Dark
green leafy skeletons
are being born, pushing their
way through the ground, out of the dirt. But are they
zombies or flowers? That is why we must
wait and see what they
are going to eat.
And so it was,
the sun.
"Once upon a time I was dying..."
"Circle"
Dark
green leafy skeletons
are being born, pushing their
way through the ground, out of the dirt. But are they
zombies or flowers? That is why we must
wait and see what they
are going to eat.
And so it was,
the sun.
Dark
green leafy skeletons
are being born, pushing their
way through the ground, out of the dirt. But are they
zombies or flowers? That is why we must
wait and see what they
are going to eat.
And so it was,
the sun.
"Once upon a time I was dying..."
"The Corruption"
I sat in the courtyard of the mage's guild watching the browning leaves drift from their branches. My shoulder ached and tingled but I resisted the urge to scratch at it. The healer magi promised me that agitating the wound wouldn't make the corruption spread any faster as so many claimed, but it would likely make the whole process more uncomfortable.
So I tried to take my attention away from my own dying body and put it on the dying leaves. I had once found them so beautiful, the tumbling colors. When I was a child dancing through the fall forests. My father would tell my sister Daiya and I to find the prettiest leaf we could and the one who found the most beautiful would get an extra slice of apple bread for dessert.
Death was not so beautiful for me nowadays. My father had died long ago when the war had began, and my sister had become infected by the corruption that spread after the fighting had ended. Like so many others I had sought a cure to the darkness taking over our world, and like the rest I had failed. By the time I had returned in defeat Daiya had already succumb.
A story that begins with a ransom note
"YOURS"
dEar frIEnD,
wE HavE wHat You ARe MIssInG.
MeEt us aT The Appliance Superstore
325 15th Ave
Spring View, IL 60033
TUESDAY! nIgHT AfTEr 11pm
WE haVe It
It iS YourS!
A story that begins with a ransom note
"Garrett
Porter, Age 55"
He
remembered first not reacting to the situation at hand, but going into a rage over the
fact that it was not spelled out in cut up magazine letters. He had insisted
they show him the letter, and would not accept their telling him “it doesn’t
really work that way anymore, sir.” He’d read the text of it off a computer
screen, but couldn’t remember it verbatim now. Something about the kids. Didn't he care about the kids? He had them one weekend a month for the past 12 years - although since turning 18, Molly hadn’t come more than a handful on times, but she was paid off now, so he didn’t really blame her). Of course he didn’t
wish anything terrible on them, but he certainly wouldn’t really say he liked them. They were simply his
responsibility (“responsibility” being a synonym for “burden”). And honestly, he wasn’t
a bad father. He never hit them, he never yelled, he never discouraged them
from doing whatever it was they wanted. And, obviously, he’d given them
everything they wanted, ever. It made sense, when he couldn’t show up to Molly’s
high school graduation, that she should get a brand new Prius. And the kids
liked it. They seemed to. They never complained.
Loyalty
"...to the End"
"Where are we now, Faron?" Dry earth crackled under the men's feet. Faron glanced about them and saw nothing but an endless wasteland stretching to every horizon.
"I. . .think this may be 'the shades', my lord." Faron's shoulders sunk at the realization. The Shadelands. After all he had given had he still failed his lord?
. . .but at least he was here too. Lord Inan would not walk the dead highway alone. They could not question his honor so long as he had fallen too.
"'The shades'? I have not heard of that. Last I remember we were cutting down those heathen Falk men on the plains. I don't remember seeing any deserts on the maps, though." Inan continued forward, marching onward even now. It had been that same ruthless ambition that had won Faron's sword so long ago.
Loyalty
"Adopted Sibling"
When we met for the first time, you ran across the field and
gave me your hand
it is nice to meet you, I had said, like a nerd; and so it began
after a few evenings in the field, (when) I soon learned that you were
good
good boy.
When we met for the first time, you ran across the field and
gave me your hand
it is nice to meet you, I had said, like a nerd; and so it began
after a few evenings in the field, (when) I soon learned that you were
good
good boy.
What can happen in a second
"1.855094832 × 1043 tP"
"Um, hi I was just. . ."
Steven froze. The world around him seemed to freeze as well while the one inside of him slipped into panic. His eyes went wide as within him a shouting match was happening between the flight and fight parts of his mind. Neither, unfortunately, was particularly well equipped for this particular situation.
It was the longest second of Steven's life.
100 billion neurons fired 300 times each, seemingly at random, in an electrical storm of desperation. His breath caught in his throat. He felt damp as nearly 2 ounces of sweat poured onto his skin, though a chill shot down his spine. His heart beat twice.
What can happen in a second
"The Story
of Nothing"
Firstly, understand that this is a self-defeating exercise. To describe Nothing, we must use the antithesis of Nothing – something. To even comprehend it, we must understand, which is itself a concept, a thing, a non-nothing. No matter how closely I can describe it, I will never do it justice, because Nothing in a collection of words is as useful as explaining infinity to a rock. The best description would have been to leave the page blank, but as I have already begun with words, so I will continue.
So imagine you are out in space, except there is no space. You close your eyes and see the sort of Nothing that looks like what we might describe as “black” on the colour spectrum. Now realize it’s not like that at all. Instead, there is the clearest ocean. It is infinite – no bottom, and no sky above it. It encompasses everything, colourless, but at the same time it’s not anything at all. It’s an infinity mirror in the middle of this ocean that, no matter how deeply is peered into, shows only more ocean. It’s pure reflection without anything to reflect.
Firstly, understand that this is a self-defeating exercise. To describe Nothing, we must use the antithesis of Nothing – something. To even comprehend it, we must understand, which is itself a concept, a thing, a non-nothing. No matter how closely I can describe it, I will never do it justice, because Nothing in a collection of words is as useful as explaining infinity to a rock. The best description would have been to leave the page blank, but as I have already begun with words, so I will continue.
So imagine you are out in space, except there is no space. You close your eyes and see the sort of Nothing that looks like what we might describe as “black” on the colour spectrum. Now realize it’s not like that at all. Instead, there is the clearest ocean. It is infinite – no bottom, and no sky above it. It encompasses everything, colourless, but at the same time it’s not anything at all. It’s an infinity mirror in the middle of this ocean that, no matter how deeply is peered into, shows only more ocean. It’s pure reflection without anything to reflect.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)