CrystalElmTree

The time indicator stars beeping and a flicker of blue light starts swirling inside the wast space of the sphere. Both Roonians let out a little whistling sound out of their antennas. When the blue light finally solidified into a sapphire colored cube, the female Roonian pressed one of the 'Accept' buttons on the command table of their living room.

The portal opened and their youngest offspring appeared all smiles, his little antennas shaking with excitement.

Both Roonians felt the pleasant sensations filling their vessels. Though trained not to give much importance to these sensations, both of them had to admit their sphere looked strangely empty without their little Argf with them.

The

'Marvin, seriously?' He looked up from the brand new silver lap top that looked like a space ship in contrast to my shabby kitchen.

I dropped the pile of books I brought and rushed to close the door before Ralph escaped.

It was strange how staring at him for no matter which amount of time gave absolutely no additional information about him. He was a deity with an undefined number of years, height, wight or any physical characteristic. Sometimes I stared at him, partially to annoy him and partially to try and figure him out but the moment I looked away you could hold a gun to my head and I couldn't tell you a single thing about that man – except that he was a deity.

'I really would like if

part 4 here

It was dawn when we rode in.

I used to love this silence in Reagelar when I was a child. I'd sneak out of the castle and seek forests outside the walls to wait for dawn.

Now the silence felt hostile.

Reagelar was the capital city of Helegard – it's Heart of Gold as people called it, where golden apples grew and our brave kings lived. Even there was not a soul on the narrow cobbled streets to vitness my shame I knew there were archers on every tower watching their dead brothers we will bury this eve.

Freya never suffered the burden of presence of her siblings for too long but I kne

'Can I have another one?' I waved and the waiter glanced at the little collection of empty shot glasses on my table.

I'm not a drunk, you see, but I'm not very sure what am I...most of the time.

The waiter arrived with my drink and when he placed the tray down to pick up the empty glasses I noticed the tattoo on his forearm. Black, winding lines were snaked around his wrists like they were binding him to the world of the dead.

'For the brave who fell for Ruen,' I whispered tossing back what was left in my glass.

The tray slipped from the waiter's hands and clattered down on the table.

When I looked up he was staring at me, his eyes in line with mine.

'How many men have you lost?' He as

I never thought death would be this beautiful.

I would know – everything that ever has grown I saw it dying. Stars and kingdoms, eons and empires, all of them perished before my eyes like a fistful of sand. I saw them rise, flash like a fire in the sky and return to the dust they became from.

After more than six thousand years I thought death couldn't surprise me anymore – not until I saw her beautiful azure eyes.

Once, I was a knight.

My sword had a name and there was no man living that didn't fear my wrath. I rode first to every battle and all I saw of life was the rise to glory of my king and my army. There was nothing more for me.

Six thousand years ago this world was different. We

'You ready, Breus?'

Neo's soft voice is already morphing into the screeching sound of a parrot.

I hold my breath for just a second – waiting with anticipation the moment when his big bad ass warrior's body shifts to his parrot form.

A soft thud brings a smile to my face. Neo always says it has something to do with abrupt shift in body mass and gravity and so on and so on, but it really makes my day when he thumps on the floor and then hopes I didn't hear the sound of his disgrace.

'Nice landing,bro!' I call from my 'divination room'.

'I regret saving your neck when the second destruction of the world came!' I hear Neo screeching into his beard or feathers or whatever. When I enter the r

part 1 and 2 here

part 3 here

The ceremony began and all I could do was look at Freya replying to greetings of lords and barons with graceful nods worthy of a queen. Freya was my sister, the closest of my kin, but I made my peace with the fact she was the craziest being that ever walked this earth.

I was present the day father expressed his doubts about her taking the throne in case Sebastian chooses to stay with the Elves. He told her compassion was one of the most importan

Part 3

'Protect your Prince and the Fates will smile upon you?' Mikel turned to me. 'Why is our Mage so considerate?' Mikel kept looking over his shoulder even we were well away from the castle. Our mage had his ears everywhere.

I grinned. 'Because saying the dooms of Hell would swallow you could be taken the wrong way considering delicate political situation we're in.'

Mikel laughed. The rest of our soldiers were too close to continue this conversation. With my father, the king, missing, the kingdom suddenly became a fair game between the forces of light and darkness.

'You know what they say about the old Mage?' Mikel tried to lean closer but his horse was afraid of Phobos. Every singl

Part 1

'Damien!' My mother, queen Bellona, called me with the firmness in her voice that usually denoted disturbance.

Mother was one of the fiercest beings I've even encountered; her life just as her reign was a spectacular show of bravery and devotion.

Now, I was starting to learn that even her courage sometimes faltered and even her devotion sometimes strayed. Thirty years ago she had to choose a side but now, with her husband, the king of Helegard missing and hordes of Reapers sneaking outside our walls we were all aware how our ties to the dark side soon might be our only way out.

'Damien!'

I skipped the last two stairs almost face-planted in front of our sovereign.

'Where is your

The day I entered this house was the day the doors of magic opened to me.

I was seven years old and I was holding one shabby ear of my yellow bunny Carrot oblivious of the adventure the two of us were about to embark on.

Mother says she can't remember how we found the add for the house or where we found the money to buy it. She also doesn't remember how and why we moved from Arizona to here and my father swears he can't recall where he worked before he found the job at the antique shop, here on the corner of the street.

I believe them.

Not because I'm a credulous person but because I also have this strange feeling how my life, before the moment I crossed the threshold of his large, creak

My name is Robert. I am thirty seven. I work for an IT company. I have a wife Sarah and a dog Jasper.

Today, I can't find anyone who can confirm that.

It all started a year ago. Sarah brought home some book about lucid dreaming, and I decided to give it a go, just like I tried the watermelon diet, waking up at 5AM and charcoal face masks.

I'd try anything – once.

It took us a while before we got the knack of it but once we had – man, that was something else.

I'd woke up so hyped up about life it felt like I've been on the greatest adventure of my life and slept for the five solid days – all in one.

Since I'm a gamer, creating a setting was never a problem – something Sarah struggled wi

There were no words left in the world.

No. More. Words.

I was the only human who still spoke human language. Any language.

Now I was sorry I didn't pay attention to the French lessons in school. I knew I few swear words in Italian because of Paolo who lived in apartment 4 and that was it.

All those gems of literature, centuries of history and all the scientific advances perished in less than a month.

And now the entire heritage of the entire damned civilization was depending on my being faster than those pointy-eared bastards.

That's a lot of pressure and I don't handle pressure very well.

That was one of the reasons I didn't leave the house.

I knew exactly something like this would

'Do not touch me!' She hissed, the green of her eyes burning with unspoken curse.

He pulled away, clutching the sword in his bloody hand.

The Priestess smiled to herself. Even the Norrem brutes retreated before the magic of old.

Before they left the temple, Mother said she shouldn't give in to fear but she still insisted Lahor brought her blade. The power of Beli priestesses was known in all seven kingdoms but only a few were brave enough to approach the temple.

Lahor couldn't remember she ever heard of a mortal men speaking to one of them, let alone trying to touch them.

The warrior was gazing at the stars, bright moonlight painting the forest around them in silver. He reached for an a

'Be careful, Whisper,' I heard the members of my tribe in the space around me.

I was of age. After hundred and twenty cycles of watching my cousins hunt and hearing my mother whisper the incantations I was finally allowed to make one.

The gentle breeze felt like a caress through my feathers and I unfurled my wings further to feel the blessings of the Early Winds.

The cycle had just begun on Saeri and felt like like all the voices of the Gods of old were whispering my name.

I dug my fingers into the soft clay of the soil, crimson sky above me reflecting in my eyes. I felt the power surging trough me but still, the warning was still present around my – the collective mind of my tribe that

I was having my lunch when the alarm went off.

Whomever decided that 'Cry me a river' was a good song to announce an emergency obviously never thought about the mental state of the staff.

But doing my job for the last ten years have taught me one thing – being moderately miserable every day kept the paradepressor away.

That was me – I made people miserable on purpose so they wouldn't explode.

'Dr. Blue,' Diana had her tablet ready, 'we must hurry, the patient is critical.'

I nodded, biting one more piece of my chicken sandwich before I skimmed through the data.

Diana was in charge of gathering the information about the patient we could use in a emergency. Since the information were mos