Winter’s Rose
Dec25

Winter’s Rose

(Town Square, somewhen in Kelfour’s Landing.) The back-story for this seasonal song goes something like this: A young man (I am omitting his name to shield him from permanent embarrassment) brought me a rose. Greywulf looked on, slightly amused. Out of desperation, trying to preserve the young man’s thoughtfulness and his dignity, I did the only thing I could think of. I thanked him for the lovely rose in the dead of...

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Don’t Cry For Me, Elanthia
Oct28

Don’t Cry For Me, Elanthia

(27 October 2014: by Benjamin Breen at TheAppendix.net) What follows is a reconstruction of a lost archive. As our collective memories of virtual communities age—as we move from digital pasts stretching back a few years to ones stretching back decades—they begin to acquire the patina of nostalgia that comes with generational time. The internet is old now. Our memories of it are becoming old too. And experiences online that seemed...

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Torched By Midnight
Sep22

Torched By Midnight

The Landing beckoned me from somewhere in the past. Feeling the weight of memory upon my soul, I could not help but step through the gates. Even though the music was a bright ballad, it was a struggle to feel it within my very soul. What was warm, was too warm, what was familiar, scratched and tore at memories long protected by their own walls. My feet made their own way upon streets that somehow knew me. Not just the cobblestones,...

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Of All Ghosts …
Sep18

Of All Ghosts …

They were not my eyes, but they were all I had to see through. I could not keep my emotions from her, and that was unfortunate for her… The streets were dark. The crescent of a beautiful golden moon reflected in the damp street from the day’s rain. The town, not really a city proper, was full of old things that did not seem old. With my first step upon the cobblestones inside the city gates, I felt the weight of memory here....

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The End of the ICE Age
Sep17

The End of the ICE Age

(Sometime long ago…in Kelfour’s Landing) She went to the window in the quiet morning. There was snow and ice everywhere, the window pane had even frosted on the inside. Brushing the icy coating away, she peered out at an almost empty town. There were things littering the streets, discarded things. Sometimes she caught the glimpse of movement, but when she stared hard at the spot, there was nobody there. It was quieter than...

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The Break-Up Song
Sep16

The Break-Up Song

His name was Mohrgan Silversteel. I was young, and Kelfour’s Landing was all we had. Good days, those, until we parted. No drama, no yelling, just the inevitability that something had changed.   Sweetest prince, he came to me, Silvered enchantments from his tongue fell. And in the oldest of magics, the Fair One smiled, He smiled at me and thus began the spell. But Mortal I, had only a musician’s ear, For the lilting...

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The Old Man
Sep15

The Old Man

The old man had various homes in the First Worlde, but finally, he wandered out into the woods past the Roper Pool, way out in the forest, and made his home in a tree. There he sat in a rocker with his cat. The dull trolls in the forest could not climb trees, and almost everyone left him alone there because of it. He would tell you stories. Here is one of them: “A story? Hmmm, let’s see. Say, who sits on the Council of...

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Lost to the Dark
Sep14

Lost to the Dark

(Somewhen … Squire Bluffs) “Must you go?”, she asks, her eyes speaking more than the words could say. He nods, and turns to leave. Glancing back over his shoulder he looks her in the eyes and moves his hands ever so slightly. With a haunted look in his eyes, almost pleading, his image fades in front of her and he is gone. Now she can weep.   With twinkling eyes he smiles and speaks. I listen, or appear to be,...

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