Epic Fantasy Short

A time so very long ago decided the very fate of our race. Men and women once survived below the Earth's crust. Our faces, banished from the warmth of the sun, and left to the darkness and the cold stone. Our tale has been told so many times by so many different people. Yet, no one heeds the warnings, and the message of the tale is lost from generation to generation. The time is coming again, oh so very soon it will be upon us. Darkness will fall upon the Earth, and one of the five races will reign supreme.

What do you do when your best friend is three stories tall, breathes fire, and might be forgetting that you're his friend? That's the dilemma in this short story about an aging dragonrider and his dragon.

Maya and a group of survivors embark on a dangerous journey to find a device that could save humanity. Along the way, they face challenges and discover the true meaning of sacrifice and courage....

Across the Azkhantian steppe, warrior women ride to battle against foes both human and supernatural. From the world of The Seven-Petaled Shield come four fantasy tales, originally published in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword & Sorceress. Prophecy links a mother and daughter in an unbreakable bond. A young woman defies tradition to become a shaman. When twins are magically divided, the survivor searches for the other half of her soul. A warrior woman discovers that to wield a magical blade dishonorably carries a heavy price.

Quite long after the world we occupy, when man reaches the very heights of decadence and treachery, the first great breaking upends dominance and sends us into the ashes of failed greatness. Fire and stone ground down the vast masses into flickering tribes of roving survivors, the world unfriendly to those solemn few who so tirelessly remain. And yet, as always, humanity survives...

Welcome to the magical land of Snowybrook Vale! While you're here, enjoy good company, fine drink, and elegant lodging, all to be had at Vale's premier vacation spot, Snowybrook Inn. But if you venture into the countryside, watch out for shadows! Because Goblins lurk behind every rock, and Imperial soldiers are always around, looking to teach unruly frontiersmen a lesson.

Dywnia, speaker for Thynitic, seeks allies to fight the humans who are threatening to destroy the forest of Kilenter and the elves who live there.

A beleaguered dryad in search of safe harbor in a land ravaged by an invasive fungus finds herself at odds with a young dryad who wields the blasphemous magic of men. The two of them must find a way to work together before a vicious sorcerer hunts them down and puts an end to them both.

Old Man's War author John Scalzi's sendup of the heroic fantasy genre, a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story. An over-the-top, humorous short story representing the prologue for a "future" book (written as an April Fool's Joke) published on Tor.com. The title of the series and book...

In this collection of dark-fantasy flash-fiction stories, Sir Bryan Wulfram of Erdenwald continues his journey to the Starlight Monastery, where he will lay the remains of a dead friend to rest. He has hired three different mercenary companies to guard himself and the 20 orphans from Pelastrios City who have taken the journey with him, and he will need all of their strongest and bravest warriors to survive the hidden enemies who threaten him and his mission at every turn.

After escaping the harsh desert with his fox companion, Benjamin, an elf with amnesia finds relief in a large grassland. The elf soon discovers a lizard-like creature who steals his magical dagger. The weapon holds secrets that the elf has yet to discover. In the course of recovering his dagger, the elf discovers a small human town in dire need. Their food supply is cut off after their farms were invaded by the lizard creatures. The elf decides to help the humans and ward off the threat before the town starves.

The Lost Elf is a medieval fantasy series about an elf who struggles to understand his true identity. The elf wakes to find a strange environment for which he is ill prepared for. He must learn how to survive by learning about who he is and discovering his strange powers. Unable to remember anything about himself or how he arrived at the desert, the elf struggles to adapt to the reality he must face. His loneliness is quickly shattered after discovering the power to communicate with nature through his mind.

Book seven in the saga of Sir Bryan. In this dark fantasy collection of flash fiction stories, Sir Bryan embarks on the months-long journey from Pelastrios City to Starlight Monastery. Along for the ride are the adventurous Bagwood Blighters: Pelastios orphans who were drawn to Sir Bryan's goodness and nobility. As a precaution, Sir Bryan has employed a number of mercenary companies to assist in escorting his young charges safely, including Captain Caecilia Sidonia, who may have a deeper connection to Sir Bryan than either of them realize.

A name. All she needed was a name. The sign on the door read: Hot Yoga. Certainly that wasn’t the troll’s name. She’d have to knock. When the door opened, she saw a sight which she would never be able to unsee, even with the aid of a forgetting spell. Yet the mission must continue.

An innocent Human child is murdered by an Elven artisan in the village of Foxglove Falls, under Lorewyn's jurisdiction as Constable. With the child's parents and the rest of the village outraged - and rightfully so - the administration of justice falls into the hands of a divided Elven tribunal...with Lorewyn's reputation and a promise she made on the line. Tristyn Caelbryn, a young novice Mage, is faced with a dilemma when the Nullification Act is passed in New Sylestia by the Elven council, preventing humans from continuing to practice the magical arts.

Word has spread that the Howler King has been defeated, though many of his magically created intelligent wolves still roam the land. Slowly, people in the kingdom have tried to recover from the war and live somewhat normal lives. However, some learn that no matter how much they want to put the past behind them, the terrible events of the war haunt them still.

The war of the wizards has ended. What will happen to the golden fairies now? They were enslaved for six years and forced to create golden wands for the Zandles. Will the Ardoors be any different? In any case, without their magic, their lights are fading fast. And without their freedom, death is imminent....

War has come to the human kingdoms of Parth! From the capital cities and castles to the most remote mountain villages, the Kingdoms of Man, the Elven Enclaves, and the Dwarven Dynasties are all under attack from the Dread Lord Vargo Duuk and his hordes of barbarians, demons and orcs.

The sleeping gods have awakened before their time, disturbed from their slumber by a terrible force of corruption that has seeped into their resting bodies and twisted them into immortal beasts of madness and horror. A fallen cleric rises and takes arms against the tide of corruption, wielding the only weapon ever forged from the bones of an immortal, God Ender, a sword to rend the flesh of gods.

This story originally appeared in Mindflights Magazine in Sept. 2008.

The City on the Rock is dying. It rests on Salan, Captain of the Tower Guard, to find out why.