Fantasy
The Perpetual Echo
Elara adjusted the shimmer-weave fabric of her coat, the chill of 23rd-century Reykjavik biting through the advanced material. The city hummed with autonomous vehicles and bioluminescent architecture, a stark contrast to the dust-choked streets of her last landing. She’d promised herself this time would be different. No lingering, no allowing herself to feel the familiar pull. She’d observe, record, and then jump.
By Morgana Steele8 months ago in Chapters
Shadows in Velvet - Part 5
The night of the final masquerade came dressed in crimson silk and dying stars. Verashtel glittered under moonlight, its towers painted in the colors of influence, peacock greens, mourning purples, blood-velvet reds. Gondolas drifted over the black-glass canals, their oarsmen silent, their passengers masked and magnificent. From balconies, laughter spilled like perfume, thick with tension, too bright to be sincere.
By Richard Bailey8 months ago in Chapters
Shadows in Velvet - Part 4
The underground chamber beneath the House of Ambrith smelled of rose ash and old metal. Torchlight flickered off columns carved into laughing faces, hundreds of them, smiling, grimacing, leering down as if mocking every step the trio took.
By Richard Bailey8 months ago in Chapters
Shadows in Velvet - Part 3
Rain traced the curved windows of the Skyglass Hall in thin silver lines, casting wavering shadows over the ballroom’s polished floor. Outside, Verashtel’s highest spire moaned faintly in the wind, but inside, the laughter was too loud, the music too sharp, and the masks far too fixed. Danger lingered beneath the perfume and poise.
By Richard Bailey8 months ago in Chapters
