Fungal Halo

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Destiny's Halo

446 words (2 minutes)

"We are not so different, you and I," the Dark Sorceress declares as I confront her at last in her great tower.

I grip my sword and grit my teeth. "You're a cold-blooded killer who consorts with demons and whose idea of freedom is born of chaos and destruction."

The Artifact

370 words (2 minutes)

You never questioned why your exploration of this hidden temple's ruins went so smoothly and easily, did you? How you seemed to instinctually notice the hidden passages and trap triggers? You and your fellows rode a wave of excitement all the way to the most hidden chamber here.

Turnabout

410 words (2 minutes)

"At last, we have the High Priestess of that loathsome church in our grasp," the hooded figure declares in triumph as others lead the young leader of a faith in decline to the prepared altar.

A Better Reflection

224 words (1 minute)

Every morning your reflection pains you, reminds you of what you desperately wish you didn't look like. Something to sour the mood at the start of each day. Shaving helps only a little. Makeup helps a little more. But the mirror haunts you.

More Than Meat

311 words (2 minutes)

The more she kisses me, the more I get lost in her kisses, unable to think or notice anything else. I cry in pain when her clawed fingers pierce my flesh, but even then it only inspires me to kiss back with greater fervor.

To Draw From The Well

199 words (1 minute)

When is a mirror not a mirror? Perhaps when it has been carved into and reshaped and repurposed into a well from which unreality may be drawn.

Is a doll still a doll when its emptiness is all that is put to use, filling it like a bucket from the well and drawing it back?

Reciprocation

145 words (1 minute)

With a kiss I break the skin, and my tongue comes alive with the distinctly metallic taste of blood. The electric sensation of life itself dances in my mouth, carried by the flow. She whines and flinches, but my grip holds her firmly in place.

Wayward

460 words (2 minutes)

Perhaps compliance came easier to other angels, but whenever my halo compelled me to turn from what I felt was right, or kind, or at least merciful, it grieved me. The love of the Light sometimes seemed so cruel and fickle. I did not see the wisdom in it that my peers did.

On Bridges

261 words (1 minute)

When it comes to summoning demons, most folks think of summoning circles drawn in blood or portals glowing brightly in mid-air. Sure, they're flashy and the most obvious ways to summon a Big One, but that's not how most demons arrive here.

Friends In Low Places

107 words (1 minute)

When I died, I went to hell, like they always warned I would. I suspect they didn't think I'd make find such powerful friends and lovers as I have here, however. They taught me new flavors of sin I could not have imagined before, and I thought I'd imagined a lot!

Let's Drink To Becoming

237 words (1 minute)

Drink from the pool in the deep woods. Find your vision blurring, brightening, twisting and colorful. Your steps grow unsteady as you quest for a warm spot in the sun in which to lie.

Do not wake. Put roots down. Stretch your limbs and bloom into a beautiful home for fairies.

Shattered

735 words (4 minutes)

The angel quivers in my grasp as I hold her by the neck.

"You shouldn't be here, pretty thing," I breathe. She whimpers when I let my fangs graze the gentle curve of her ear as I whisper into it. "This is *my* realm."

In Pursuit Of Greater Heights

410 words (2 minutes)

Even witches long for something greater sometimes.

Knowledge of herb and ritual, of crystal and will, of secret places hidden inside the thin edge separating light and shadow... it is all only knowledge, after all. It is not ascension.

My Precious Daughters

449 words (2 minutes)

Have you ever seen a doll that has been excessively emptied by an inexperienced or careless witch?

It's a sad, strange thing. It cannot hear commands. It cannot speak. It cannot move at all! It is a meaningless, decorative object at best, nothing anyone would want.

But I do.

Demonic Diplomacy

476 words (2 minutes)

She was dying.

After decades of uncertainty about that fact and more decades of research on how she might avert it, she came to the conclusion that her death was both unavoidable and imminent. Likely no more than a century away.

So she did what witches often do. She plotted.

A Witch's Killer

187 words (1 minute)

Do you know the number one killer of witches, child?

Not age or infirmity or disease. Those come to us so rarely that they are of minimal concern.

It is certainly not witch hunters, no. The followers of that religion have not been a relevant force in many generations.

Haunted By Defeat

1243 words (6 minutes)

A powerful angel. A beacon of light. He whose blade shatters the night. Hero of a myriad battles. The most loyal of all His soldiers.

So many things they called me. Even after my defeat, for some reason, they believed in me.

Tiebreaker

490 words (2 minutes)

There she is, my equal and opposite.

Fell creature of The Deep, the Piercing Tooth of the Great Maw That Devours, She Whose Steps Blight The Land approaches with wicked blade drawn and wild eyes staring.

I grip my own sword. Our great conflict ends today. It must.

Rest

501 words (3 minutes)

The knight drags her sword behind her as she ascends the stairway up to the throne room.

Her muscles ache with the exhaustion of a long journey that now comes mercifully to its end.

Dangling at her chest is the Amulet with the power to seal the Demon Queen away forever.

To Speak A Name

1055 words (5 minutes)

It's a strange party you find yourself in the middle of. You had no idea your friends knew so many different creatures from every plane you've heard of—and a few you haven't.

You don't see anyone you recognize right now, but everyone is chill, and you lower your guard.

The Summoner

1519 words (8 minutes)

The first time you summon a demon, you're so nervous that your shaky hands nearly drop the ritual dagger.

You have to make it work, though. This world was never made for you, and so you need to carve a place for yourself in it one way or another.

An End To Fate

1290 words (6 minutes)

The goddess watches while her chosen hero arrives at the culmination of his journey. He's so close now. All he needs to do is raise the amulet and speak the invocation, and the goddess's great enemy will at last be vanquished.

And yet, he collapses instead. He fails.

The Treacherous Advisor

1303 words (7 minutes)

The King's new advisor was a treacherous man, this much was obvious to most members of the court. There was a scheming air about him, and there had to be supernatural reasons why the King seemed to hang on his advisor's every word, surely.

Not An Angel

691 words (3 minutes)

It brings the elegant cup to its lips, taking a moment to appreciate the warm, spiced aroma of its favorite tea blend before taking a delicate sip and setting the cup back down with a soft clink on the saucer.

Its companion is still upright, pacing, and fretting.

Undoing A Moment Of Weakness

487 words (2 minutes)

The combat doll leaves a wake of fire and blood—noteworthy in scale even by the standards of this place—as it makes its way through yet another circle of hell.

At last it arrives at its destination, the prison for the soul of its old witch.

A Forest's Welcome

644 words (3 minutes)

One last step, and the broken creature who was once a demon arrives at their destination.

It must be so much easier, they think, for an angel to simply fall. A demon's slow trudge upward from the Infernal Demesnes is a rather more manual process.

The Worst Demon

700 words (4 minutes)

The door's long, slow creak echoes through the large chamber filled with arcane relics, humming catalysts, and piles of recently consulted tomes.

In the center, a very bored demon perks her ears up and casts a curious glance toward her visitor.

A More Perfect Servant

990 words (5 minutes)

A bolt of light streaks through the air, faster than the human eye can track, aimed unerringly for my servant's heart. A blur of motion intercepts it, and with a sharp crack of sound, the magically charged arrow is deflected to the side.

Good puppet. Well done.

I Love The Way You Go Too Far

3609 words (18 minutes)

I remember Emilia. I could have loved her, but in the end her heart was set on another.

I gave her everything—all my hate and all my power—and we would have had the world if she hadn't thrown it all away for that foul priestess of hers.