Fiction
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MUCUS-COATED TAXIDERMY
Contemporary Cryptozoology and Other Phenomena, by Jodie Norman(Kept in shorthand) Entry 1, 14 May 2025, Cephalo Pond: Arrived at the pond a few minutes behind schedule. The trees on the downwind warp. Thought pine bristles were scales or exoskeletons. Not an unimportant environmental note. Cephalo Pond resides off a strangely carved trail with minimal sunlight…
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A SINKING INEVITABILITY
On summer nights, when the air has gone cool and the water cooler still, I settle my aching limbs down at the docks. The dropping temperature goads the fishes to the shallows where I wait, makeshift fishing pole in hand and tackle box in my lap. A siren stalks me from below, as she has…
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GLASS SLIPPERS
The peddler shows up not long after I’ve finished bottling my latest potion, right as the sun is beginning to set. I watch him uneasily, leaning over the windowsill, as he pushes open the gate and begins walking down the path. He knows his business, clearly. This late in the day, my father will be…
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ABSOLVED ON VELLUM
The way the Traveller tells it, he was making his way across the border with his companion when he first saw it: the creature emerging from a forest clearing. “It was skittish, small—perhaps a mere bairn. Had I not seen it with my own eyes I would have thought it a hoax, too.” The Scribe…
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A DARK HOUSE BY NIGHT
Even in his current predicament, Nate took a moment to appreciate that he’d had a pretty good run. It almost didn’t matter that he would likely freeze to death in a dark alley tonight. He’d escaped the carpet-making factory where he’d been a prisoner for two decades, ever since his parents sold him at the…
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HAND IN HAND AMONG RUINS
The sun had nearly dipped below the horizon and the remaining rays glinted off rows of vegetables, imbuing everything with an orange hue as Emilia hurried past. Her cotton skirts bunched in her fists as she bustled through the field, head lower than the corn stalks to her right. Beyond the field, the town was…
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MARIGOLD AND TEETH OF IVORY
Princess Claude’s scream could chill the blood. Like the November wind that raged beyond the castle windows, Claude’s voice whipped the flesh and assaulted the ears. Not Marigold’s ears, however. Marigold had grown accustomed to it in her ten years as a lady’s maid. The princess’s volatile moods made her so bored she yawned, showing…
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LESSER EVILS
Grischa hacked the fence post with her sickle until it splintered with a sharp crack. The gate was open, but she wanted the wood to know who was in charge. “This village looks… reasonable,” Beldam said, using a splinter to pick her teeth. “Very debatable,” Grischa smirked, eyes too wide. They walked into Dvorets right…
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INTERLOPER, OR A DOOMED DREAMWORLD
being inside your mind is the best thing I have ever experienced Fairy lights and glowing snowmen mark the waypoints up Guywood Lane, then right on Marsden Road past a crippled bungalow. The wind tugs at your rucksack. Your shoes are a little too slight for this job. You feel sharp and watery. You feel…
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A GIANT LIES ON A LONG STRETCH OF GRASS IN A PRAIRIE MEADOW
Another giant approaches, kneeling down beside him. “You can’t lie about all day.” “I can. I have the talent to do it. And the dedication.” “But you shouldn’t.” “Why shouldn’t I? If I have the talent and dedication?” “You have obligation.” “Such as?” “There are dragons.” “There’s always dragons.” “But there are dragons nearby.” “Have…