"Sometimes the only way to really forget everything is to go to sleep."

"Well that's depressing."

"Sorry to rain on your parade."

"Surely there's something better to do in here than sleep."

The man just shrugged.

"Like, say, whatever you disappear to go do all day?"

"Trust me, kid, I wish I was sleeping."

"But why are you special? Like, what do you have going on?"

"Nothing worth thin...

Alice stepped carefully into the pool of dark liquid, letting it envelope her. Here, in her castle, she was safe from the fires and pillaging that raged outside. Should rioters dare to target her, they would only encounter the beast, anyway, and become a few more souls sacrificed for the sake of her plan. As the liquid enveloped her face, Alice drew in a tentative breath. She was as surprised as e...

The girl obliged Majaumahada's request, sliding off of the horse with some difficulty as she struggled to keep the boy steady. She lowered him down carefully, evidently straining against the weight of his unconscious body. Majaumahada lead the way into her cottage, leaving the door open behind her. The girl followed, dragging the boy. Majaumahada lead them to the treatment room. Her apprentice wat...

Ms. Majaumahada's back hurt. She rubbed it as she bent over the well, deciding whether to try drawing water. Yes, she thought. It was worth it. Her weathered hands grasped the pulley rope and pulled, the friction barely noticeable due to years of caluses. The old wooden bucket came up to her slowly, as constant as the steady movements of her arms.

The sky was clear that morning. The sun had o...

Snow crunched and shifted under Aurinel's boots as he stumbled forward. Icy wind lashed at his downturned face, but he didn't feel it. It was just cold passing through cold. His legs gave out under him abruptly, and he slipped down onto the blanket of snow beneath him. Two soldiers hauled him to his feet and continued to drag him through the icy field. When they lifted him, the snow under him was ...

Kyrin sucked a sharp breath in as footsteps approached his room from the hallway. He scrambled to gather his papers from the desk they had been sitting on, abandoning the act of writing in the process. He had just set them down when the door swung open. His roommate, Deril, entered.

"Hello," he said curtly.

"Welcome back," Kyrin murmured, heart pounding. He had taken a seat at his own de...

I guess I didn't know him as well as I thought I did. Even now, as he's trying to speak, I have no idea what he wants to say. His bloodied lips move laboriously, but no sound comes out. He's dying. Is he trying to curse at me? Tell me something? I can't tell.

I start to laugh despite myself. It's just a response I have to stress. I guess it's a little ridiculous, too. Me, standing over him on...

"Words are wasted on those who do not listen."

"You're too young to be doling out words of wisdom." Arigen shook his head, amused.

"It's from the book you left me. The Philosophies." Elrona leaned back in her large, cushioned seat. She smiled proudly. "Do I know your books better than you?"

"Well, Elrona, I have a profession." He put his hands up. They both kept their voices down i...

Across the field, I caught his eye,

His terror staring into mine.

A twitch would let my bullet fly,

And on that barren ground he'd lie.

But I awoke as in a dream,

And on the stretching field did seem

A patch of roses there to be,

And life and death and us between.

I called to him and he replied,

Our rapture thusly halting time.

We told each other of our lives,

And I knew his and he knew mine.

I...

We all look the same in the the dark.

We all sound the same in silence.

We all feel the same in blankess.

Obscurity makes no victims.

There's no pain where nothing's perceived.

After all, hate can turn on you for a color or a tone.

But nothing is only that: nothing.

To live in perfect safety is to die, and worse-

To never have lived.

The ultimate beholder views you from within,

And casts an ine...