Bloodshed. Everywhere. It was a war, after all. Endless fighting, no matter where one turned.

When Calix felt his arms grow heavy, he still forced himself to keep swinging his sword. Such a simple action drained his energy, but he couldn’t afford to stop.

There was no time for rest, not until one side was defeated. For that, he had to keep killing, no matter how much it sickened him.

He contin...

A metal ball larger than her head soared through the air at a speed she never thought possible. She knew where it was coming from, she knew who was planning to kill her. Yet, she wanted to believe for just a few more seconds the awful reality of her life was not happening to her. It was happening to someone else and she was just viewing it from afar. But when a steady hand grabbed hers and pulled ...

Freya always knew what she wanted in life— wealth, power, status. She was only but a poor mage of a _nearly_ fallen kingdom’s tower. She hated that fact. The fact that she was poor. Like all the others in the kingdom’s population. Eating bread crumb by crumb and wondering what crumb she’d eat for the next day.

She was never alone though. She was popular for her good looks and perfect genes. Her ...

The lights were bright, and the air was crisp but cold, like a typical fall night. I looked around and couldn't help but notice the intensity of the Players, coaches, and fans. It felt like the stadium was about to explode, but I stopped scanning the crowd when I got to you—standing there on the track just to the left of the endzone, cheering on the defense with signs in hand saying as much. That ...

The fields are alive with the colors and smells of spring. White and yellow flowers dapple the green fields. Their aroma wafts in the breeze as it rustles the unruly strands of hair that have escaped my braid. Birds sing their songs as they glide from tree to tree. It really is beautiful. 

It’s hard to believe that not so far from here, the country lay barren and burned. A war-torn wasteland is al...

The last thing Leon remembered was a giant flaming ball hurling towards the post on the castle wall he was manning that night. _How could the enemy get a cannon or trebuchet that close? Where were the rangers and forest patrol that should have caught and stopped a device like that from getting anywhere near the castle?_ With these questions swirling in his mind his other senses began to wake up...

The wind whispered through the tent flaps, a cool summer breeze carrying the scent of the forest and distant waters. It was the kind of day that made you want to throw off your armor, slip into the cool embrace of the river Na’al, and just forget about the world for a while. But I couldn’t forget. I couldn't ignore the weight of the war that seemed to suffocate everything around me.

"THIS is how w...

𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚖𝚘𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚜**٫** 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚠 𝚑𝚒𝚖. 𝙰 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚍𝚘𝚖. 𝚁𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚜𝚎. 𝙱𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝙸 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚛𝚞𝚗**٫** 𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜 𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚜 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜. "𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚍𝚘𝚖 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖?" 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 ...

Guilt eats away at my heart. I shouldn’t entertain the idea of him. The war is like an endless storm: powerful, devastating, and destructive. His people are ruthless against my own, dominating the battlefield. Yet every meeting makes my stomach flip. The way his soft eyes lock onto my panicked ones from across the room, others shouting profanities in the background. The way he so genuinely smiles ...

Last night I had the crazy idea to sneak out of my room and go into the forest for a couple of minutes, to get flowers or whatever. Unexpectedly I met Conner the Prince of Fastrea and supposedly my enemy. When I saw him I hid behind a tree as quickly as I could, I couldn’t be seen would he try to kill me? Or would he snitch on me to his father?

I had to make a run for it, if I didn’t I would be ...