THE GATEKEEPER, by Marlane Quade Cook Beat by beat, footsteps echoed on the stones that carved a path through the meandering hills of the wasteland. Swirls of mist dispersed at the traveller’s approach. The hazy vapour was heavy enough to dampen the clouds of dust that rose faintly from the path: disrupted by human footsteps […]

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 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 […]

THE PALADIN OF GOLOTA, by Djeli Clark   Small clouds of dust kicked up to shouts and cheers as the latest struggle played out on the plain of Golota. Teffe could just make out bits and pieces, restrained as he was with an arm firm around his head. There was only a stifling darkness, the […]