short-story
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The Price of Dawn
What sacrifices have you made in life? The sacrificial bowl sits before me, obsidian surface drinking what little light filters through the stained-glass windows of my tower. Crimson petals from yesterday’s ritual still cling to its rim, withered now but no less potent. I trace my fingers along the ancient symbols etched into its base—symbols Continue reading
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Born to Command
The banners of House Vyren snapped in the crisp morning breeze as Taelan Brightshield strode through the gates of Fort Ironvale. Sunlight glinted off the polished silver clasps of his new leather jerkin—purchased specifically for this day, his first in the Lumenvale Royal Army. He’d even commissioned a silversmith to craft a small emblem of Continue reading
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The Keeper of the Kings Bounty
List your top 5 favorite fruits. The afternoon sun bathed the royal orchards in golden light as I led you between rows of trees whose branches curved like reverent subjects before their monarch. Thirty years I’ve tended these gardens, watching saplings grow to giants, my hands becoming as gnarled and weathered as the bark I’ve Continue reading
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The Shadow of Her Strength
Share a story about someone who had a positive impact on your life. The campfire spits amber embers toward a sky where stars hang like frozen tears, too distant to fall. I feed another log to the hungry flames, my hands—twice the size of my companion’s—moving with the careful precision Mother taught me. *Fire respects Continue reading
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Wings Unfurled
The chains lay coiled at Lysander’s feet like dead serpents, their iron links catching the dawn light that filtered through the high windows of the tower chamber. Seven years they had bound his wrists and ankles, their weight as familiar as his own heartbeat. Now they rested on the smooth stone floor, inert and powerless, Continue reading
Chadwick Rye 