So as my first “new content” now that I’m back I offer up an answer to this week’s Monday Mixer Challenge from The Latinum Vault. In a Monday mixer you must choose a noun, verb and adjective from the lists provided and use them in a bit of micro-fiction exactly 150 words long. This week I chose the noun slew, the verb ensorcell and the adjective vainglorious. According to Scrivener it’s 150 words.

The Fall of Agashan

The reign of Agashan, Lord of Stars, was a terrible time. A tyrant, Agashan wielded the mightiest of magics in his rise to dominance. He needed no army. Ensorcelled by the sorcerer family member fought family member, neighbor cursed neighbor. Hardened soldiers fell at the wave of his hand. Indeed, when some few of us so-called heroes came to face him on the fields of Talshin he but flicked his wrist and the slew of the land beneath our feet fell us. Toppled and strewn about, we looked up in awe at the sorcerer. Agashan’s power was awesome, indeed, but he had became vainglorious. Too certain of his position, he never saw, while we lay on the ground at his feet, the tiny Gorip, the frogling prince, leap from tall grass to drive an almost invisibly slim blade into the back of his neck, ending his terrible reign forever.

I’ve got a new flash fiction story here for you. This is another response to a Chuck Wendig Friday Flash Fiction Challenge. He provided a list of 10 words and we had to choose 5. They weren’t just to appear as words in the story but to become five elements of the story. I chose the words library, undertaker, cube, envelope and storm.

The result makes me want to run out and watch a David Lynch movie. If that’s the sort of vibe you like then perhaps you’ll enjoy a story of

The Day The Undertaker Came

The Undertaker came to The Library at the beginning of the end. He came to prepare us, though we didn’t know it at the time. He wore sable robes that swallowed light and dimmed the corridors as he walked through them. If he had a face we never saw it; he kept his hood pulled high and forward like an opaque veil.

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Regular drill here. I wrote this story in response to a Chuck Wendig flash fiction challenge. It’s a little longer than usual because this time our word limit was raised to 1500. And I’m glad it was because the first draft, which I just wrote over the last couple hours all in one go, came in at 2000! I took my editors scalpel to it though and pared it down to just under the limit. As usual I’ll give you the details on the random elements I got after the story.

The Box

Our family’d had the box forever. As a kid I’d felt unreasonably proud about it. No other family in Bunker Complex 10 had one like it.

Looking back I realize it was a stupid thing to be proud of. It wasn’t even useful. It didn’t open, so you couldn’t put anything inside it. It was practically sacred to us, so you couldn’t use it for a table or desk. No, it just sat there taking up space. I was proud all the same. Who wouldn’t be proud to own something that could save the world.

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It’s been awhile since I wrote some flash/micro fiction for one of the weekly contests. This little story is for entry over at The Latinum Vault for their Monday Mixer contest. It had to be exactly 150 words and include a location, thing and adjective chosen from lists provided. I picked cabana, cabachon and intrinsic.

Here’s the story (untitled):

Tony Twist lounged poolside in his cabana. It looked well stocked with top-shelf booze, quality girls and low-class thugs.

Looked fun, but his smile disappeared when he saw me. “Drake, I’ve been waiting. I’m not good at waiting,” he said.

“Looks like you do it well enough.”

“You got any leads yet?”

“Better,” I said and took out the cool stone from my pocket. His eyes went saucer-wide before I tossed it over.

“The girl?”

“Settle for the cabachon, Tony. You got the pretty stone. Forget the pretty girl.”

“She was an intrinsic part of our deal.”

“So give me half of what we agreed and we’ll call it even.”

“She stole from me.”

“You’ll get over it. Payment in two days Tony, or she sings some songs downtown.”

I laughed as I walked away. Tony’d play, he’d bragged a bit too much to Claire not to.

Ok, so this is another piece of flash fiction written for a challenge put up at Chuck Wendig’s blog terribleminds. I decided to get this one done early instead of last minute. This week’s challenge was to pick a photo from among this amazing set of 24 that you should definitely check out to be the inspiration of our bits of flash. These photos were all of real places that look fantastical and I think I could write a flash piece for each one. I just might eventually. For this challenge though I picked the photo of Mt. Roraima, Venezuela. I immediately thought – awesome place for a Korean-influenced wuxia battle with a hint of Lovecraft. Yeah my brain’s a bit weird, but to be fair – I’ve been thinking of combining these elements for awhile now – this challenge and that picture just gave me the push to actually do it.

The Story (Currently Untitled)

Mists and clouds surrounded the flat peak like an island in the sky. Only one figure rose higher than the moss and lichen on the barren mountaintop. Choi Eunae stood at the peak’s edge reflecting.

Keeping a hand on her sword’s hilt she strode purposefully forward until she stood in its center. The winds rose loud around her and whipped her long, straight black hair free of it’s simple tie to fly wildly about her. Eunae ignored the wind, and her hair, and the brilliant glare of sunlight reflected off the tops of clouds. Bowing her head, she said a quiet prayer and drew her sword. She held it with her left hand, resting point down in a patch of moss, and pulled the first small pouch out of her robe with her right.

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It’s been awhile but here is a flash piece for today’s terribleminds challenge. I’m getting it in about ten minutes or so late, but it’ll have to do.

Breaking Point

Captain Daniel Jones cursed the bedlam that was keeping him from cracking Lord Foghill’s safe. Even with the ear coverings and soundscope he’d been provided he could not make out the tiny clicks of the tumblers with racket being raised by the city. He couldn’t blame the people, the bombardment of the cannons and the assault on the walls was ratcheting up to an intensity that could only mean the Prince’s forces were pushing to break the siege and smash the city once and for all.

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