers. These other girls must have replaced my seed with another so that they could grow these flowers and deceive me, but this girl is the honest one and so I choose her for my bride.' That very day, the young Prince and the young girl were married and the whole of the village celebrated into the night, and they toasted the marriage of the Prince and his honest bride.
By IRSHAD MUHAMMADabout a year ago in Fiction
"Ashes & Embers"
In the forgotten edges of the world, where the veil between realms grows thin and the stars hang like secrets, there stood a village bound by silence. Hollowmere, they called it. A place of still winds, old curses, and people who knew better than to stray into the woods after sunset.
By Huda Yusufabout a year ago in Fiction
''Elara of the Wildwood''
They say the forest has a heart, and that once, it beat inside a girl. No one remembered how Elara came to the Wildwood. The oldest of the forest spirits whispered she was born from starlight and thunder, left on a bed of ferns the night the moon vanished from the sky. Others said she was a child of prophecy—one who would wake the Wildwood when it slept too long.
By Huda Yusufabout a year ago in Fiction
The Artist in the Desert
There was a fighter plane that had crashed in the Sahara Desert during World War II. The pilot was alright, but all his surroundings were nothing but dusty sand and a hot sun. No food, no water. Nothing but a bottle of water and dry crackers.
By Rohitha Lankaabout a year ago in Fiction
Letters from the Border
The first letter came on an unusually quiet morning in October. Colonel (Retd.) Arvind Mehta, sipping his cardamom tea in the courtyard of his home in Amritsar, turned the envelope over with curiosity. The handwriting was neat, the paper scented faintly with something floral—unexpectedly gentle for a letter that had come from across the border.
By Md. Siyam Bishwasabout a year ago in Fiction
At 40, I Finally Learned How to Be Happy
Turning 40 was a revelation. For years, I chased happiness like it was a destination—something I’d find once I had the perfect job, relationship, or bank balance. But when I hit 40, something shifted. I stopped running and started embracing a quieter, deeper kind of joy. Happiness, I learned, isn’t about getting everything right; it’s about redefining what matters. Here’s what changed to make 40 the year I finally cracked the code on being happy.
By David Andrewsabout a year ago in Fiction
The Christmas Caller: A True Crime Thriller With a Chilling Twist
I was sixteen when the first call came. It was Christmas Eve, and our small suburban home glowed with festive lights. Snow dusted the windowsills, and the scent of cinnamon cookies filled the air. My parents were laughing over an old holiday movie, but I had slipped away to my room, already growing out of the holiday magic.
By Muhammad Sabeelabout a year ago in Fiction
