Love From Afar

Lauren

Bonfire

Photo: lizandryan.com

      By the time Lauren and Kat had arrived, the fire towered over the house. On the drive up the dirt road that pretended to be a driveway, it looked as if the home had been set ablaze. Fifty-three people littered the backyard with nothing guiding them but a roaring bonfire that marked the midpoint between Mark’s house and the utter darkness filled with a thick forest of soldier pines and bramble bushes. The house occupied another group of ten; a loud game of beer pong in the kitchen seemed to take precedence over the cleanliness of the abode. The kitchen was buried beneath plates and cups lined with crusted food and stagnant liquids. Red plastic cups dotted here and there, rank with the smell of warm keg beer. Kat parked her Toyota Tacoma in the front yard and started toward the house. Lauren followed quickly behind. Two men holding several red cups greeted them at the door.

Banished Hex

Photo: Terry Tabors/Dash Files

Prologue

Beyond the Volcanoes of Corallik, the wet mud and ash road finally broke at the edge of the barren plateau. A bottomless cavity stopped the four travelers from continuing their journey on horseback. The tired horses gave a temperamental whinny as the sheets of rain cascaded down from the dark skies; black clouds were momentarily ripped white by bright slashes of lightning. One of the weary riders, a colossal man with blue eyes, dismounted and looked through the storm. Beyond the precipice was a large and ominous tower, a spiraled structure of twisted metal stretched outward in a hazy gleam of grey metal.  Standing above the tower was a hooded figure no taller than a young boy. His grey beard, however, gave away his age. In his eyes was stillness, a red stillness that both welcomed and despised the wanderers’ approach.