Chapter 3

After we had finished the phone call, we opened a new bottle of wine and Molly opened a packet of crackers and cut some cheese from a wheel in her pantry. We were more settled with each other than we had been in any time in our lives. I knew that I had been fundamentally different from our brother but had never considered that it would need two weeks of wearing skirts for me to understand why.

"Are these supposed to be irregular?" he murmured to himself.
"They look perfect to me!"

"Magic?" Laura repeated. "If you mean like stage magic, then no.
And it's not a joke. I mean, at the prices they charge,
it's not a joke that could go very far."

It was 3:00 AM, and the Thief…opened the large, ornate door. That was it. He couldn’t believe it. If his trusted Agent of so many years hadn’t been the one to tell him, he wouldn’t have. They had met earlier that day, in the busy food court of the local mall, the smell of bad Chinese food heavy in the air, stale, tinny pop music playing from some hidden speaker above their heads.

Hope's Light

Chapter 25

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Twenty-Five - Unknowable

How does one describe the indescribable?

The rampaging anomaly was a rift in the pattern of not just this realm but the very fabric of existence, and words cannot encompass that which is beyond all meaning. Even memories of such contact naturally fail to record the true measure of horror and struggle.

On Every Level…

By Kelly Blake

Hope's Light

Chapter 24

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Twenty-Four - Leap

When I was a teenager, I once made the mistake of tossing uneaten candy into the plastic bin besides my bed. During a hot summer’s night, up through the floorboards small black ants had acted on the report of whichever scout had discovered the bounty, and all swarmed the can.

They also hadn’t stopped there.

Hope's Light

Chapter 23

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Twenty-Three - Taijitu

In the coldest of air we gathered at the top of the Spires. Out of the rock face a matching henge to its counterpart at the embassy in Dis had long ago been excavated, though this one was not currently pockmarked from the insult of repeated energy blasts, having been resurfaced after its own checkered history. Twitch and Horatio stood at my side, while Vance, leaning on a short-yet-distinguished onyx cane and shivering underneath the thickest of silver-furred coats, had been busy examining all the sigils and workings carved into the stones - ensuring that each was still properly aligned.

The Journey of a Slave ...by Allexcited69 alias Miss Valerie Dubois

First, he shrank. Not dramatically so – this wasn’t like Honey I Shrunk the Kids or Alice in Wonderland or anything. He was very far from Dwarf height, either. At most, he lost a foot and change in stature, enough so that his eye line was now below the picture mounted on the wall in front of him, whereas just moments before he could look directly at it without having to crane his neck back.

After he runs afoul of a sinister body swapper, a world-weary detective with a shady past finds himself trapped in the body of a beautiful and brazen stripper. But as his mind starts to fade and hers begins to take over, he soon realizes that he only has 24 hours left to live before he fades away entirely. 24 hours to solve his own murder and bring his killer to justice. (A tale of Faraday City.)

Hope's Light

Chapter 21

by Erisian

Book 6

Part Five

Chapter Twenty-One - Harvest

Pages flip past, a time-lapse of images documenting the expansion of a grand city rising in sacred service to the Throne. Structures of meaning and empowered will, each unfolding as perfect edifices of collaboration and interchange, each glittering under the eternal illumination shining from Above as channeled through the forged unity binding all to one, and one to all.

And below this glory of infinites, to a tower of dazzling brilliance a dark angel comes.

The mediation looms, but Brad is that moth drawn to the flame that Sara is. There's worry she could fade away though, to make things easier on him. And Jenny is a concern to all, though she has some lessons for her dad to learn and maybe has a surprise planned for him.

Hope's Light

Chapter 19

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Nineteen - Prophecy

When Twitch and I finally stepped through the portal ourselves, I instantly knew where we’d gone:

The Spires.

A few sleeps by wagon away from Outpost Epsilon, forces deep underground had shoved tall formations of rock and crystal to tower over the lifeless plains of ice and shadows below. Here is where the Lilim traders under Vance had built their secret portal to their embassy in Dis, and here is where Colonel Dhalgrix had landed his mercenary company before slaughtering their way to the Outpost and to the Hole itself.

You know, before I caught up to him.

I looked at her from the corner of my eye, she was definitely flustered but I could care less, she was their mother and the behavior of her children were her own concern...my problem was that they were most likely going to distract me with their constant banter and shenanigans throughout the entire church service.

All those Firsts ... the First Panties

I'm sure it was a panty that was the first first.

Yes - I’m just that bit different – yeah, THAT bit and I wear woman’s clothes - every day. And it can be wonderful. There are risks - but... I've got through the horrors. Overall, I love what I am and how I present as a confident woman.

A Grumpy Old Man’s Tale 62 Hello Dad

Dave laughed and said, “Simmering on the Hobb‽ That’s over the border in Northumberland isn’t it? Small spot no more that six hundred folk live there.”

Tommy Dowerson said, “Nah. You got that one mixed up, Dave. That’s Gravy on the Hobb you’re going on about over in Northumberland. The Hobb river over there is nay mere than a beck. Simmering on the Hobb is on the outskirts of Ross on Wye away down country, Herefordshire way. Ross has about eleven thousand folk and t’other spot has maybe four. Just on the other side of Ross from Simmering is Custard on the Hobb where the custard boreholes are which strictly puts it into Wales. The Hobb is a big tributary, mostly in Wales, of the Wye which eventually runs into the Severn Estuary. There’re some odd town names down that way like Builth Wells and Symonds Yat. I only know because I did a postmasters’ course in Hereford a few years back.” There was just enough truth in Dave’s and Tommy’s ridiculous remarks to cause some confusion in the newer outsiders, but considerable hilarity amongst the locals and regular attenders from outside. Inventing silly, often profanely coarse, place names and equally ridiculous personal names vaguely connected to the satirical comedies of Monty Python, The Goons and Much Binding on the Marsh was an ongoing game they played often at each others’ expense. Their recently invented favourites were the villages of Shaver on the Motte, Hard on the Rod and Whacking on the Edge, the last of which came about as a result of a discussion concerning killing flies with a fly swatter. For some reason he wouldn’t explain Fluff in the Hinge was considered to be particularly amusing by Alf.

Hope's Light

Chapter 18

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Eighteen - Threads

“Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief.”

The promised rain had finally caught up with me around two miles from home. The shower was heavy, so much for the forecast of just the odd light shower.

Blake Medical Recovery Center, Napa Valley, Northern California:
Cindy and Sara’s Office:
Dakota was sitting at a little table that Sara had bought for her to color and play on her tablet while she worked. Sara knew Dakota sometimes didn’t like being alone and felt better if she was nearby. She looked over towards Dakota and could tell she was happy.