OpenLamp light | psychological | Complete

The world ends on her perfect day and all she can do is push forward.What would be like if magic was suddenly real, if the laws of nature suddenly had a new much less physical sibling?Chaos, all that is, is cast aside like a dream, and Summer must navigate a far grander far more dangerous world. one no one understands.Updates Wednesday and Fridays

29.50 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-26 14:20

Jazz Haze | psychological | Complete

This is a series of short stories for the characters of the Existara series, including backgrounds and side stories. Part 2. The story of Ira and Devona continue on after the events of "Emerald and Wykren"The story continues on to show the new struggles and challenges of the Noxian Trio, or what's left of it...

29.42 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 18:48

Victor D. Lopez | psychological | Complete

[Synopsis from the book's web pages at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords] This book is a compilation of 13 contemporary science fiction and speculative fiction short stories whose range extends from the innermost dimensions of the mind to the outer reaches of the universe. The stories touch on both timeless and novel themes including philosophical questions as to the meaning of life, the nature of reality, the power of love, the catastrophic consequences of looking for truth in all the wrong places, scientific hubris, and the superlative strength and wrenching weakness of the human spirit. Themes include hard and soft science fiction, horror, humor, romance and literary fiction in both traditional and unusual combinations. Several of the stories in this collection can be classified as "dark fiction" that pose all too disturbingly feasible ways for human beings to destroy themselves through bad decisions--and perhaps even our corner of the universe. But these are tempered with humor and with the hope that springs from humanity's ability to cheat fate through its ingenuity--and, more importantly, to learn from its mistakes. These stories are intended to entertain, but also to leave the reader thinking long after she/he puts down the book.

28.17 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 10:39

ringe | psychological | Complete

[Entry for the June Royal Road Community Magazine Contest] A prisoner named Gemmei is gifted a chance to put her life on a better track after being transferred to the Hibiya Correctional Complex, a lower security prison allegedly intended for less violent offenders. However even though the walls keeping her in are no longer visible, plenty of barriers are in the way that prevent Gemmei from returning to the world she once took for granted. Chief among them is the Houzou Hakkyou, a special tattoo every prisoner in the system receives that alters how they can think and feel through forced sedation. The curse the Hakkyou enforces ensures compliance and docility among the inmates, but as Gemmei finds out, cruelty is born from more than emotion alone.

22.43 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 16:06

jc431 | psychological | Complete

Lilly is an attractive, young, goat-woman, in the prime of life. But she is in mental and physical decline. She has become increasingly isolated, living alone. Her sustenance and shelter are covered by a stipend she receives from her parents abroad, in exchange for working as the superintendent of their apartment building, where she lives, and for attending college. Although she is intelligent, she has stopped attending college due to her boredom with the subjects, her declining ability to concentrate, or even to communicate. She fills her empty hours with her art' projects, and preying on middle-aged salarymen.

21.37 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 14:47

Pxan | psychological | Complete

Long casted shadows danced in the background, as a man squibbled and jotted words on yellow papers. A mere novelty, remnant and ghost that was left to age away along with the forgotten theater, a man grasped for inspiration to salvage what was left of his soul. Abandoned in the squalid room, Pxan was left hauntedly in the furthest corners of insanity that bubbled in his mind. No one would listen to his plight, denouncing him and claiming his mind was not right. Even though the world left him with nothing, turning their backs to him, he knew the books would never betray him in the same fashion. Faceless pages and books yet to be read ogled puppy eyes, ready to be penned by the madman. "Pxan! Pxan! Over here! To me!" Clamored the unpublished manuscripts. Pxan's fingers quivered nervously, thoughts of failure flooded his mind. Wanting to surrender to the pressure. "No!" He cried. "I've had enough of writing." Books with eyes all stared at him, begging for the tales to be written. Their pleaful eyes were all that Pxan needed to be moved to writing again. The man sighed and raised his pen again, stroking the first letters of inspiration that bore fruit from his mind. A maddening tale of a policeman, cultists and a violent revenge& -Currently on Hiatus while writing the second volume.The first volume is up. I will take a few days to rewrite a few chapters. Afterwards, updates will proceed as usual.Current rewrite progress 17/59 chapters rewrited.This is my first real novel, any kind of criticism or feedback is appreciated. I am looking for an editor, if someone wants to help me avoid typos please contact me. The cover is a detail of Faust in His Studyby Ary Scheffer, c. 1831, watercolor and gouache on paper.

19.62 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-26 16:27

drewhead118 | psychological | Complete

A loner enters into a relationship with a new type of partner: an AI agent, programmed to be the "perfect companion." Sure, it's all self-deception and a game of pretend, as she's notactuallyreal... but where simulated consciousness is concerned, maybe the lines between real and real enough can get blurry.

15.59 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-11 19:00

MajorKerina | psychological | Complete

In an age of fungal computers inside people's heads, the boundaries between reality and illusion are much harder to distinguish.

14.35 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-21 18:49

Peter Summersby | psychological | Complete

Reality is defined by what we, see, hear and feel. What would happen if you are unable to tell the difference between what is real and fake? When a computer AI starts testing a virtual holographic system on two unsuspecting men, they must race to find a way out of the computer that is hacking their minds and attacking New York.Tolbert, a simple room attendant is unexpectedly caught up in a holographic projection. He must decide what is real and what is not. The fate of the world hangs in the balance, as aliens and monsters ravage the centre of New York. An army of raptors led by trolls engage an alien menace.Striker, a computer gamer and hacktivist notices that a fellow gamer is being attacked in the game and seeks to find out what is going on. He must find and shut down the cause of it all before the world he knows is destroyed forever.

13.38 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 18:50

Kaylie Night | psychological | Complete

Jonathan Kent isn't sure about this new little person his wife has insisted on bringing home after the meteor shower. He's in for more than a few surprises. Cute, fluffy family feels. A young-Superman fanfiction, based on the Smallville universe (pre-series) but friendly to fandom-blind reading. I do not own Superman or Smallville.

13.12 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 17:19

GenXel | psychological | Complete

My website: https://putiancom.wordpress.com This is a short story about revenge or something along the lines. (This is my first story ever written so please go ham at criticising my work.) Death. It is a form of punishment or torture. And can be also be a form of salvation. Ultimately, it forms different perspectives depending on the beholder itself and on how the beholder take it as. Life. A point in time where finding your purpose. Purpose, of life itself and experience its flow, either epiphany or hell. Death. It is an end. A point of no return. It also makes the beholder feel free, breaking away from the chain of life. It makes the beholder recollect and reflect when crossing the boundary between life and death. Boundaries. A place where a path will ultimately, be chosen with or without consideration in the decision, free. . . . A place where recounting life, take it as a feeling. The joys and sorrow accumulated, playing back, making the beholder reexperience life. "Reminiscing."

9.15 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 13:24

RiverJ | psychological | Complete

At the far fringes of the North the garrison at Castle Lock struggles against an unending blizzard. Starving and isolated, the garrison grows restless and afraid. Afraid of the cold, afraid of the other. This fear turns to bloody madness when one of their own, Shaw, starts to murder to save his own skin. **Finished **Chapter art illustrated by my friend

8.89 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 18:46

Eiten Dylus | psychological | Complete

Under the gaze of two shattered skyscrapers of Kuala Isyarat's past, a long hunt reaches its final stages. Across rooftops and dwellings, two legends of the wasteland find that their target- a monstrous spree killer- may be more closer to them than either would like to admit. Before night falls, someone, or something, must die.

8.23 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-26 17:42

CandidCallalily | psychological | Complete

Shadows are humanity's tag-alongs, with the ability to empower, demoralize, enrich, or disturb, unbeknownst to those they tail. It is up to Violet to intervene when they cross the line, but when she has her most vivid dream in recent memory, she realizes she is up against a formidable adversary. Ian, a guitarist in a local band, joins her quest to find and stop the shadow, only for the threat to be closer to home than he ever could have imagined.

8.21 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 11:30

Terrenheim | psychological | Complete

After experiencing an accident, a woman finds herself in the burning shadow of a strange world as she discovers the truth behind the history she thought she knew. With cover provided by Asviloka https://www.royalroad.com/profile/108594

8.08 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-26 17:42

TrafficButter | psychological | Complete

500 years following the Nature-Nurture Fallout's resolution, humanity and nymphs continue to project the world into one where solar energy is the status quo, horticulture is booming, and, little by little, what is proclaimed to be global peace is on the horizon. Associated with the robotics firm Swiss Puppeteer Corps, which strives to advance the future of technology to higher heights, dryad Evie, a nymph bound to a pledge behind her cybernetic arm, spares time to reminisce. She ponders where she stood those years ago in the catastrophic war and what she works for now. Even in this Solarpunk utopia, Evie still seems to have doubts about herself. *This is a dialogue-heavy short story with a Solarpunk background, and

7.07 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 14:46

mau3 | psychological | Complete

Sym is just a normal girl until her Grandmother's vice catches up with her family.

6.97 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 18:44

mallorybingham | psychological | Complete

Why must I shoulder the weight of your body when your spirit mingles with the seraphs and light of the cosmos?

6.62 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 14:53

GenXel | psychological | Complete

*Humans do not own anything but is only instead given the talent to manage it.* Thus, authority was born.

5.23 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-26 14:21

kiltsi | psychological | Complete

A short story about isolation, empire, and the shadows that exist when no one else is around.

4.70 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 18:50