My fingers held an ink-dipped pen that danced across a coffee stained letter on my desk. My dormitory was bathed in the sweltering heat of evening sun, and I take off my sweater for a small relief.

I begin to write,

Dear Mom and Dad,

The first month at The Court of Eden has been very fruitful,

I have fallen off a horse only three times so far, and with no

_Injuries. The sword you gave...

Saral woke up to shouts and hollers from above, blinking wearily in his captain’s quarters, the oil lamps still dimly lit by his bedside.

There were voices he couldn’t make out, but they seem to be quite passionate about whatever they are speaking of.

Harsh knocks rap at Saral’s door, rattling his hat hung on the wall hook.

The haggard man sits up quickly and the knocks become more persistent- ...

The golden sun sank into the sea, and in the coastal town of Luctus, this was just the start of revelry for the drunk partygoers. For creatures of the night, wine was just as an adequate replacement for unciousness as sleep. The entire town was decorated in lanterns strung above the plaza, dancers swallowing swords of fire as they pose on the fountain. There is music too, strings, drums, and rhyth...

Now I lay me down to sleep

Vaporize into mist under my sword

I slay the demons of silver and gold.

I pray the Lord my soul to keep

In the Dreamscape it is dark and cold.

An angel of terror beats its wings.

Iron feathers cut through night.

And if I die before I wake

My guardian of eyes faith and might.

A demon digs claws in ...

The car ride was quiet, a nostalgic deep hum. It has been four days since Seri has been back from college. She flew back from the congested city back to her beachside hometown, a place her family nicknamed ‘The Twilight Zone Dishwasher’ because once you enter Oceanside the WiFi sucks and the fog is so thick you can’t even see the waves from the window.

Her mother had more silver strands of starl...

The tree was red crystal branching from a thin trunk that dug it’s roots into the barren earth. I climbed it, my skin brushing against the pines, my feet digging into the junctions between branches. Above, the stars shone brightly. In Almerine, there are no stars. The light pollution and smoke outside the dome only allow hazy moonlight to blanket the City of Hope.

I cracked my neck and grabbed o...

It is said in the Garden of Eden, roses had no thorns.

A woman crouched next to burning metal held a pale rose in her hands, the small spikes pricking blood from her calloused skin. The original sin had tainted the perfect flower. She wondered if the thorns that crucified The Savior had come from a rose bush. A symbol of the darkness of the human heart killing the light resting in the divine.

S...

The cold metal of weights clinked and groaned under the bright lights of the gymnasia. I sat on a bench elbow to thigh as I counted arm curls, sweat forming in beads on my forehead and soaking the back of my shirt. It was as mindless as scrolling on my phone, the only difference is it didn't make me feel like shit afterwards. I look around before discretely flexing my biceps in the mirror. My mauv...

Kasey kicked up the stop on her bike, sitting herself on it as she slung her bag into the basket mounted between the worn handles.

"I like your jacket!" A girl Kasey never met with colored hair shouts from the campus parking lot before she entered her car.

"Thanks." Kasey responded just a moment too late, the snake patchwork design she scrapped together during a weekday late night billowing in...

Alabaster angels face the open gates of Luctus Cathedral, smiling figures dressed in white chattering of family stories and anticipating the taste of red wine.

The pointed steeples touch the chilling fog brought in by the salty air of the ocean, the bright light from the sun filtering through the parted clouds behind the church in an ethereal blessing to wedded couple.

“On my way here, I saw th...