SS - Resurgam Falls

From “Crisis in Asgard” - Patrick Doyle

A river of stars flows down from the Dark Mountain and dazzles the eyes by day or night. The pool it flows from has never been seen, deep within the mountain’s cloud, but there are those who say it is birthed at the heart of the world. It whispers as it streams over the molten rock but thunders where it meets the Yellow River at Resurgam Falls. A sacred place that binds earth and sky, fire and sea, Resurgam Falls draws immortals and mortals alike, to the peril of the former and the salvation of the latter. Enter for worship or because of avarice, for ambition or simple wonder, it is the doom of all who come that they shall find what they truly seek.

Listen for the tread of those who gather now. A flutter of wings, a tentative step, the smallest of things can disturb the constant thunder for the thunder is music not noise and the melody is changed every time someone or something beholds the hallowed cascade.

Twirling down through the mist, a flower faerie flits, her eyes alight with mischief, heedless of the rocks and rapids. She comes to play a deadly game. A surge of heat blasts through a crevice on the western side and the Lord of Chaos appears. Curved horns, rugged mane, a grimace on his face, he comes for answers. Bubbles filter up from the churning of the waters in the estuary, Old Mother Turtle breaks the surface and swims with ancient strength toward the base of the Falls. She comes to die.

Three would be a fitting number for any story but in this one there is a fourth and a fifth: a brother and sister playing on the banks of the Yellow River.  Caught up in their own joys and fears, they do not know where they are about to tumble into or whom they are about to meet or what will happen to them there or how they will leave or when. Some of these things will not be discovered until the end of the story. But the why will be understood at once.

SS - Walking the Dog

From "C.L.U." - Daft Punk

**This story is mostly not true**

“So. It has come to this.” The girl with the bright red hair glared at him.


I debated the merits of coming to his rescue. But really, he had done this to himself. He had slept through his alarm. He had failed in his sworn duty. He deserved the consequences.


But then a wet nose prodded my arm and milk chocolate eyes gazed at me hopefully. He sat back on his haunches, his tail wagging. “I don’t love you,” I told him.


His tail wagged more.


I sighed theatrically and turned away. The dog wandered back over to where the siblings remained in frictitious tableau. I had no doubt the girl would care for the dog as she always did once she had finished verbally eviscerating her brother but something needed to be done now.


“Alright then!” I whistled for the dog’s attention. His ears perked up. “Wanna go for a walk?”


He leapt like a happy frog and pranced in circles around the room. That was his way of saying: YES, YES, YES, OH PLEASE! He wasn’t a terribly subtle creature but his exuberant affection was endearing.


The extra tesser suit in the exit chamber was a little roomy but it would do. I filled the outer pocket with doggy bags and attached the subspace link to the dog’s collar. “Ok!”


The first few stops were made to the dog’s favourite comets so he could mark them again. For a centuries old science experiment, he had retained disappointingly ordinary dog instincts and behaviour. Then we tessered to a nearby astroid field. I let the dog run loose. Other than an obnoxious school of space fish and a shy rock hunter, I didn’t meet anyone (for copyright reasons, I can't mention the bounty hunter and jedi knight that were attempting to murder one another). When he’d had a good sniff and seemed content, I linked us to the ship and we tessered back to the exit chamber.


The ship was silent when we returned but I assumed the brother was napping and the sister had gone to her basketball game (one more win within this galaxy and they’d move on to an all-galactic tournament within the time frame of the fourteenth millenium).


I wrote a silly short story and heated up leftover meatballs for dinner. The red headed girl arrived home and we sat down to eat together. After awhile it seemed strange that her lazy brother hadn’t joined us.


“Hey, should I go wake your brother?” I asked.


She raised her eyebrows, “he’s not sleeping. After you left, I threw him in the trash compactor.”


I turned to look at the chute next to the sink.


“Oh it’s too late.” She cleared her dishes from table and set them in the cleaner. “I already ran the cycle and jettisoned the refuse.” She licked red sauce from her fingers. “He shouldn’t have forgotten to walk the dog.”

SS - A Change in the Weather

From “I’ll Be Waiting” - Talia Perez

 

The dryad stepped out of her birch tree. Frost crunched beneath her bare feet and an icy wind stirred the leaves in her hair. Impervious to the chill, she moved up the hill. A chickadee winged around her and chittered greetings. She paused to let the bird alight on her head.

Garish sunlight turned the grass to diamonds as the trees became fewer and farther between. The brilliant purple sky did not hold a single cloud.

The chickadee sang a question.

“I think it has been winter long enough,” the dryad replied.

Another question.

“I don’t really care what the faerie might think.” The dryad reached the crest of the hill. She spread her arms and more leaves gently swirled away. “It is time.”

The frost melted slowly, running first in rivulets then in streams down the hill to where the trees woke from their slumber and shook the stiffness from their branches.

The chickadee took flight again. Her song rose and fell, mingling with the laughter of the dryad. Springtime, at last!