Fantasy
Stories Before a Wedding, or The Fairytale of Beauty and the Beast
Once, a long time ago, it was custom that on the night before wedding all the married women of equal Rank and status would gather around the bride in her chamber. While helping put the finishing touches on the bride's dress and trousseau, the women would take turns telling Tales of their great Romance and own marriages. This served two purposes: these stories taught the bride what she could expect from her own marriage and wedding night, and it also served as a history of these women and their stories. The most romantic Tale and the woman who told it would earn the right to give the new bride away into her married life. Now, in most cases, naturally the bride's mother or grandmother or some favorite cousin would quite easily be announced the winner and told how their story was such an inspiration to the new bride. In this way, weddings passed from mother to daughter, matriarch to descendant, and the women’s stories remained alive and aided a new bride in preparing for what was to come.
By Dionearia Red11 days ago in Fiction
Captain Michael and the Horn of Logan
“I am King David the Magnificent. The Great and Powerful. Ruler over all that is in front of me, all that is behind me. All that is to the north, south, east, and west of me. Why have you come before my great presence? Make your request now. If it sounds pleasant to my ears, I might consider granting you your request. If not, you will be fed to the lions.”
By David E. Perry11 days ago in Fiction
Family Obligations Chapter 3
Memories flowed back as Cole walked down the corridor. He'd had good reasons for leaving, but he couldn't deny that he had some good memories, too. He found his feet moving automatically towards his father’s quarters. Even before he left, his mother had had her own quarters, but he knew she wouldn’t be there now. She’d left not long after him and he had no idea where she was now. But that was not his concern right now. He was here for his father.
By Reb Kreyling12 days ago in Fiction
The Guardian Chapter 4 Learning the Truth
It had been five years since Alexander and Leo had their encounter with the Cthulhu and thirteen years since the Beast Masters and their living dead army, known as Jikininki, killed his parents and decimated his hometown of Tranquility. Since Draco the Dragon had rescued him from a pack of hungry Dire wolves and brought him to the Citadel to live, he had grown from a five-year-old child to an eighteen-year-old on the verge of adulthood. He had studied hard and mastered every challenge Actus and the other elders had presented. Now, he was through with all the double talk, the evasive tactics, the “You’ll be told when you're older
By Mark Gagnon12 days ago in Fiction
The Adventurous Button Thief
Bodkin, the button thief, had known a comfortable, solitary life since she settled in the walls and empty spaces surrounding the Spindle Glow Crossing general store some years ago. The store seemed new then, with sawdust in the eaves, and sticky tar still oozing through some of the roof slats, all long gone now. The Tranquil Forest is infiltrated with fairies and all manner of oddkins, with a font to their realm allowing free travel between the two.
By K.B. Silver 12 days ago in Fiction
The Fletcher
There wasn't any work that day, so I was perfecting my foot dangling when the ugly kid knocked. He does that quite often, especially because he has such trouble telling the bloody doors in the inn apart. The candle's lit, mind you, where that ugly kid is concerned, but the light is dim.
By D. J. Reddall12 days ago in Fiction
The Star That Followed Her Home
Asteria noticed the star on Thursday. It hovered just above the horizon when she left school, brighter than the others, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat. At first, she thought it was a drone or maybe a weather balloon catching the sunset, but it moved when she moved—sliding along the sky as if tethered to her shoulder.
By Alexandria Hypatia12 days ago in Fiction
Cui Bono
“This heist won’t work.” By Fredrick’s estimation, the look of bewilderment painting the face of the priest across the dingy tavern table didn’t make his statement any less untrue. To avoid his partner Grander’s inevitable stomp, Fredrick kicked his boots onto the table.
By Matthew J. Fromm13 days ago in Fiction
The Duelist. Top Story - November 2025.
The rays of a dying red sun flashed against the onrushing blade. The grey beards say the key to dueling lies in size, speed, reach, righteous fury, whatever the person in front of them pays them to say. Matteo knew better than any it was none of these and had an undefeated record on these sands to prove it.
By Matthew J. Fromm13 days ago in Fiction
The Littlings
Rebecca was a woman, regardless of how she’d look to you. A tomboy grown up, she had long accepted she struck many as, in a word, “butch.” Thick, square, and barrel-chested, Rebecca absent-mindedly chewed her nicotine gum in wide, obnoxious, exposed openings of her mouth, stimming as she glanced down to her van dash-holstered phone displaying directions; she couldn’t hear her music with the text-to-speech on. Thankfully, for pedestrians and other drivers, she wasn’t long pulling into the driveway of that morning’s client; Janet Frost of 108 Glengreen Estates.
By Conor Matthews13 days ago in Fiction
Escape Heaven - in 3 easy steps.
Jemima had always imagined Heaven as a place of eternal serenity, a perfect realm where golden gates swung open to reveal glorious meadows, where angels strummed harps, and the purity of the heavenly air smelled like freshly baked celestial cinnamon rolls.
By Antoni De'Leon13 days ago in Fiction
