Monday, December 28, 2015

100 Words a Day 757

The sign read “Magical Emporium: Suppliers of all Things Fantastic.”

Ash rolled her eyes. “Really?”

“Unfortunately. Yes,” Iron Fist replied.

“If the proprietor is as insufferable as the name of his shop, I should wonder if I haven’t pulled his spinal column out his mouth before our trip is done,” Ajax said offhandedly.

Hawk looked over his shoulder, the armor was still missing from his encounter with the werebear. “Cut the lip. We need to buy what he’s selling. If you can’t keep from getting hot, then wait out here.”


The wooden door creaked open when he pushed on it.

Sunday, December 27, 2015

100 Words a Day 756

The cell door clanged into the lock. Once the echo died, the only sound was the regular step of the corrections officer returning to his post. Sunlight entered the prison through narrow slit windows, illuminating the grey concrete at regular intervals. Despite being occupied, the recently shut cell was as dark as the others on the bloc, all of which were empty. The prisoner sat on the metal bench that doubled as a bed, unmoving. Now that the officer had gone, the only thing in the whole wing that moved were the beams of light, traveling slowly across the walls.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

100 Words a Day 755

He looked over his shoulder before shutting the door to the laboratory. After bolting it, he pulled the summoning book from where he had hidden it. After opening it to the bookmarked page, he began inscribing the symbols to contain infernal entity.

His teacher was a fool. He knew he was ready to control a demon. The proof, he rationalized, was how easily he had been able to steal the tome from the library and secret it in the laboratory.


He gave the circle and symbols a cursory inspection, sure that the three, detailed checks his master demanded were unnecessary.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

100 Words a Day 754

Hot spittle streamed from the horse’s mouth. I clung to her mane and squeezed her trunk with my legs, relying on her to follow the lead rider. Behind me I could hear the thundering hooves of our pursuers. I chanced a look over my shoulder. The rough men had faces I couldn’t believe. The closest had one high cheek and one low. His eyes were too big for his head. I will never forget the midnight pools of his pupils, trying to suck me into their gaze during my glance backwards. I closed my eyes when I heard him scream.

Monday, December 21, 2015

100 Words a Day 753

The rain came down in sheets, channeled into raucous waterfalls by the forest canopy. Soak to the bone, the warrior continued to stalk her opponent through the thundering dark. She could hardly see. Her sword led the way, pushing aside bowed branches and vines. The darkness was punctuated by lightning flashes. The brief illumination of the forest sometimes showed signs of her quarry’s passing, muddy footprints or broken branches.


Some warrior instinct was all that saved her when the other struck. Without knowing why, she turned and thrust her sword forward, blade pointing up. Another blade clanged heavily against it.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

100 Words a Day 752

I ducked behind the stone, avoiding the fusillade of laser fire that darkened the wall behind where my head had been a moment before. I clutched the Galactic Cube against my chest. I could feel it tingling through my shirt. It was warm to the touch.


I said a short prayer before diving from cover and sprinting for the chamber exit. I wasn’t sure what the Central Authority wanted with the Cube, but I would be damned before I hand it over to them. I retraced my steps through the sunken temple, eventually emerging in the hot, hazy Quotion Jungle.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

100 Words a Day 751

The rough wall scraped him through his cloth shirt. The pain didn’t bother him; he hardly noticed it. He was too occupied by the heavy blows raining down on his battered shield. His arm shook with each jarring impact, leaving his arm was nearly numb. The clanging echoed through the small chamber. In between blows, he threw his shield forward, hitting his attacker in the face, sending him stumbling away. Taking advantage of the brief respite, he tried to gather his breath. The man quickly recovered and charged him anew, but the blows came slower and without the previous enthusiasm.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

100 Words a Day 750


He withdrew his gleaming bone saw from his bloodstained bag and calmly began removing the corpse’s hand. It fell to the floor. He put the saw down and picked up the hand, its smooth, pink skin contrasting sharply with the bulbous purple flesh that covered his own arm. Once it was back on the table, he picked up the saw again and began removing the ruins of his own pink hand. He hissed against the pain shooting through his arm until the final push of the saw removed the last scrap of bloody flesh connecting the hand to his arm.

Monday, December 14, 2015

100 Words a Day 749

The broken lock was the least of my problems. The door opened drunkenly on one hinge. The table in my front room had been upturned. Black dirt speckled with white particles of plant food covered the floor. It intermingled with the dirt were the remains of the pot and the spider plant it had contained. The kitchen was in an even worse state. All the drawers had been shaken out, everything smashed. The mouse cookie jar my mother had given me was shattered. It was the first thing I noticed in the pile of silverware, broken plates, and shattered glass.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

100 Words a Day 748

The dark stain had spread down his entire arm, making it no longer possible to conceal with any ease. Ever on their guard for spread of the Blight, his people would suspect him of falling to the curse if he began hiding his arm. Worse than that though, he was having memory lapses. Eventually, it was impossible to tell when, he would forget everything. His skin would become liquid darkness, and he would serve the evil that had cursed his people. They considered this a fate worse than death, driving them to short, reckless lives to avoid their collective doom.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

100 Words a Day 747

“Come on!” a man shouted. I saw him wave his arm and then sprint for a door. I didn’t notice the shots that continued to ring out behind me as I followed him. I remember thinking at the back of my mind:

I hope he knows the way out.

I had never been to the Cliffport office. It was huge compared to ours and all looked the same. A few other people followed him too. He led us through the maze of grey cubicles and neutral-toned rooms until we finally burst out of the building, but we didn’t stop running.

Friday, December 11, 2015

100 Words a Day 746


They looked up at the mountain, imagining spirits of the craggy peaks staring down at them. The spirits, if they noticed, or even existed, did not make their presence known as the travelers began their ascent. The trail was well worn, having been part of a trade route in ages past. Heavy stones had been used to mark out the winding trail through the mountains. Where the rock they passed was rainy grey in color, the stones of the path were red. Imported from places unknown, the rock had been made shiny by the weathering of many feet and rain.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

100 Words a Day 745

The shadowy thing that had been his father floated behind him, silent until it saw the mark.

“Soon,” it whispered.

The elf’s face contorted in anger. He yanked his shirt down over the dark stain.

“No. I’ll never be like you,” he said defiantly.

“Your fate,” the shade responded.

The elf growled to himself. Turning sharply from the dark thing. He donned his boots. After a final look in the mirror, acquired at considerable expense, he was ready to step out. The penumbral form that had been his father watched him leave from force cage in which it was imprisoned. 

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

100 Words a Day 744


The relaxing of gun ownership laws without an accompanying emphasis on responsible ownership resulted in fewer crimes and an increase in accidental discharge injuries. There was an additional, unexpected consequence. The casual armed robber rapidly disappeared. He was replaced a criminal possessing considerably greater low cunning. These individuals, finding themselves in a world where the majority of the populace, that is to say their prey, was armed, changed their tactics to be decidedly more lethal. They continued to prey on individuals in remote places. However, unlike when risk of armed resistance was low, victims were simply murdered and summarily stripped.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

100 Words a Day 743


The orange cat clambered up the narrow tree and jumped from a branch onto the brick wall. Its furry feet made no sound, scampering along the smooth, cement top. It was warm from the summer sun. The cat froze when it heard a bird chirp in a nearby tree. It scanned the dark green leaves, seeing the bird deep within the foliage, near the trunk. After brief consideration, the cat continued on its way. The brick wall ended at a sloped roof of black shingles. The cat leapt lightly and landed on the roof, but slid on a loose shingle.

100 Words a Day 742


The size of the derelict hulk was difficult to comprehend in deep space, empty of any scale. Whatever had destroyed the ship had left a debris field surrounding it. Navigating the field wasn’t challenging; the debris orbited the hulk at a languid pace. The danger to anyone trying to reach the titanous ship was the maddening influence of the corpses that that were floating among the broken structure or hanging out of the remains of the crew quarters and duty stations. Some of them showed faces ruined by the catastrophe. Others had faces frozen in the terror of impending death.