Crimson Balloons and Broken Souls
On the stone we sat, back-to-back, as though the world had split us in half and forced the two pieces to lean against one another to keep from collapsing alt...
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Standalone Tales
Fifteen illustrated stories appear on each archive page, newest first.
The story archive
Standalone Tales
672 published tales
The Pumpkin Sprite
The Brat of the Patch They called her The Pumpkin Sprite, though if you asked anyone who had suffered her company, the term “sprite” was far too generous. Sp...
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Acorn Express Airways
Boarding & Questionable Safety Briefing Sprig Thistlewick, professional optimist and part-time mushroom taxidermist, had finally decided to launch his ai...
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Hammer of the High Skies
There are rules for gnomes. You don’t speak loudly in public unless you’re selling onions. You don’t drink before noon unless it’s mead (in which case it do...
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Tooth & Twinkle
The Recruitment of Reginald Reginald the Gnome had always considered himself something of a specialist in doing as little as possible with as much flair as p...
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The Acorn Avenger
The Gnome, The Nut, and the Nonsense Somewhere in the leafy middle of nowhere, between the edge of “don’t go in there” and “oh hell, why did we come in here...
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Snuggle Scales
Of Blossoms, Boredom, and Blunt Claws Snuggle Scales was not her given name. No self-respecting dragon would hatch with a name that sounded like it belonged ...
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Blossomfire Hatchling
The Hatchling in the Meadow In the world’s forgotten folds—where maps grew skittish and cartographers quietly pretended certain regions didn’t exist—there l...
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Nebula-Winged Wisdom
The Owl Who Knew Too Much In the beginning — before calendars, before clocks, before that awkward invention of “daylight savings time” — there was only the ...
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Squeaky Clean Scales
The Bath Time Rebellion Dragons, as you may know, are not typically creatures of hygiene. They’re more “roll in ashes and singe your eyebrows” than “minty f...
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The Leviathan of Crimson Fins
The Contract, the Boat, and the Bad Idea I signed the contract the way every bad adventure begins: with a cheap pen, a good whiskey, and a promise I absolut...
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Guardian of the Painted Feathers
The Night the Forest Blinked The forest didn’t go dark; it went quiet—the kind of hush that makes even the moths put on slippers. High on a braid of oak limb...
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Ritualist of the Forgotten Forge
The Circle No One Sweeps The village had long since stopped asking why their forge was haunted. Honestly, it was easier to pretend that the glowing sigil ca...
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Daughter of the Flameveil
The Emberling Who Wouldn't Behave In a desert so old it forgot its own name, where the sun whispered secrets to the dunes and the wind told only dirty jokes...
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Guardian Cub of Enchanted Realms
The Branch, the Bright Eyes, and the Bad Timing The first rule of the Enchanted Forest is simple: don’t lick anything that glows. The second rule is more of...
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