I immediately began chanting the healing enchantment. The man I was healing broke his foot while working in the fields last night, and this tiny village didn’t have their own surgeon.

I gently laid my hands on his ankle, green light emanating from my hands as the spell came into being. The light sank into his skin and slowly faded away. What looked so simple to the eye was mentally draining, and ...

I remember my summer in Dubrovnik. The sound of waves hitting the beach from the salty Mediterranean outside my apartment. Lounging at a cafe in the old city, the aroma of spicy lamb and calamari all around me. Now I’m slumped at a trendy coffee chain, sipping on burnt coffee. I trod past the faceless horde after work. I’ve traveled from east to west, I see the same stores, except surrounded by pa...

The moonlight reflects off the river at night,

in the morning the sun shines, burning bright.

This where we were made to be,

this is where I can happily be me.

But now we live in the city where buildings stretch out beyond the minds eye.

In nature everything is perfect, here there is no symmetry.

Surrounded by people, yet all alone.

I wish I could go back, but I know those days are distant and...

The desert spread out before my eyes,

A wide stretch of land — a village — there it lies.

To stretch my arms and reach out,

If only my throat could shout.

I cannot stretch my strength any longer,

My legs collapse and I am conquered.

The sun’s rays stretch over the expanse,

One more sigh — eyes closed — no last chance....

We saw him approach the gates as the sun was starting to set over the desert city. I shuffled nervously as he approached, not recognizing which tribe he belonged to. He led a procession of civilians, perhaps his family or other tribe members. When his group neared, he walked ahead and greeted us by himself.

The old man wore a rough homespun white wool robe with four black lines that circled the ...

My eyes were fixed on the red satin carpet as I knelt before the throne. I felt the stern gaze of the king on me, although I didn’t dare to look up at him. In the kingdom of Aelia, looking into the king’s eyes while he sat on the throne was punishable by death.

The courtiers and retainers in the throne room were as tightly packed as soldiers in a spear wall, and they all stood along the side of ...

I carried a small wooden chest with me as I went to visit my grandpa at the nursing home. He was sick for a long time, and slept most of the day now, but he asked for it last time I visited for some reason.

The smell of rubbing alcohol and soiled diapers assaulted my nose as I walked through the bare white hallways to my grandpas room. Tired nurses carrying trays of packaged grey food and medici...

I was an assassin in the kings army

I had special training to kill everybody

We saw our target in the small window

But he saw us warriors looking for him

I pointed my crossbow at his safe spot

But he held a little girl in his arms

I did not shoot, I could not take the shot

He ran, but I left with my humanity...

“I think I just met the happiest person in the world!”

I thought as I walked out of the hospital room with my brother. My brothers’ fiancée had just given birth to a baby girl, and she just stopped crying. She was totally unaware of the world, at peace, held in a embrace by her mothers tired arms. Was there anybody truly more happy than that baby?

We stepped outside to get some fresh air. The c...