(reading time: 1 hour, 29 minutes)
…
Awake before the sun even rose on his final full day, Gawain’s plans were already difficult to set in motion. There was little to actually apply that motion to but his body, but that was pinned down. One of the snails, by far the largest, was sat on his sternum with both stalked eyes trained on his. The two were close enough to kiss. Continue reading
(reading time: 1 hour, 37 minutes)
Chaste
Not a soul came to wake him the next day. Practically in mourning was he, with only three days left, having spent most of the morning unconscious. It was like Death had tricked him into yet another game, borrowing what little time was left. Gawain washed the resulting tears out of his eyes with the pitcher of water. The sun shone aggressively through the stained glass, drying his face. Continue reading
Prompt: A man discovers all his memories and desires are not his own, merely the amalgamation of a video game’s code. He must now decided what to do with himself.
“And what should be my reward, were I to take up this task?” the knight asked. He wore red and gold, and was thus under the command of Lord Sprice. He was supposed to help the villagers regardless of reward, but they had their own sets of arcane rules. Rumors swirled of shadowy texts kept not in bookcases, but in the shadows of such cases. Continue reading
Prompt: While drunkenly setting up your avatar for a simulated world, you find a developer’s Easter egg and end up with the rarest character class in the game. There is only one: the village idiot.
I was at a point in my life where I was doing a lot of things drunk. It was like a game; how intoxicated could I be while still getting the task done and not getting noticed? I shopped for sweaters drunk. Hiked drunk. Even coded drunk. It’s very strange to look at a program written by an intellectually-meandering version of yourself. It’s like seeing a toy train’s tracks cross over each other a hundred times, and never in the same place. Continue reading
Prompt: A famous assassin will be publicly executed, overshadowing the sale of three slaves. A hooded woman buys these slaves and tells them she will let them free if they rescue her brother from his imminent execution.
Nobody could accuse the Royal Regents of not using their space economically. They only held a small section of that country, but nothing in their grip had a chance of slipping out, at least not until that cloudy day when all the knots had been made for the gallows. Continue reading
Prompt: A medieval heist that results in something unexpected
The friar rubbed his moist forehead with a damp cloth. He stood on the outer wall of the Castle Doe-Dian and waited for his cohorts. He was supposed to deliver a sermon in ten minutes, and his people were supposed to be setting up their ladder for him to steady six minutes ago. Nervously, he cleaned the golden grease out from under his fingernails. He couldn’t help himself; he licked the grease off and swallowed it down. Continue reading
Prompt: two self-conscious ogres argue with a knight over who is superior
Sir Ridget was only bringing a favor to his fiance that day. He rode through the forest on his loyal steed: a beautiful white horse by the name of Jerry. It was a bit of a silly name, but his fiance’s niece had asked for the pleasure of christening the creature, and Sir Ridget was a man of his word. Continue reading
Blaine Arcade 