“Well,” Gwendolyn Bottlehelm said, to break the silence, “glad that’s over.”
A nervous chuckle rippled throughout the shop, and its patrons scattered once more. Story time was finished, it seemed. Continue reading “The Storm, Part Four”
Author: Jordan
The Storm, Part Three
“I think I’ll stand, actually,” Donovan said. Linda offered a wary, almost parental look as she joined the increasingly-uncomfortable onlookers.
“Very well,” Keel replied. There was a righteousness to his posture that was not often present. Typically Keel seemed the pious sort who might travel from town to town, tending to the sick and praying for the dead, asking nothing in return. Now, he looked as likely to pray for Sol to immolate your impure soul as to shine upon your crops. Continue reading “The Storm, Part Three”
The Storm, Part Two
With Bagel successfully stabilized, the atmosphere of Odd & Ends followed suit.
After some more arguing, complaining, threatening, and more than one person storming out into the storm, rendered invisible by dense precipitation before they made it twenty feet from the shop, the store began to quiet some. Beds were placed, displays were moved, food was arranged, and angry discomfort gave way to bored discomfort. Continue reading “The Storm, Part Two”
The Storm, Part One
The Church of the True Believers was perhaps Skymoore’s most magnificent building. The humble cathedral, made from pink, yellow, and blue crystal, stood alone in few acres of well-kept grass and flowers, but the light of Sol reflecting off the building seemed to fill the space around it, granting it a presence bigger than its physical form.
It was here that Keel Dal Everwind arrived at sunrise every single morning, and it was here that Keel Dal Everwind spent most of his day. He worked here, he ate here, he socialized here. It was here that Keel met his first love, composed his first song, ate his first pesto sandwich, and did so many other things that gave his life meaning. Continue reading “The Storm, Part One”
Boundless Imagination
Like most dwarves growing up in Barlagtelen, Boundless Imagination had three parents. There were home parents, Hansel and Petro Lagarban, her two fathers who had adopted her when she was just a baby, and there was Hilda Silverspine, her guildmother who instructed Boundless Imagination in the ways of tinkering, fixing, and building since she was could swing a hammer. Continue reading “Boundless Imagination”
Bad Faith, Part Nine
Aftermaj storms were a matter of serious concern in Skymoore, but they were rarely so disastrous as they could be. Sure, things blew in the wind, caught fire, and collapsed, but the random acts of magic – disappearing floor, randomly-summoned spirits, people suddenly existing in several places simultaneously – only affected those who weren’t careful. Because, you see, magic had a way of respecting boundaries both natural and constructed. Continue reading “Bad Faith, Part Nine”
Bad Faith, Part Eight
Kelsie was waiting beneath an overhang across from Karessa’s home.
“You look like a drowned kitten,” Karessa said.
“I lent you my umbrella.”
“About that…”
“I assumed. So where do we go?”
“I thought you were the mastermind here.” Kelsie crossed her arms. “Teasing. The spell is amplified by music, so where do you go around here if you want to make some noise?”
“Well shit,” Kelsie said. “We’d better get going.” Continue reading “Bad Faith, Part Eight”
Bad Faith, Part Seven
Dingleob Boelgind spent two nights a week with his grandmother, Ponifka. When kamenclo grow old, the magic that keeps their stone bodies in a humanoid form weakens and becomes erratic. One might grow additional limbs, crumble to the floor, or become a tasteful vase. Ponifka Boelgind mostly became a stone wall separating her living room into two halves. This would sometimes last for hours. It was challenging, and Dingleob’s time and support meant the world to her. Sometimes he read to her, sometimes they just talked. Sometimes the said nothing at all. Every time, it was pleasant. Continue reading “Bad Faith, Part Seven”
Bad Faith, Part Six
The plan was simple, or it would be once Karessa got inside the Dufton’s mansion. Their estate was protected by an invisible magic field which produced an alarm if anyone not on the family’s guest list stepped through it. The only other way in was to be granted entrance by the pair of stone-faced guards (literally, they were golems) which stood watch over the gate leading into the estate’s extensive courtyard.
Unfortunately, Karessa was no longer on that list. The news stung. Continue reading “Bad Faith, Part Six”
Bad Faith, Part Five
Few things burn quite so hot as young love. Few things claw at you quite as painfully as young heartbreak.
Karessa spent her days and nights in her room. Crying, mostly. Sobbing. Howling. Thrashing. Bleeding out as tendrils of despair tore at her heart. Screaming his name into a pillow like a cry for help into a void in which she dwelled alone. She hated him. She missed him. She wanted him back. She wanted him dead. She wanted to die.
Time passed. Continue reading “Bad Faith, Part Five”
Odd & Ends 