Fantasy
Stories Before a Wedding, or The Frog Prince & The Princess's Challenge
A Marriage Challenge was announced: any person from this or any of the surrounding countries – single or widowed – between the ages of twenty and forty years who could sign their name freely and without aid and could read aloud a passage from the children’s school Book of Law would be allowed to take part in the challenges that would take place in three fortnight’s time. The Princess Risa would meet her challengers and test them in three sets of contests of her own creation and would marry the one who met her challenges to her best satisfaction.
By Dionearia Red17 days ago in Fiction
The Missing Ingredient. Winner in Rituals of Affection Challenge. Top Story - February 2026.
The first time I saw her, she was wearing a velvety, red ribbon in her hair. She carried a small leather backpack everywhere. She searched the forest by turning stones, checking beneath shrubs, listening to the wind as if it might carry an answer.
By Imola Tóth17 days ago in Fiction
The Salt in her Voice. Top Story - February 2026.
The myth says mermaids sing to lure sailors to their death. But why? The ocean is huge. Only 5 percent has been discovered by man. Why would a creature of the sea with that much space to roam ever care about the fate of men on ships? The answer, as it turns out, is not a simple one at all. The truth about the myth is older than the tides. Long ago before the first ship ever cut across the surface, the sea made a pact with the sky. The sky would take the souls of the drowned. Anyone who died in storms or any quiet accidents of the deep would have their soul lifted upward to the Heavens while the bodies would remain below, feeding the oceans endless hunger. The greedy sea however wanted more souls than the sky would claim. So it created mermaids. It gave them beautiful voices woven from currents and moonlight. It commanded them to sing. "Bring forth the ones who float where they should sink." it instructed them. So they did. They never killed out of malice but out of obligation. They sung to summon, not to seduce. A mermaid's voice could loosen the tether between the body and soul, making any man step willingly into the water. The sea would take the body and the sky would take the soul. Balance maintained.
By Sara Wilson17 days ago in Fiction
A Promise Beneath the Burning Sky
The summer the wildfires came, the sky did not turn red all at once. It began as a faint orange haze at the edge of the horizon, barely noticeable unless you stood still long enough to observe it. Sara noticed it because she had nowhere else to be. Her family’s farmhouse sat at the edge of a dry valley where rain had not fallen properly in months. The fields that once carried golden wheat now lay brittle and pale, cracking under the weight of the sun. Everyone in town spoke about the fires spreading from the northern forests, but no one believed the flames would travel this far.
By Sudais Zakwan18 days ago in Fiction
Harbingers of the Apocalypse
"For the love of Go....! What is this madness. What is happening. Am I dreaming". I am trapped in a nightmare. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are riding towards me. I try to run...but I am paralysed with fear, rooted numb with horror - for terrifying are they to behold. My mind is fast forwarding backwards, like a movie reel spinning in reverse. I stare stupidly at the symbolic figures from the Book of Revelation, representing significant events that will occur at the end of days.
By Novel Allen18 days ago in Fiction
You Must Join Me
They were all seated together in the drawing room. She had kept out of sight by staying behind the largest couch in the room. All of them had spoken about a monster that was lurking on the edge of town. Some form of beast that could take the form of anyone it had killed. This thing had hunted anything that dared to enter the forest for one reason or another.
By Raphael Fontenelle18 days ago in Fiction
There's A Vampire in Town
Vampires. They’re a super popular legend that everyone knows about. Being repelled by garlic, sunlight, and crosses. Depending on the lore they could also be killed by silver. Cannot be seen in mirrors. Nor can they come into someone else’s home without being invited first.
By Raphael Fontenelle18 days ago in Fiction
The Last Message After the Internet Died
The internet died on a Tuesday. No countdown. No warning. No dramatic announcement from governments or tech giants. One moment the world was scrolling, posting, arguing, laughing—and the next, everything froze. Phones showed No Signal. Laptops blinked helplessly. Satellites went quiet like stars swallowed by darkness.
By shahid khan18 days ago in Fiction
