Fantasy

The Hand of Leviathan
White was all around him. White infinite sky above him, a turbulent sea below him that his eyes couldn’t see. A fog, as dense as the troubles in his mind, embraced the boat as a sea monster catching prey.
By Victor Chavarria4 years ago in Fiction
The Smith
Sweat sprayed from the young man’s well-muscled ebony shoulders with each hammer blow, mirroring the sparks cascading from the singing steel he grasped tightly with his forge tongs. Penub wiped his brow, leaving a trail of soot in the wake of his hand. He blinked away the sting of perspiration from his eyes as he placed the steel back into the forge. Once the metal was restored to a white-hot glow, that could even be seen on a bright sunny day like this one, Penub resumed his hammering. The steel obeyed each hammer stroke and soon Penub lost himself in the repetitiveness of his work. When he could get in these grooves, he would become unflappable, and time often slipped away from Penub. Last time this happened an entire day was lost to him as he hammered out fourteen horseshoes, twelve swords and a year’s stock of carpenter’s nails before he snapped out of it. That time the entire day was lost to him. If someone had stopped by the forge to talk with him, he wouldn’t have known or at very least had no recollection of them doing so.
By K.H.A. Wassing4 years ago in Fiction
Guardian
For too long, the forest slept, lulled by the silence of abandoned prayers. No one feared the forest as they’d done before. Only the very old and the very desperate cared to remember what once lived beneath the trees.
By M. A. Mehan 4 years ago in Fiction
Nima and the Human Boy
s an abandoned toddler in the forest. “I really don’t want to do this,” she muttered under her warm breath. Nima didn’t know why her mother insisted she be the one to go collect the offering from the Lake of Sacrifice. It wasn’t her fault her brother decided to be a total idiot and fight a troll when he knew what a little spite from a troll could do to a dragon.
By Nneka Anieze4 years ago in Fiction
When Fiction Becomes Fact
“Miss Olivia, I am obligated to point out that if you keep pacing like that, you will literally wear a hole through the floor.”
By E.J. Robison4 years ago in Fiction
The Secret Of The Zmaj, And Weaknesses That Embolden The Powerless
Several times a week, Jaka hoisted himself up onto the ivy lined stair-rail. Using the small stoop tucked under the fragmented, moss laced balcony - together with the walking stick his grandfather gave him. Making it easier for him to crawl into the thin wired basket on Mata’s tricycle.
By Kelli Sheckler-Amsden4 years ago in Fiction
An Exceptional Experience
MY KIND are not often ones to dwell on past experiences. When one has lived as long as I, and as much, memory will tend towards simplification: isolated incidents may be remembered as one and the same, just as the experiences of one occasion may be recalled with no relation one from the other. Thus, the unremarkable will be forgotten, while the relevant will be edited beyond recognition, upon each biased recollection. Few events are ever remembered just as they were, and yet, dare I say, one might, on rare occasion, stumble upon a moment so exceptional an imprint is left beyond the limits of mere memory —where Time will inevitably taint it. Some experiences are of an essence so solemn, they take root beyond the loose footings of the mind, in the self, where they can remain indefinitely.
By Pablo Mountford4 years ago in Fiction
Of Crystal Flames & Dragon Fire
CHAPTER TWO I stay crouched on the ground for several more minutes, waiting to see if the dragon emerges from the fog again, but it does not return. I stand up and slowly turn in a circle to get a better view. The area to my right levels out to a small plateau and then drops off a cliff into an unknown and foggy abyss.
By Michaela F. - "Hiraeth"4 years ago in Fiction
You Are No Dragon
"What is your name, child?" asked the dragon, smoke swirling within her nostrils and fire burning in her belly. "Iduna," said the small child, round and supple from a diet of milk and honey. She smiled as she bit into an apple with her fresh, white teeth, leaving tiny bites in the golden skin of her favorite fruit.
By Emily E Mahon4 years ago in Fiction
Beneath the Green Boughs
The great monarch drifted lazily on the cool evening breeze, wandering towards the reds and oranges of the sunset. Every flap of his elegant wings brought him closer to that painted sky. As the great orange ball of light descended, he drifted towards his roost in the forest. It offered protection for his kind, though he didn’t think of safety in the way that men would understand. He scarcely thought at all.
By John Moore4 years ago in Fiction
Magic is Thicker than Blood
Gargantuan jaws crushed the direwolf’s skull. Goethmal’s chest rumbled in satisfaction as she swallowed, savoring the crunch of bone. The wolves were not half as tasty as the elk beneath her claws, but they dared to steal from her. With a dexterous tongue she slurped the last of the pack down her gusset. Goethmal roared her dominance relishing the way the entire forest quivered beneath her might.
By Kyanna4 years ago in Fiction
The Rain Maiden. First Place in Christopher Paolini's Fantasy Fiction Challenge. Top Story - November 2022.
A thousand years ago a drought plagued the village of Shan Yu. Not a drop of rain had fallen on the village in three years. Believing Shangdi was angry with the villagers, they danced in his name, praying for storms and rain to fall on Shan Yu. But after dancing for seven days and seven nights, not a single cloud appeared in the sky.
By M. Fritz Wunderli4 years ago in Fiction