Top Stories

Stories in Fiction that you’ll love, handpicked by our team.

Why the Stars Shine and Why the Moon Changes Shape.
Once upon a time, but not so very long ago, in the history of our land, in the Dreamtime, there was no day and night. The sun rose and set, but the moon was much brighter, and there were no stars.
By Natasja Rose3 years ago in Fiction
Wanderings Stones
It is said long ago in a time when Gods walk the earth a great lake nourished the land of Timbisha Shoshone. It provided nourishment, peace, and prosperity to the people of the land. The Timbisha people grew in numbers allowing them to gather and form great cities. One day the God of Obsession visited the Queen of Timbisha Shoshone and granted her visions of the Empire she would erect from the dust. Every night he would visit the Queen filling her head with the expansion of her Empire beyond the great lake of Timbisha. In time the Queen turned mad and became obsessed with the idea. She made it her life pursuit of turning her visions into reality. She wanted her kingdom to become the capital of the world and in her madness, she enforced for subjects to erect the tallest structure the earth had ever seen. Her mind became fogged and her eyes blind. She could no longer distinguish her own blood from the commoners she had enslaved and forced them all to work. But to make the construction possible she needed stone, water and mud. She ordered to have the beautiful flourishing mountains crumbled into stone blocks, the crystal-clear waters of the lake polluted and dried out with the production of mud. In time the plants died out and the animals, which the Timbisha people depended on for food moved away. The once fresh and cool breeze that danced between the branches of the trees had turn into a murderous heat. The trees that provided the life-giving shade had been replaced with the merciless scorching sun. Yet, her eyes remained blind to the truth and remained focused on the lies of obsession. Behind her back the people would plead to the Gods asking for salvation against the tyrant she had become. The Gods didn’t care to help the Timbisha people until they had learn that it was the God of Obsession, whom had planted the vision of corruption into the Queens head. This angered the Gods greatly sentencing them to their punishment. The Timbisha people were allowed to exodus from what used to be their homelands. The Queen and the God of Obsession were imprisoned under the baking dust of what once was the magnificent lake of Timbisha Shoshone. Even though they are both long gone, incarcerated in the eternal prison he still fills her head with obsession. It is said that her obsession is so great that she has managed to convince the wind to push the stones across the floor of the dead lake. For centuries the stones have wonder across the lake searching one another. Even though the stones have crossed paths many times, they have never come together to erect the structure the Queen so deeply desires.
By AGB3 years ago in Fiction
The Spyglass. Runner-Up in Mythmaker Challenge.
The Spyglass, Or Myth of the First Orphan The house stands strong despite its sandy foundation. Miles of digging had yielded a layer fit for the necessary starting place. Now, level with the dune runoffs, a patch of grass frames the boundaries of what had become possible in such a wasteland: an oasis, home to an eccentric hermit and his flower garden. He tends to it now, frail spine comforted in familiar bend, spade in hand. A forgotten smile tugs at his stroke-afflicted mouth, but an intensity circles his irises, evidencing the internal battle to rediscover just a memory or two.
By Mackenzie Davis3 years ago in Fiction
Impression That I Get
Challenge #1 Sweet Summer Song: Pick a song that represents summer for you. Use the song as the title of your piece, and to inspire either a poem or a short story/micro fiction about summer. Feel free to use some of the song's lyrics in your piece as well. So what does summer feel like for you? For the main James & Oneg Summer Writing Challenge Extravaganza, click here.
By James U. Rizzi3 years ago in Fiction
Songs In Our Heads
It all began on that Monday when DJ Mayhem Mike from the local radio station ended his morning broadcast talking about a study that was recently announced where researchers found that when you have a song in your head on any particular day it means something about how your day will go. For most people it will only be two three lines of a song that keep repeating itself.
By C. H. Richard3 years ago in Fiction
Mother Nature's Lost Child
“I was a rabbit today, Mommy,” Chlora proudly announced, as she jumped into her mother’s arms for a welcome hug and presented her with a fresh picked bouquet of wildflowers.
By Cathy holmes3 years ago in Fiction
At the Crossroads of All the World
Josias attempted to stare straight ahead in a line that crept along at a miserable pace. He hoped that no fellow traveler recognized that the Wakeful One perched on the sandstone cliffs above his head was there for him. That it had been tailing him since he had embarked from Elath three days ago.
By LJ Pollard 3 years ago in Fiction
Yours, Nick. Honorable Mention in You Were Never Really Here Challenge. Content Warning.
Watching as the unmarked drone flew away, anticipation made Spencer’s fingers tingle. He loved getting mail so much that he was one of the only people he knew who still regularly sent or received letters. Several of his friends happily engaged with him in this hobby, one even going so far as to get them matching fountain pens and traditional letter paper as a Christmas present the previous year.
By Alexander McEvoy3 years ago in Fiction
The Very First Spore
Deep within an ancient forest sat a large pond surrounded by life. The water was kept crystal clear by fizzing oxygen plants, that bubbled clarity through the water. Rounded stones sat at the bottom giving frogs a perfect hiding place to kick from and newts swished with the fish happily away from the passing webbed feet of the ducks coasting by.
By ThatWriterWoman3 years ago in Fiction
How Snakes Lost Its Legs
My family and I are pure blooded snakes; We’re the originals. My Dad told me that when I was just a boy. I carry those words with me as I hunt through the jungle. I hide in the shadows of the tallest grass, and I wait for prey to crawl past.
By Real Poetic3 years ago in Fiction
When The Land Was Flat
To my son, whom I will tell a great story. My father told me, you will tell your son when you are older. It was an excellent time for the Giants and many tribes of them. They were said to be upwards of fifteen feet tall and towered into the clouds. They were living in the flat lands and lived peacefully for a while. Each took care of their own and respected the other's territory. Each tribe had a great leader that kept control of the lands. They farmed with seeds the size of man today. Their fields were vast, with giant crops that almost reached the sky.
By Sarah Danaher3 years ago in Fiction
The Myth of Twins Amu and Sy
I've taken a creative license on one of the ancient myths about the origin of Amu Darya and Syr Darya, the most important rivers in Central Asia. In an old Turkic language, "darya" means "river." Both rivers start in the high mountains of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan and are fed by numerous small rivers, glaciers and spring rains. They run through Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, hugging the Kyzylkum and Karakum deserts and falling into the Aral Sea. As both rivers are extensively used for power generation and irrigation, the Aral Sea is rapidly disappearing and is considered to be one of the largest human-caused ecological disasters of the 20th century. On the map below, the original sea (Aral Kum) is marked in light yellow, and the blue on top of it is what remains of the sea today.
By Lana V Lynx3 years ago in Fiction