The universe was a vast, empty, dark, and uncaring place. Then life happened, and the universe was changed forever. Only a teeny-tiny bit, but definitely different. Then again, the universe changes a teeny-tiny bit every second of every day. For instance, if someone were to get off the couch and randomly drink a glass of milk? Bam! One less glass of milk in the universe. Changed forever. Well, excluding any time-travel shenanigans, but anyone who puts a big old hole in the time-space continuum just to un-drink a glass of milk should really reevaluate their priorities. Unless, of course, they were attempting to prevent some massive catastrophe vis-a-vis said glass of milk. Such a scenario is by no means impossible, as one should never underestimate the importance of calcium. Another important tip for any life forms out there is to keep things in perspective. Some look at the vastness of creation in relation to themselves and go, Man, this sucks!' These people really need to narrow their focus. Sure, they will never affect anything happening on the other end of the galaxy, but so what? That's way the heck over there, where it doesn't matter. Therefore, in order to maintain a healthy mindset, it is important to narrow one's perspective to the things and people that affect them, and that they can affect in turn. But what happens if one is an unfathomable cosmic being from beyond the veil of reality? What happens when such an existence is capable of influencing entire swathes of the universe just by its presence? A creature such as Magh'rathlak the Observer? That particular entity is only about average as far as reality-warping creatures from the dawn of time go, so its influence over the fabric of reality is rather limited. And it still struggles to keep things in perspective. That, among other things, is why it decided to narrow its worldview a bit by compressing the maddening vastness of its being into a single corporeal form. Magh'rathlak had never tried such a feat, but that wasn't about to stop it. After all, how hard could being human possibly be?
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Towards the Valentine
The ups and downs of highschool, especially between childhood friends that love each other with the other not knowing about it. Author's Note I entered this short story in the recent WriTE Valentine's Competition and earned the "BestRomance Score" award. While it wasn't a total victory, it was something, and I'm thankful for it. Now, here's the uncut version with the full blown out short story that I had to cut down to 5k word limit to enter the competition. Enjoy!
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The Impeccable Adventure of the Reluctant Dungeon
A dungeon's sleep is never easy. After getting reincarnated as a dungeon, Theodor thought he'd finally get some rest and relaxation. That changed when a bumbling old hero stumbled into him and died, making Theodor the target of adventurers everywhere. Masquerading as a house in the small town of Rosewind, Theo must now do whatever it takes to remain unnoticed& even if it means creating an avatar to interact with people or go on a mission set by the annoying Earl Rosewind! Follow the adventures of a dungeon dragged out of its own body on an adventure it never wished to be a part of. Updated every few days!
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Natural Magic
Within the Eternal Worm, a world slides inexorably beneath bioluminescent suns... In the steppelands of the Bolus lives Chicken, a scout of his people, the kobolds, who are a savage lizard-like race. When an orc girl named Penelope shows up half-dead out of the desert, he and his tribe are plunged into disaster. The orcish clans are uniting under an indestructible dark lord, who has some strange new ideas, and who intends to conquer the whole of the desert wastes. But all is not well among the elite of the new city of Hurraggh, as the former khans work to steer their eccentric new ruler. Could Chicken be the prophetic hero, as foretold by Amerigo, his aquatic herald and fish-out-of-water companion? Will the power Chicken unearths be enough to save his people and fulfill his destiny? What misadventures await these unlikely pawns of fate? A Helminverse Novel. Cover and chapter art courtesy of Elchaart.
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Vampire Bomb Squad - A Grand Eye Tale
A story about the complicated relationship between vampires and high explosives.
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Windowshopping [Comedic Romantic Tower Climb]
ZM-11833 was confused, normally they stood in the display window dressed in the latest fashion for the masses to admire but lately there hadn’t been any cuties arriving at their store. Only these strange new customers with their sickly wet skin and bulging eyes turning up. They really should go to a dermatologist-bot instead. Maybe the perfectly made and fantastically fetching fashion-bot would have to go out for the first time and start to look for some of their adorable prior customers to dress-up in the latest cyber-dress. And if these strange new invaders got in their way they might have to politely break some elongated skulls, after all they weren’t even paying customers. Standard store policy. Upon finding their perfectly 100% willing companion, (don’t believe a word they say otherwise), they realize the parent corporation of their arcology isn’t going to just let an invasion stand, and the pair must make it to the top. After all, what's a little Nuclear fire between friends anyway? Warning may contain cyberpunk robot humor, romance and copious amounts of futuristic clothing. Chapter length 1500 - 2000 words. Also posted on Scribblehub.