Her home.

How quickly, she thought— how indifferently— does time turn. Years pass like the grains of sand slipping through her fingertips. A cool breeze carries them out to the blue sea, where they are forever lost. From the threshold, the girl sees and hears the waves froth and break, and is reminded of days long gone. She yearns for the past and grieves the future.

It is only after a long wh...

When I look in the mirror, I see a sallow face. A creature with sagging eyes and pitch black shadows running down her face. I see long, black hair— tangled and wild— haphazardly strung in a ponytail.

The creature in the mirror clicks on a hair pin. Personally, I think a thousand accessories wouldn’t make a difference.

She then decides against it, yanking it off along with the hairband before d...

She slides a bag across the table, and the hooded figure opposite her peers inside.

“Where the hell did you find this?!”

“On the side of the road.”

Alaire scoffs, carefully easing out a scaly, four-legged creature from the bag while staring at it with open fascination. A dragon child with scales like broken shards of the black night slumbers peacefully, its tail curled and belly softly undulati...