I – Summer On Vai I should have chosen speechlore, I thought as another gust of wind whipped snow under my hood. Folklore would have been an excellent choice as well. Perhaps mathematics, or meteorology. Only a few months ago, I had been more than content with my specialization. After several weeks in the frozen monotony of the Asundrian wilderness, however, even the history of Hishan arts struck me as far more appealing. My research intersected with a variety of disciplines, and Iluma Aator – the Serpentine Academy’s oldest and most prestigious house of learning – was renowned for its wealth of mentors in every field a scholar could ever want. I therefore found myself confronted with an almost impossible…

My stomach rumbled as we approached the edge of the woods. It was nearly midday, but I hadn’t eaten in hours. Supply troubles and nerves had left me with little food and next to no appetite. A combination that was less than ideal heading into my first taste of combat.   Pa always told me war was nothing like the heroic tales I read about when I was young. He had fought in the Battle of Bad Axe back in ’32 and said that he had lost a piece of himself somewhere in those Wisconsin woods. A piece of himself that he knew he would never get back. But despite his many warnings I enlisted in the army anyways. Being the…

As I wandered through the park once more, walking towards the circus, I could feel a sense of dread boiling from within me, it felt as if a thousand eyes were watching me, staring into the back of my soul as I wandered towards what felt like certain doom, the feeling of fear and despair only growing as I saw the big top tent in the distance, and saw the abandoned trailers that seemed to surround me from all sides, with crates and hay bales stacked against them. I could feel myself shaking as I moved forwards, moving closer to the tent. but then I stopped. Looking closely, lying on top of one of the crates, was a rusted, old…

People who have never had to do it seem to think it’s unfortunate to have to work in a diner. I didn’t think so when I worked there. At least it wasn’t unfortunate at first. I had a lot of fun working there because the people I worked with were great and our customers were very nice. It’s a small town, so usually the people are pretty nice compared to the city folk who stop in from time to time. I would say it was one of the most enjoyable jobs I have had, but that sentiment only carried up to the point where it became a nightmare. The owner of the Diner was Dave Madison. He was also the…

Every school has their little weirdos. Some more than others, but us weirdos gotta stick together. Back in the fifth grade my buddy Tim got a lot of shit. Not like the kid dressed weird or anything, but he was just the kid that had a target on his back. We’d be out in the field flying around in space ships or fighting off a mob of samurai. He was the best at playing swords and stuff though. The kids never messed with me though. Only him for whatever reason. Tim was my boy though. We looked after each other. Well, mostly me looking out for him, but someone had to. Most of the kids couldn’t understand why I was…

There was a new payphone in town, at least if you believe what some anonymous conspiracy theorist had posted on the internet. Someone on the local paranormal forum had posted photos of a payphone which, to be fair, was in fairly decent condition, and they had insisted it had been installed recently. More likely than not, it had been there for decades, and neither the poster nor anyone else had noticed it until recently. I’m pretty sure the only people who pay those things any mind anymore are kids who genuinely don’t know what they are or what they’re for. But the poster remained quite adamant that this particular payphone was a new addition, his only evidence being some low-resolution…

Demons Of Various Description Ever since the caravan had reached the Unamur Mountains, the climate had become as irksome as the company I kept. Every day, a disgusting heat came with sunrise. Cool days were also rare in Dishare, therefore I hadn’t expected it would bother me when I set out on this journey. However, I soon learned that the mountainous stretch of the Cursed Road was plagued by a different kind of heat; dry and draining. The silken canopy of my palanquin could as well not have been there as the little shade it provided did nothing to alleviate the sensation of being burned alive. The mere act of breathing was akin to sucking sand into my lungs, and…

As I sat on my couch watching a movie on the television, I found it difficult to concentrate. The noisy neighbors upstairs were at it again. I’m not sure exactly what they were doing, whether they were moving furniture, playing football, or tag. Who knows? All I know is that it was a considerable amount of noise and it needed to stop. My roommate mini came out of her room, frustrated, “Uggh!” she exclaimed, “They’re at it again?” “Yup,” I said, rolling my eyes and pursing my lips like an attempt to show my disdain for the man-made thunder we were again experiencing for the third time today. “I really want to go up there and tell those fuckers off!”…

Deep in the core of a dull, lightless city, a man sat alone by a fire. He didn’t know how long the world had been like this, he didn’t remember what it was like before, He only knew that he woke up to this one day. From what he could remember, Just faintly in the back of his mind, the world used to be filled with other people, other faces, but after days of wandering, months of searching, there was no familiar face to see. For now, the only company he had was the fire, and a few cans of beans to dip stale crackers in. From what he could tell, the world had been like this for centuries, at…

Chapter 5: Devoured by the Sands of Time   Requiem rested his claymore against his shoulder before walking over to the crumbled beast. He scanned the chamber to see a vast emptiness accompanied by the mountain of corpses and himself. Requiem turned to the mountain seeing it was his only path.   He spent days climbing the mountain of bodies with the hope of seeing something from the top he had failed to notice before. He scanned the chamber once again from the top until he felt the bodies under him start to slide down. Requiem staggered on the top of the mountain trying to catch his footing, but the bodies were being sucked in straight down the center of the corpse…