Fantasy
Destiny Whispers P2
This follows "Destiny Whispers P1" Edith continued through the streets of Avonar heading towards the tall and imposing walls that encircled the city. She found her way there easily, she had enjoyed coming up to the walls as a child to look over the city and out towards the golden fields of wheat that filled the countryside.
By Tomos Jackson2 years ago in Fiction
A Solstice Crown
Even though my life was crumbling around me, for whatever reason all I could think about was my Gran and her stories. She always had a way with words, knowing precisely what to say to get a child's imagination turning. She had often told me the story of how she and my grandfather met. It was during the Saint Jonas's festival, a tradition on the summer solstice in which the young women would sing songs and dance, with the end of the festival being marked by putting their handmade, flower crowns into the river. Your crown floated down the river, and the young man that caught it was supposed to be your true love. Gran had difficulties getting hers to cooperate, though. Every time she placed it, it would only float a few meters. That was until it came to my grandfather's feet. He helped her by throwing it into the middle of the river. But the crown had already found its mark, and true love bloomed between the two.
By Viktor Žaltys2 years ago in Fiction
Summer Solstice
In the medieval town of Salisbury, a revival of an ancient solstice ritual has unveiled an unexpected power. As the townspeople gathered around the daunting pillars of Stonehenge, a palpable energy coursed through the air; the ancient stones hummed with a low, resonant vibration. Amidst the gathering, a young girl named Lucy stood with her parents, discerning a strange sense of belonging she couldn't quite explain. She had persuaded her parents to take her to Stonehenge for the summer solstice as it was the only time the rocks could be touched.
By Oliver Millward2 years ago in Fiction
What is dark energy?
The whole universe can be seen as a window that peeks through the veil of obscurity and reveals only a small portion of the invisible world at a time. That, together with the stars, planets, and galaxies, are only the visible tip of the cosmic iceberg. So not only this dark matter is the essence of the universe, but it remains hidden from our direct assessment because it is in the subsurface level.
By Galaxiesbuzz2 years ago in Fiction
The Desert of Dimensions
Chapter One: The sand stretched as far as I could see, the sun surprisingly mild for a land so devoid of life. But it was not the temperature that made the land so barren and uninhabitable. Five lightly-armoured soldiers trudged through the sand with me, all bearing the symbol of the King of Eraenor on their chest-plates, cracked and dented. I had led the team of scouts through the wasteland, a band of veterans the King sent on a vital mission so far South. We were hundreds of miles beyond the Southern front lines, and further still from our homes. I hand-signaled a stop, the men immediately dropped down onto the sand. The dunes were as large as hills, and twice as steep — good for cover, bad for moving. The ravines between the dunes were deep enough to be cool and shadowed at the bottom, but water was nowhere to be seen. I pushed my head closer to the sand. A group of people ahead, especially rare fauna for these parts. "Einhart!" One of them called. The sign. "Tavern!" I called back. The countersign. Of course they were part of our platoon. Humans were precariously endangered. They were Rain's group, I realized. Rain had joined the Kings Army with me some years ago, had been in my adventures party beforehand, and was speculated to be an unarmed monk before that, due to his refusal to speak. He was a thin, wiry man of fair height, windswept and dusty at the best of times, incredibly reliable and inventive. The cloth trick bag over his shoulder contained all kinds of bits and baubles that exploded or melted, cured and enhanced. Any trick for any pinch, it seemed. My squad stood up and moved to meet them, soldiers from each group searching each other for wounds, looking for missing people. There were less than fifty of us so far from home, it was us against the world. There were no supply lines that stretch out that far on this operation directly sanctioned by the King. Even the men who had quarrels with each other had set them aside in favor of working together. The constant fear of death in a largely unknown land is a real motivator. "Anything?" I asked Rain, the other team leader. He shook his head. Rain is a mute, a fact he made up for by being one of the best fighters in our company, especially with bow and arrow. "The only thing alive out here is us. This place is a deadland." Catcher spoke for him, a stout swordsman older than both of us. Trust him to start brewing some sort of alcoholic swill if we stop anywhere for more than a week. I never figured out where he got the ingredients. We call him Catcher because he seems to get an arrow stuck in him in every major battle we fight. We are not a particularly sensitive bunch. "Alright, let's head back to camp. Jace is waiting on our report." Rain nodded and formed up his group behind mine, two-man column style. Out of nowhere, the clear sky cracked and opened up as it began to pour rain impossibly. The sky was so seemingly sunny and devoid of clouds until the lightning flashed. Somehow it changed the sky and massive grey clouds cover the landscape like pulling a play curtain. Don't ask me about the logic of this land, I don't think there is any. I looked to the men, began fussing over this or that like a good Sergeant. "Keep your spacing. Tomlin, tighten up on the left flank. Fox, bow ready on the right side." "Expecting trouble?" Rain communicated with a system of hand communication I had learned in his days adventuring with Jace and I. "Just a bad feeling." I signaled back. Something about that desert made me feel like an ant in a sandbox, like something massive and terrible was looking down at me from the cosmos. My mind just couldn’t justify why the weather was so different there than our homeland not five hundred miles North. What made it that way? Something in the lightning? The clouds?But I had to keep my cool for the rest of them, lest panic spread. I opened and closed my hand a few times, thumbing the rune cut into my palm to calm myself. Though we might've been prey by the laws of nature, I reminded myself we were prey that fought back, as we had so many times before. Orcs, Minotaurs, vampires, humans. Eldritch Horrors beyond our understanding. I couldn't say we'd won every time, but we were all somehow still alive through some sly trick or another. Or perhaps just the comedic timing of fate. To the right of the column, thirty or forty miles to the North-West, more lightning flared around a group of mountains. It was distant enough I didn't worry much, the lightning appeared thin and weak, nothing like the grand bolts that leveled mountains every once in a while and set entire forests ablaze at once. It struck furiously at the dark granite mountainside, like fingers trying to catch a hold. Fragments of rock exploded where it hit. "Hey! Did you see that?" One of the men pointed something out about the lightning. I cat hear what he's saying over the thunderous downpour making its way towards us. Lightning in the South comes in long streaks that appear to come from beyond the clouds. With a huge planet such as it was, the sky was proportionately sized. Astronomers had often said we were the largest planet ever sighted by telescope, through magical instruments or otherwise. The invisible clouds overhead were typical rain clouds, grey nimbus clouds. Above them, on a bad day, lay the larger grey and black clouds that spout hurricanes and lightning. The bolts come from far up in those clouds, and strike with concussive force where they hit. "Again! There!" Yelled the same man. Several others hushed him, annoyed with his contradicting energy. But I thought I saw, just for a moment, a humanoid figure in the lightning. Chapter Two: The massive sandy-yellow dunes started to recede in favour of low grasslands as we moved farther East, and were permitted a cool breeze for the first time in weeks. My neck cooled nicely as our mounted column of fifteen made its way through grass perhaps never stepped on before by a living creature. Our third scout, Roman, took the lead. Though not a tracker, but his navigation skills were unmatched. He spent time sailing as a merchant, where he learned to read stars and charts. Not only that, but he boasted a near perfect memory. I'd have him look over Tomlin's map when it was done. Our other scouts Copper and Hunt followed close behind him, watching the sky for giant birds, lizards, or other terrors that would make short work of us fine gentlemen. A younger and quite skilled Corporal by the name of Fox walked ahead of me, his bow attached to the front of his saddle ready for quick use. The yellow-brown sheen of the wood shimmered dimly in the morning light. Tomlin was the smallest of us, both in height and mass. He was also the youngest in the platoon at sixteen years old, though he'd been in the Kings Army with us since he was fourteen. A sword and shield made up his arsenal, the shield a hand-me-down from his fathers days in the military. I didn't like putting him on the frontlines when I could help it, but I needed his mapping skills. Anyway, he had to learn sometime. After riding in silence for a moment, Roman sniffed deeply. I raised an eyebrow, look at him quizzically. I was too aware of my own stench to bother sniffing much myself. "Smells like... Salt." Passing some grassy hills ahead gave us a clear view of the largest water body I've ever seen, the same coastline as Eraenor but far deeper South. The cloudless sea extends out of sight, maybe forever. My guess was there wasn't enough time left in my lifetime to make it to the other side. The thought bends the limits of human comprehension. Not even in decades of sailing would a ship reach the other continents some claimed existed, or anything but a few squat islands and rock pyres. There is beauty in the unknown, but also great danger. The leviathan beasts of the sea would devour a ship long before it made it even a year into sailing. My perpetual headache went away momentarily, and the dull feeling in my stomach loosened up. My heart told me I'd lived this scene by the sea already, and I felt closer to the memory then ever before. My head told me I'd never been further from that place, and, most likely, would never see it again. Sometimes in the depths of ones own mind a man can find solace, with no regard to time or space, no limit to imagination. I closed my eyes for a moment, and lived a previous life. One smelling of the scent of lavender, far away from the bad things in the world. Celestia, what the hell did I get myself into? — — — -Two Years Prior- Year 878, Month of Harvest. Outskirts of the City of Callesus. Farmers toiled in the coloured fields, and the air around me bore the scent of cooked pumpkin pie. Soon the trees would lose their leaves and the weather would turn cold. Soon I'd be back on the job. My mind was elsewhere, for once. I pawed my collar anxiously --- when was the last time I'd worn formal attire instead of a combat uniform? I couldn't recall. The get-up had cost me almost a month's salary, but it would be worth it in the end. The winding path took me to the source of the pumpkin smell, a small farmhouse on the edge of a primeval forest wrought with massive-growth trees, mushroom circles, the whole lot. I spent a portion of my childhood here after my uncle was employed elsewhere by the King, and I found a job guarding a certain Baron's daughter. Some of the fields were bare, rotating the crops to allow for the soil to regain its nutrients while others sprouted corn, wheat, and barley. I passed a scarecrow on my way to the house, rocking gently with the breeze. The trees around the fields did the same, giving birth to an ambience of rustling leaves and the chirps of birds, ravens and song birds fighting for acoustic dominance. If there were sights like this on the Southern frontlines, or the Western frontier colonies, or the Northern ice fields, there'd be no wars. I knocked on the front door. A face looked through a side window, followed by excited footsteps before the doors burst open. A slightly older women with grey hair stood on the other side. She was covered in what looked like cooking attire — an apron and slippers and the works. She wore a broad smile radiating warmth and surprise. I bowed curtly, entirely sure I looked ridiculous with my stiff soldier posture.
By Justin Coccimiglio2 years ago in Fiction
Summer Solstice
A dormant power was rediscovered in Eldergrove's ancient solstice ritual on the longest day of the year. Eldergrove was hidden in a lush valley surrounded by ancient forests. As a result of a discovery by town historian Eliza Hawthorne, an old, weathered manuscript detailing the Solstice Awakening was rekindled.
By Christina Barger2 years ago in Fiction
Shattered Trust
In the heart of a small village nestled among the rolling hills, two best friends, Lily and Sarah, shared a bond that seemed unbreakable. They grew up together, confided in each other, and faced life's challenges side by side. However, beneath the surface of their seemingly perfect friendship, jealousy and betrayal lurked. One fateful day, a handsome stranger named Mark arrived in the village, capturing the attention of both Lily and Sarah. As time passed, it became evident that Mark had developed feelings for Lily, causing a rift between the two friends. Sarah's jealousy grew as she watched Lily and Mark's relationship blossom, overshadowing their friendship. Driven by envy and bitterness, Sarah devised a deceitful plan to sabotage Lily and Mark's relationship. She spread malicious rumors, manipulated situations, and planted seeds of doubt in Lily's mind. Slowly but surely, Sarah's betrayal began to unravel the once-strong bond between the two friends. As Lily's trust in Sarah wavered, the truth behind Sarah's actions came to light. The depth of Sarah's betrayal shattered Lily's heart into a million pieces. The pain of being betrayed by someone she considered a sister cut deeper than any knife could. In the end, the village whispered tales of the betrayal that tore apart the friendship of Lily and Sarah. The once inseparable friends were now estranged, their bond irreparably broken by envy and deceit. The village learned a valuable lesson about the destructive power of betrayal and the importance of honesty and loyalty in any relationship. Betrayal leaves scars that may never fully heal, serving as a reminder of the fragility of trust and the consequences of jealousy. Lily and Sarah's story became a cautionary tale of how betrayal can poison even the purest of friendships, leaving behind a trail of heartache and regret. I hope you find this short story about betrayal compelling. If you have any specific preferences or would like another story, feel free to let me know!
By Novita Sari2 years ago in Fiction
Masterpiece Of Two Souls
oursereselationshiptor Once upon a time, in a bustling city, two souls crossed paths in the most unexpected way. Emily, a free-spirited artist with a passion for painting, met Daniel, a reserved architect with a love for structure and design. Their first encounter was at a local art exhibition where Emily's vibrant paintings caught Daniel's eye. Despite their contrasting personalities, Emily and Daniel found themselves drawn to each other's uniqueness. They started spending more time together, exploring art galleries, attending architecture events, and engaging in deep conversations about life and creativity. As their bond grew stronger, Emily and Daniel discovered a deep connection that transcended their differences. Emily's spontaneity brought out the adventurous side of Daniel, while Daniel's calm demeanor grounded Emily during turbulent times. Their relationship blossomed into a beautiful partnership where they inspired and supported each other's dreams. Emily's colorful imagination complemented Daniel's structured approach, creating a harmonious blend of creativity and logic in their lives. Through ups and downs, challenges and triumphs, Emily and Daniel stood by each other's side, facing the world as a team. Their love story was a testament to the power of acceptance, understanding, and unconditional love. In the end, Emily and Daniel realized that their relationship was not about changing each other but about growing together, embracing their differences, and celebrating the beauty of their unique connection. And so, Emily and Daniel's love story became a masterpiece of two souls intertwining in a tapestry of love, creativity, and unwavering support, creating a bond that would last a lifetime. I hope you enjoy this relationship story! Let me know if you would like any more stories or if you have any specific preferences.
By Novita Sari2 years ago in Fiction
The Sonic Garden Revolution: How Acoustic-Responsive Plants Are Transforming Urban Landscapes
In the heart of thriving metropolises, an innovative transformation is taking root. Imagine strolling through an urban park where plants respond to the city's rhythm, their leaves moving not just with the air currents, but to the soft murmur of conversations and distant traffic. This isn't science fiction – it's the forefront of sensory horticulture, poised to revolutionize our interaction with nature in urban settings.
By Jeff Hutchings2 years ago in Fiction
Crossroad. Content Warning.
A tree stands alone at the end of a long and winding road. It marks the end of one journey and the beginning of others. Before its twisted, ancient trunk, the road splits in two, the only place since its beginning when it had done so. To one side or the other, all travellers must go.
By Alexander McEvoy2 years ago in Fiction
Tales of Ardia: A Song of Light. Runner-up in Summer Solstice Challenge.
Balkar felt as though the ground melted away beneath his hooves as he leapt into the air. Hand extended above his head, reaching to its limit. Satisfaction tingled in his stomach as his hand made contact with the ball, an old tent skin wrapped tightly with a rope. He grabbed it firmly with his fingers and drew it down to his navel where his fleshy skin started to grow hairy and merge with the chestnut pelt of his horse-like legs.
By D.K. Shepard2 years ago in Fiction
