Very Short Stories: Judge of Mystics

August 2022

1. Ancient

Furrowed brows hovered over *ancient eyes, the bark of His skin mottled as old cedar charred from a fire. Finn inhaled CO2. Exhaled O2 in a strung out huff. Isolation shouldn’t marr a man of death so much, but there Caleb was. Alone and angry at the sensation.

2 study

Finn *studied the cavernous lines across Caleb’s forehead, agony imbued eyes. Downturned lips tensed in tandem with the pistol in Caleb’s hand. Slow, deliberate rise. The slip of willow curled at Finnegan’s feet shivered. Sneered. Beaten, him? Damn right, old bastard.

3 expert (Lieben Cycle)

Traffic died with engines. Demyan vaulted over the safety rail onto the highway. An orb of blue light hovered, glow stalled the machines. Faith in his *expertise, Demyan sprinted to safety. Two shadows readied guns, inhibited by the traffic’s constricted algorithm.

4 letter

“To the *letter” Finn shoved the bulk up the stairs, exhaled O2. A frat party roared, a woman shouted. Finnegan stopped shoving the unicorn up the stairs. “I gotta go settle that. You. You’re fucked.” “You signed! By the letter! Save me, save me!” “Not up the ladder!”

5 dialect

“Oooh, my bad.” “Karisma…” Caleb rubbed soot off his face, stepped over broken glass littered around the room like sand. He reached out, and the teal haired girl set the tome into his hand. “You didn’t do your homework.” “But I speak Norwegian…” “Dialect!” “Oh… ouch. Sorry, Dad.”

6 relation

“How did you do it?” “It in relation to what, Magni?” Raynar stuck his hands in his pockets, the ferry’s railing sliced a trail of condensation against his back. “Adapt. Ferries across treacherous channels, clothing off racks.” “Window dressings, the lot. I’m the same man.” “No.”

7 question

“If you asked better questions…” Raynar threw his arms up. Gravity tugged them down with lazy fingers. “It was a fair ask, stop pretending!” “Magni!” “What!?” “Dad can’t hook Dodge Rams up to his chariot!” “It’s technically possible!” “That wasn’t the quest-oh dear Lord. Run!”

8 telltale

“What is this… mockery of the skaldic arts!?” “Who gave my brother a phone!?” “There is no rhythm! No alliteration, this cannot be correct!” “Magni? That’s twitter, it’s not meant to be alliterative.” “Bah and fie! These humans are telling no worthy tales!” “Gimme the phone.”

9 undo

“It’s a knot. You love knots.” “Securing a ship to a dock and dealing with these confounded gordian menaces are two separate affairs, brother.” “Uhhuh?” “You mock me!? Me! Son of Thor!” “I, other son of Thor say thee… dude, it’s a shoelace. You shouldn’t need the bunny song.”

10 build

11 feel

12 event

13 protest

14 major

15 vanish

Red cheeks heralded the desire to *vanish. To run into a safe place and wait for night to hide the blush. She kept quiet until the voices of others called and in panic, she answered. Nothing, but the silence and the reverberant comfort of anonymous sound. Echo was home. #vssCollab

16 herald

“Used t’be, heralds were respected members of court!” “Mmhmm?” “Used t’be I’d walk in to an escort, flower petals raining from the sky!” “Mmhmm.” “Used t’be my news shook mountains, rendered throngs of humanity mute from its’ gravitas!” “Grandpa Hyperion? Join the ‘gram already.”

17 ignore

“I choose to ignore this message.” Karisma tip toed past the sign on her father’s door. One item was worth risking the runes. Crack-snap! Karisma went still. Bailed behind a roman bench. If she could reach it and scurry. Dad’s birthday had to be listed on his ID! Checkmate!

18 ban

“Takes a living and dead lot to get *banned from Finn’s Pub, but you my nuisance managed it.” “Come now, Colin! We’re mates! Let it all blow over, it was just a dance! One dance!” The doppelgänger rested his ectoplasmic hands on his hips. “Y’drank Finn’s last ’64 whiskey! Out!”

19 avarice

“This time, I’ll learn to swim.” Icarus consumed *avarice like the second finest wine. Glutting on the intense thrill, he strapped a parachute to his back. Pride soured, when his father chartered a boat this round. Icarus traded his wings for water skis, chute on standby. #vssCollab

20 war

War cupped the frail infant’s body between palm and thumb. He lowered his head, cooed love songs memorized from his lover’s cool attitudes. “Remind me to take video. Put it on socials, make bank.” “We don’t need a bank, Dite. We have her.” “Wow. Grandpa’s a sucker, little one.”

21 quarter

The pixie’s quarter was a caterwaul of misstepped music and cackling fae. Finnegan dove, lost in the noise. Vacations were all the better, when mischief meant abandoning a wily unicorn in a land of whimsy. “Finn! Help! Get me out of here!” “You said by the letter! What’s more intense than this!? Haha! Buh-bye Bob!”

22 state

23 precedent

24 unearth

25 gargantuan

26 viral

27 sweep

28 trace

29 rights

30 navigate

31 just

vssCollab

Based on characters from the Judge of Mystics Saga

Type

Manuscript, Magical (Tome/Scroll)

Authoring Date

2022

The Judge of Mystics Saga

Char & Ash

Son of Abel

Book of Revels