Revenge of the Iroha
Kai Iroha fastened the cloth belt around his waist. The monkey lifted the dark facemask over his mouth before he crouched next to the window of the guardhouse, studying the palace in the center of the city that climbed into the sky. It was a building...
Litter's Quickening -- an IAL Aside
Litter approached the front counter of the bathhouse, which even for the tall gryphon came up to his beak, making him barely able to see over it. To his right, the scent of the pipe smoke and musk wafted from an open hallway leading inside. Behind the...
Bound Ch.1: The Touch of Another
The ruby red dragon crouched on the balls of his feet. He spat blood onto the dirt floor and, with a groan, stood. Across from him another dragon waited in the middle of the sparing ground. A matching dragoness with a long blade in her hand. Both...
Being Adapted for Life on Hyparssis
Briar Kent nervously twirled their curly, dyed-purple hair as they stood in line for the off-world security terminal. Only a week prior, their phone buzzed with the ecstatic claim Briar had been selected by raffle for the latest colony ship to be...
Scourge No Longer Pt. 1
His scent, a musk tinged with sage, filled Dialdon's nostrils. His voice, a rumble in Dialdon's ears, “Such a good pup. So much more promise than your father." His long, slender fangs, sure as the spikes hammered into a crucifix, descended into...
Becoming What You Wanted Pt. 2
Lilly not Lyle. Stargazer lilies blossomed in voluptuous red and pink blooms. Their luscious petals caught the eye from across the room. That's what Lilly wanted with her transition. To be seen, a vibrant pop of radiance furling outwards. She wanted...
I'll Be Your Everything
That same dream again. He spiraled in a dark space, unable to hold onto anything. An owl, massive and feral, would creep on its legs to him. He held out his paws. The owl spat something gangrenous and awful out into his padded palms. It was his. Of his...
"Always Near My Dear"
A full moon always drew me out on wistful walks. The Tumamoc Hiking Trail wasn't far, and at night the whole, rocky hillside emptied out. I liked that. Just the quiet of coyotes, the occasional brush of air, the sharp chill biting my ankles. I had...
Metal Made Malleable
"Wake up, meat." Ridley's skull pounded; pain lanced down his brow to the end of his sharp beak. His bright yellow eyes flashed open. He sat, hind legs splayed, inside some kind of containment field. Some sort of force field wrapped in shimmering blue...
With No Stars Above Us
Selvanna's nerves bunched in her gut, corkscrewing up into her chest, but Mathus squeezed her fingers. “I'll be right beside you," he whispered as the volume of the assembly outside died down. They waited out of sight, a view of the elders as they...
The Price of Knowledge Pt. 2
One skill Karniel so rarely got to use was his talent for sketching. After waking mid-morning, he got from the men of the camp a sketch pad and some charcoal to map out the insides of the Basphemen's Tower. He sat by a table in Cathka's tent, tea...
Scourge No Longer Pt. 2
The smell of magic, oxidized air after a lightning strike, hung heavy in the clearing where he found Karniel. Something had happened here, and the fact Mathus wasn't with the bat made Korlyon assume the worst. “You just missed him," Karniel said and...