Category: Stories
Creative Writing Items
Index
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Chapter 07 – The Rainbow Wall
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Chapter 06 – Rain and the River
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Chapter 05 – The Door
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Chapter 04 – The Sound of the Workshop
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Chapter 03 – The Community Table
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Chapter 02 – The List
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Chapter 01 – Eight
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The Awakening
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47 Training Montague?
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46 Ps & Qs
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45 Beach Bum
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44 Time Out
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43 Flexing My Magic Muscle
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42 The Beginning of the End
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41 More Tricks in my Bag
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40 Get Ready for the Zombie Apocalypse!
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39 Finding a Groove
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38 The Wheels on the Bus
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37 Waiting Around
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36 Accidental Example
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35 Going Off
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34 It’s a big deal!
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33 Public Access
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32 Nirvana’s Prank
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31 Illiteracy and Education
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Chapter 07 – The Rainbow Wall
The week ended where it had begun. Gerald crouched near the main gate with his knees in the packed dirt and a piece of glass in his hand. The sun was behind the house and the ridge, low enough that the light came in at an angle he had not seen before — long, reaching,
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Chapter 06 – Rain and the River
The rain came sideways. Gerald stood in the front hall with his arms through his coat sleeves and his boots still unlaced, watching through the glass panels beside the door. The water fell in thick, angled lines that blurred the workshop and the stables into grey shapes. The packed dirt of the yard was already
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Chapter 05 – The Door
Gerald heard the burn before he understood what had happened. A quick, wet sound — skin on hot steel — and then a sharp intake of breath that cut through the workshop’s hum. He was standing at the edge of the yard, near the well, as he did most mornings now after the chickens were
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Chapter 04 – The Sound of the Workshop
The days had a shape now. Gerald woke before the light was right, or just after, and the shape was already there — waiting in the cold floor under his feet and the hum through the walls. He dressed. He set the table. He swept the hall and moved the chairs. He filled the woodbox.
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Chapter 03 – The Community Table
Gerald picked up the split log on his way to the woodshed. He did not think about it. His hands found the two halves where they had lain since yesterday, bark side warming in the early light, the pale wood still damp where it had been pressed against the flagstones. He carried them with the
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Chapter 02 – The List
Wynn found him before he found her. He had come downstairs meaning to look for her — Da had said Wynn would tell him his duties. The morning was already moving around him, the kitchen sounds, the smell of porridge, the creak of the stair under his feet. But Wynn was in the front hall
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Chapter 01 – Eight
Gerald woke to the hum of the Hot House’s rune furnace. It sounded just like his dream. He could still feel it — the heat on his face, the bright gather of molten glass turning at the end of the pipe, the way his father’s hands moved it through the air like it weighed nothing.
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The Awakening
The morning Lira Voss turned ten, the world changed color. Not all at once. Not the way her mother described the harvest sunsets over the Greenvale, where the whole sky supposedly caught fire and the wheat fields burned gold from horizon to horizon. This was subtler. A shimmer at the edge of things, like heat
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47 Training Montague?
I started with the multitasking skill, assuming it would be an enabler, and I was right. It was more significant than advertised. I’m sure others have pushed it too, but the breakthrough wasn’t with two conscious streams but four interactive ones. I’m not sure how the others did it, but getting the second consciousness to
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46 Ps & Qs
Before I can begin, there’s a shimmer of light, and a third beach chair is under the umbrella with Nirvana sitting in it. This Nirvana is older and wearing a swimsuit. While attractive, she hasn’t made her appearance the epitome of beauty, simply more aged than the little sister she’s been going around as. Looking
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45 Beach Bum
Nirvana certainly delivered on her promise; this place was outstanding! I swear she just copied a postcard of Hawaii or something. Where I was standing on the beach was a swirling mix of black and white sand. To my left, the beach went from streaked grey to white, and to my right, the sand became
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44 Time Out
Thinking about this a little more, as I fly towards the beach, I find that I don’t want to do this, as it feels like cheating. But it’s better to find out how far Nirvana will let me go before interfering now than when it’s my butt on the line. Before the temple’s opening, ARC
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43 Flexing My Magic Muscle
Under my breath, I cast the spell Mislead, allowing the illusionary double to appear where I was standing while simultaneously turning invisible from the spell. I concentrated for a few moments while setting up the commands for the illusion, and then I started issuing orders to ARC. ARC, please activate Oracle mode and raise me twenty-five
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42 The Beginning of the End
At the stroke of midnight, it was just as Nirvana said – every grave split open, allowing a zombie to crawl out. We could smell them before we could see them but see them, we did – zombies of every shape, creed, age, and color. Fresh corpses were just as common as seriously decayed ones.
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41 More Tricks in my Bag
Billy cocked his head to the side and thought for a moment before replying. “I think that most of the squad leaders are about even with me. Justin has been working to break the 200 mark.” “Cool. I have some other combat cantrips ideas that are probably expensive. They’ll have prerequisites, too. Could we have
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40 Get Ready for the Zombie Apocalypse!
“Billy! We should pull back to the gate – it will be a choke point, and we’ll be able to contain them better!” Billy shouted, “Pretty is right – everybody run back to the gate!” The other squads followed us, and we all rallied at the graveyard gates. It didn’t take long for our company
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39 Finding a Groove
After watching Mark shift into his hybrid form, ‘American Werewolf in London’ style, we head into the graveyard. Forming up behind Jennifer, we move off the main path into the gravestones on the left side and head along the fence. Billy continued the lecture he started while we were in the wagon. “Again, we want
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38 The Wheels on the Bus
“All right, we’re done waiting on stragglers. Let’s get squads sorted out before we leave for the graveyard,” shouts Justin! We collect together, and there are close to 30 of us in his grinder group. Justin asks, “Are there any pairings? We’ll try to preserve them, but I’d like five squads if we can balance
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37 Waiting Around
I stomp out the front door and look around. Two groups are assembling here, and there is an obviously fancy hat. The short, maybe five feet tall, human has a tricorn that he is wearing backward just to make a peacock eye feather stick out straight behind his head by at least two feet. It’s
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36 Accidental Example
I walk out of the lab and see that my furniture was delivered, as expected, waiting for me to place it. I absorb it all into my inventory and then walk around putting it where I want. Fifteen minutes later, I finished furnishing the suite. Nothing has changed; I’m still pissed off. I flop down
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35 Going Off
I stay behind as they leave – I’m not a part of what they will be doing down there anyway. Standing on the balcony, I watch as the crowd begins to organize into those who want to seek a boon and those who only came to hear what is going on. ARC, tag the two
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34 It’s a big deal!
I finish looking around the island, and there is a little more time before I’m supposed to meet up with the others. I don’t have anything else I want to do, so I return to the balcony. I move past the golems and into the room before deactivating Peeping Tom mode. “I hate waiting.” Mason
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33 Public Access
Crap, that was a late night. Oh, yeah! ARC, Attributes. That’s a huge bump – I’m a superhero! Hey ARC, can you cast spells on my behalf? [No. I can change your attributes and the attributes of others and things. ‘Living things’ may eventually revert to their original values.] You can save particular coordinates to
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32 Nirvana’s Prank
I went upstairs and looted the sheets, pillows, and blankets from the spare rooms. Then I went to the vanity of the room I was in and cast another scry spell, targeting Auntie. As soon as the image appeared, Auntie looked up and waved at me. So I teleported to her. I looked around the
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31 Illiteracy and Education
It takes me longer to put everything away than it does to clean it – but it goes a lot faster as I figure out that I can put everything into my inventory and then go from cabinet to cabinet and take out whatever goes there. I am also pleased that I can use the