Dark Fantasy
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The Simplicity of Joy
List 30 things that make you happy. The letter had arrived with the morning post, its formal seal and academic parchment marking it as correspondence from the Lumenvale Institute of Philosophical Studies. Master Cornelius Brightquill had requested—with the polite insistence that scholarly institutions wielded like finely crafted weapons—that I contribute to their upcoming symposium on Continue reading
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The Ritual of Coming Home
The brass chimes above Matthias Brightforge’s workshop door sang their familiar farewell as he secured the last lock, their melodic notes carrying across the Artisan Quarter like a prayer of gratitude for work completed. Another day of coaxing magic into metal had passed, another collection of commissioned pieces awaited their destinies in the homes and Continue reading
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The Living Depths
Personal Research Log – Day 17 aboard Grandfather GraniteExpeditioner: Professor Cornelius Rockgnawer, Cave Diving Institute of Greater LumenvaleSubject: Preparatory observations for Deep Core Expedition The mountain’s heartbeat woke me again before dawn. Not the metaphorical pulse that poets write about, but an actual rhythmic thrum that travels through every stone surface, every carved chamber, every Continue reading
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When Stone Sings Mercy
Write about a random act of kindness you’ve done for someone. The storm had passed through the borderlands like a living thing, clawing at the earth with rain-lashed fingers that turned the trade routes into rivers of red mud. Gareth Stonewhisper urged his draft horse, Ironheart, along the ridge path that overlooked the main highway Continue reading
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Desert Shadows and Starlight
How would you describe yourself to someone who can’t see you? The sandstone walls pressed close around us in this forgotten catacomb beneath the Spice Merchants’ Guild, and I could hear your breathing change when the last torch guttered out. The darkness here is absolute—the kind that swallows light so completely that even my forge-fire Continue reading
Chadwick Rye 