“How exciting it is to travel.” He thought, curling up in his hammock. “How wonderful it is to be home.” It was good to be in his own bed.

He stared for a moment, understanding dawning on his face. “Oh. ” He turned back to find the door closed behind him. “You know that moment when something you couldn’t understand suddenly clicks into place?” He tried the knob. “Well I finally figured it out.” Urgently. “Why I should be scared.”

Lava chicken: it’s spicy

A polyglottal strix has been stalking you. You hear it muttering to itself, alternating languages as it struggles to catch your scent.

The wise man smiled apologetically. “I could not bring the mountain to you, so—“ He was interrupted by a catastrophic boom. “I could.” Said the golemacher. “It should be here soon.”

Wasn’t there three?

Shrines are often marked by growths of hiderangeas, huge stands of dark flowers that absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity to run the shrine’s defenses.

If you follow the creek south from Main Street, there’s a dungeon under the Park Lane bridge. Until 1997 it could be opened with the Song Of Secrets, but local cuckoo birds learned the melody and now it can only be opened with the Magepie Key.

Abner regarded the tiny Thesean House with its pulsing ghost lights.

The children of the forest must never leave its borders. If they do, they’ll die. Yessir, outside the borders of the forest they barely last seventy or eighty years

The M727 Donor Buzzard hovers over the battlefield, seeking organs to harvest for infusions. Although technically medics, they’re universally hated and attacked for the morbid display of medical cannibalism.

As you’ve run your route, something has been wrong all day. Your Deja vu is so unbearably strong You see the boy. He is the only one off script. He is bleeding. But there is a look of determination in his eyes He’s going to try again. Alright, one more yesterday. Then maybe you can face tomorrow.

He frowned and looks at the cookie. “I’m scared. I know how this fight ends for me.” He looked at you sadly. “But I don’t get to know how your story goes.”

If you calibrate your karma just right, say by doing mostly the right thing but being very passive-aggressive about it, you can achieve a horseshoe orbit

It’s running down a long hallway. As it gets closer to the exit door and the light there, its shadow gets bigger and more terrifying. That’s how shadows work. Yes. That is a perfectly rational thought. No reason to fear. You still wish you could undo these handcuffs, though.

Walking on dunes at night, you spy something, bobbing out at sea. A life preserver, all orange and yellow. And there, floating on the Silent Sound, is the Kokovoko. And there, on the horizon, is the tower

The ghost ship Kokovoko sails on treacherous waters. Across whirlpools and shallows. Over reefs and under storms Some think it’s to lure ships to their doom. Others think it’s to rescue the souls of the drowned I’ve seen the ship. I know what pursues it, and what treasure they must never plunder

Each planet in the solar system is a level in the dharmic wheel. Behave well enough and your spirit will ascend onward, to Mars. Behave poorly and you will be punished, drifting down to Venus, or Mercury. Hell is real, and it’s located somewhere between the photosphere and the corona

“Kill the troll. I need his ribs for a project.” Sneered the artificer. “Don’t kill the other two.” “Why not?” Asked the brigand, who had unexpectedly found himself fighting for his life. “Because I don’t need them dead?” The artificer sounded puzzled.

The Ranger took off her boots and walked carefully, dragging her feet through the grass. Suddenly she stooped, grabbed a handful of leaves and plunged her knife into the soil. She pulled a struggling thing out of the dirt. A mandragora with its mouth sewn shut, wearing a little key on its neck.

The vampire hunter moved through the club like a grim kabob, leaving only a choking wake of dust. With their haunt cleared, he steels himself for sunlight and disappears, off to find another vampire den. The dust sussurates in the breeze: “is he gone?” And “anybody got some blood?”

Music to play as you watch your reflection fall off a skyscraper

There’s a wrench golem in the parking garage at work. So, good news: your car is engine is going to get tuned up every day. Bad news: you probably shouldn’t keep more than a gallon of gas in the tank

The skeletons regarded him with baleful eyes, as he realized the true gravity of what raising them had meant As long as their bodies were alive, their souls were here, shuffling around in the dirt This is why necromancy is so dangerous. The dead do NOT like schlepping back to the living lands

This is the Forest of Thought. It is easy to get lost here. This the Lake of Reflection. It is a place you end up while lost in the Forest of Thought. And there, under the surface, under the roots, lurking in the deepest places of that lake are weird and strange fish… The School of Thought

Microfiction - Moral Compass

“We plant trees under whose shade we shall never sit.” The detective turned the card over. “You find anything else?” there is a gentle clatter as corpse’s hand falls open and an acorn rolls across the floor

Go to the Tower Archives. For every concept the Tower understands, it has a file that summarizes that concept. Don’t open a drawer for too long, though; the longer you look the more detail it renders. QUERY_THE_ARCHIVE? [y/n] <reply here to query>

The barbarian librarian The Lorelord

You hear a tiny tinkling, and in the darkness you see a weak flicker. A fairy, trapped in a dusty bottle, pounding on the glass. When she sees you, her aura flashes to life, illuminating the dungeon and revealing a cobwebbed, armored skeleton, half crushed by a fallen pillar, reaching for her.

Picnic Pete found a treasure trove in the dungeon. Cautiously, he levered open one tin can. “Apple sauce.” He dropped the can opener and reached for his spoon. Consumed with eating, he didn’t notice that one of the cans had spoiled, and was now, with his can opener, trying to lever itself open

She stared at the rising moon and hated him a little. She’d been alone for most of her life, and that was fine. She hadn’t had a problem being alone. Until him. His absence was the first thing that had ever made being alone feel lonely

“You can hate me all you want, but I’ve known me longer. You’ll never hate me like I do.”

It was a story where you could see the end from the beginning. you didn’t want to spoil it. But you probably should have looked

“It was a simple request, and you didn’t do it.” The golem considered her impassively. “I am sorry. I thought it was a request. I can tell from your tone that it was a command.” The golem rose and returned to its task.

Vampire Mire is home to many bloodsucking monsters. Moscazos, Bleeches and Nervous Ticks are just some of the hematophages that lurk in the murk.

Dog Crates are a kind of canid box mimic, originally invented to dissuade porch pirates. Careful when picking up an innocuous package, their spring loaded boxing glove packs a wallop!

The giant birds of the Sargasso Sea supposedly wear magical accessories which greatly increase their strength, allowing them to lift even elephants. These are their Roc Flair

He shared something he loved with people he loved. They didn’t have to love it to see him sharing was an act of love. And he wasn’t disappointed when they didn’t love it. It just meant he got to clean their plates

That’s the crazy thing about your time on Earth. It’s hard to imagine it ending because it seems like it’s been happening your whole life

She wanted a white knight But he was a new moon

“Hey babe. I’m going through some stuff and I can’t talk right now. I hope you have a great day and I’ll talk to you tomorrow, ok?” He laid down his phone, and took a deep breath. Hopefully she’d understand. The full moon was almost at its apex.

Simon says: disobey this order

The worst part of healing Was feeling sorry She wasn’t there to hurt you any more

Don’t ask what this creep is up to

Rip Van Reaper and the ghost of Shipments Passed

Crookoo steal birds nests and use them as mobile shelters, the nestlings riding along on their head

Orbit birds build their nests on drones. The constant movement makes it hard for predators to steal their eggs. Their nesting song is pretty distinctive—“koo ba dee dee, koo ba dee dee”—and soldiers learn to listen for it. Orbit birds still cant’t recognize kamikaze drones.

Riding your bike through the gravel pit, you notice a piece of gravel resembling a nose. “Neat!” You think, and pocket it. Riding further, you find a piece like a big toe. “Cool!” You pocket it, too. A door slams. Better hurry. Ol Lady Medusa hates trespassers.