Dark Fantasy
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The Weight of Hours
Apprentice Mage Tobias Quillheart blinked slowly at the manuscript spread across his desk, the candlelight wavering just enough to make the carefully scripted runes seem to dance on the parchment. His shoulders carried the pleasant ache of hours spent hunched over his work, while his mind bore the deeper satisfaction of breakthrough achieved through stubborn Continue reading
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The Ritual of Words and Steam
The brass kettle sang its familiar song as steam escaped through the delicate spout, filling Magistra Cordelia Inkwell’s modest study with the rich aroma of Northwood coffee beans. Five-thirty in the morning, the same time she had risen every day for the past twelve years—early enough to claim the world’s silence before Lumenvale began its Continue reading
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The Architects of Air
Master Crystal-Keeper Celeste Windwright knelt beside the massive Levitation Core at the heart of Nimbustown, her sky-colored eyes reflecting the ethereal glow that pulsed from within the twelve-foot crystalline structure. Each throb of light corresponded to the steady rhythm that kept their floating island suspended three thousand feet above the earth below, but today the Continue reading
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The Echo of Names
Aldwin Thornwright paused in the doorway of the Chronicle Tower’s genealogy chamber, his breath catching as he read the inscription carved into the stone lintel above: Here lie the names that echo through time, each one a thread in the tapestry of memory. The morning light filtered through crystalline windows, casting prismatic patterns across rows Continue reading
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Ink and Wonder
The evening light filtered through the tall windows of the Lumenvale Daily Chronicle building, casting long shadows across Edmund Silverquill’s cluttered desk as he leaned back in his worn leather chair. His fingers, permanently stained with ink from two decades of column writing, traced the edges of the letter that had arrived that morning—another piece Continue reading
Chadwick Rye 