Words and Worlds by Carl Bystrom
Magical Thinking for Androids and Other Future Beings
The robe slipped down his back. His scars startled me, three ripples stretching from shoulder to waist. Sliced, lashed, or perhaps scratched by some three-fingered beast.
Respect didn’t sway my mission. My lips pursed and blew.
Falling, his hand raised to the sting in his neck.
I bowed silently into the shadows.
Reading Time: < 1 minute
Hazel rattled the gate.
“Don’t do that,” her little brother scolded. “The bees’ll come.”
“The Beezle?” She mocked back. “Is that a monster?”
“No,” he replied frowning. “The bees in those boxes. They’ll sting us.”
Hazel peered at the cubes standing in the yard. Maybe they were hives. Maybe someone dressed in white coveralls and a mask collected honey every morning. She’d never seen them. Her whole life the place stood empty.
“You better just hush up or the Beezle’s gonna get you!”
*
In the windowless basement of the abandoned mansion, as if manifested by a magic word, something stirred.
Reading Time: 2 minutes
“Tell me about your home.”
“Nazarai?” Azi queried back, knowing it wasn’t the answer she wanted.
“No,” Meredith responded, “your true home.”
Azi, compelled by the magics woven through their bones, would always give Meredith what she wanted. “I was born on a water moon.”
Meredith raised her eyebrows. “Island dwellers?”
“No islands,” Azi said. ”Not that I can recall. Just water. My tribe were nomads. Pirates, maybe. I was taken before my tenth turn so my memories are vague.” Continue reading “The Entire Sea #microfiction”