PREROGATIVE OF GODS, by Nathanael Green     The gods are all of them gone to ashes. Some sent there by my own hand. Once, though, they were Twelve, often among us. That morning, the first time I met the god I would serve, was sharp with the frost of autumn when I went to […]

RAFT OF CONQUISTADORS, by Raphael Ordonez   Zisz the god-diatom skimmed the pelagic zone of space. The crystal vessel, both shell and ship, that housed Zisz’s tender self described a zigzag path across the abyss until it fell at last by chance into a spinning star-whorl. Planet-fields flung from white-hot sparks as from potters’ wheels […]

THE BELLS OF BEL-HAZIR, by Michelle Muenzler   Long and loud are the bells of Bel-hazir. Thunderous mad, their tolling. At first light’s crack, they ring. Seven times each across the city, every bellow louder than the last. The older towers sway at the might of those monstrous bells. Pale dust and bricks rain onto […]

THE VAULT OF SOWDEK, by Seth Skorkowsky   Keeping to the cover of trees, Ahren followed an earthen trail toward the shadow stretching across the moon-lit orchards. The heavy rope coiled beneath his cloak might have made him appear hunchbacked if there were anyone to see him at such an hour. Cricket song filled the […]

BLOSSOM, by Deborah Davitt Dozing in leaf-dappled shade, I heard him whispering love, and, dreaming, I promised myself to my unseen lover. Then leaves drifted to caress me as I slumbered. His hands were bark-rough, and my hands slid low, finding what was already hard as wood; arms knotted as oak boughs lifted me up […]