The happiness I clung to blinded me to her absence. Dim, flickering lights suffused the moment with a ghostly breeze, and I surrendered to it. The atmosphere thickened, every barrier dissolving with the seductive mist. My mind shifted to the problem unfolding before me. Did I do something wrong? The instruments kept playing, mirroring the ...

The music I had waited for all night finally played: her voice. Fireflies and lunar moths made their appearance, presents of the Mother herself, matching the perfect tune of the crickets. Although I felt the danger of losing her was gone, my mouth went dry. “Is there something amiss?” She spoke for the second time.  ...

Our troupe of younglings played and sang diligently as we crossed the towering wooden gates. The stone courtyard greeted everyone with icy facade, covered in green cloak, as the passage behind us slammed shut. Torches hung from the inner walls, and candles adorned the path that led deeper into the patio. The atmosphere was majestic ...

Even though I continued talking with my parents as if nothing had happened, my mind was churning with thoughts, and my throat was aching to speak. The conversation with Ji-Ah left a powerful impression on me. She made clear that the Great Mother had been listening to my prayers. Was that why the Late Sovereign ...

As the second song ended, the village exploded in cheers. The younglings were too busy catching their breaths, and there I stood, trapped under the Rainbow Mage’s gaze. Those eyes, dark as the night sky, had powers beyond my comprehension — my whole body yearned for her, and the surrounding world no longer mattered. She ...

“Shut up, you loud bunch of hungry monkeys!”  Elder Shu yelled at the top of his lungs, waving his cane in the air. Those who had experienced the Solstice covered their mouths with their index fingers. My parents, like the other adults, whispered for me to be quiet and leaned against the walls to clear ...

I finished my bath and hung the damp towel on the fence outside, a signal I was ready for the evening’s preparations. A few houses away, Frederik copied me, draping his towel over a fence. He was about my age, with reddish-brown eyes, thick blond hair, and more scars from wild beasts than anyone could ...

In ages long forgotten, chaos loomed before the Great Cataclysm. Machines, wielded in human hands, bound society with invisible chains. Through these devices, a collective consciousness emerged–an agent for mischief and deceit. War erupted across the four corners of the Earth. With each passing second, death and hunger claimed more souls. The next phase of ...

That day, an unfamiliar face stood in the butcher’s shop. A tall, rounded man with a trimmed beard and two emerald green eyes sold her the pork shoulder. Belle stood behind the counter, watching the world play out outside the shop windows. The silence stretched between them. Sounds from outside the building echoed in the ...