Haylock

77 - The Deep

With the midday sun beaming down from above, waves crashed on the rocky shore before me. A gust kicked up, carrying drops of water from the crashing waves to strike against my legs. Combined, it was a feast for the senses, yet I barely registered it.

I had a war to wage.

The fish tried to tug the rod from my hands, so I gripped even tighter, the handle creaking within my grasp. The hooked creature kicked with mighty beats of its tail at slow, steady intervals. An undeniable fact m...

76 - Bribery

“You’re sure this is a good idea, Fischer?”

I stood tall, peeking over the wooden tabletop I’d borrowed from the woodworkers. “Yeah, why’s that?”

She looked from me, to the portal torn in space on the other side of the planter box, and back to me. She quirked a brow. “Do I really need to verbalize my concerns?”

She had a good point. Before I could make that concession, however, Claws—who was once more donning her shell-shaped hard hat—chirped for the wo...

75 - Finding Purpose

As we strode over grass and between trunks, a slight breeze rustled the canopy above us. The scents of earth and decaying leaf litter drifted on the air, dulling the edges of my troubled thoughts.

Maria gazed up at the gaps of blue sky filtering through the trees. “Something about the forest here always makes me feel... calm.”

I looked up, focusing on the leaves’ hypnotic movement. “I know what you mean.”

A powerful gust blew, making the scene chaotic for a few sec...

74 - Better Late Than Never

The taste of lemon danish lingered on my tongue. It was sweet, morish, and light, yet insignificant compared to the silence that stretched between everyone in the bakery. Gazes were turned toward walls, the floor, and random kitchen equipment, studiously avoiding each other.

Sue drank deep of a coffee cup, swirling the liquid in her mouth before swallowing. She cleared her throat. “So, I take it you really aren’t planning on killing us?”

I grimaced. “No, Sue. Even if I did...

73 - Adverse Effects

Beneath the sandy soil surrounding Tropica village, a prince woke from a restful sleep.

He wished he hadn’t.

The moment he was conscious, the storm of thoughts returned. They crashed down on Trent like a tidal wave. Each day since he’d been turned into a cultivator was worse than the last, the unbearable weight of knowledge only ever increasing. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and willing the thoughts to leave him be.

They didn’t—they never did.

He began pacing the...

72 - Arts and Crafts

Something light smacked into my back, making a noise like sheets flapping in the wind. Borks let out a yelp and dashed away at incredible speed, his back legs trying to overtake the front ones. When my assailant let out a panicked honk, I knew what had fallen from the heavens to strike me down.

“... Pelly?”

She shook her body, puffing her feathers out as she got back to her feet. I raised an eyebrow at Borks, who had run to the other side of the clearing in his retreat. He was...

71 - The Birds and the Bees

Sequestered deep beneath the surface of Tropica, a grin came to Ellis’s face.

“Wondrous...” he said to himself, checking the results again.

He carefully removed the section of bone from the acid with a metal tong, and just as he went to put it in the cleansing mixture, the door was thrown open. Claws dashed into the room, a whirl of energy and fur. She stood there looking frazzled, gesturing out of the room and chirping insistently. It had something to do with… food? Ellis...

A week-long hiatus

Hello, friends.

I'm taking an unplanned hiatus from today. I'm rather unwell at the moment with an infection in my chest and both inner ears, along with a cheeky perforated eardrum. This isn't a woe-is-me thing, just letting you know that I didn't make the decision lightly.

Sorry for springing it on you without warning; I assumed I would get better and could continue pumping out words, but my body is telling me to get some rest.

I hope you all have the best holiday season, a...

70 - Hatchling

In the fading afternoon light, Cinnamon woke from a wonderful nap atop the headland rocks. She stretched her body out, lounging in the cushions comprising the nest she lay in. The female pelican hatchling she was curled around let out a soft peep, complaining at being woken. Cinnamon peered out at her charge, taking in the down covering the pelican’s entire body. It was almost the same color as her own cinnamon fur, and was, frustratingly, even softer. The bird had grown an incredible amoun...

69 - Future Plans

A swath of purple and orange colors painted the sky in the predawn light. Beneath that beautiful vista, Maria and I raced over the sands. Borks loped between us, his golden fur streaked back in the wind. I reached the gate first and put our race aside for a moment to hold it open for her. Without even a thank you, she sprinted past, poking her tongue out at me.

Borks leaped clean over it. As with Maria, he didn’t pause for a moment. I pouted, then grinned. Taking off at a sprint, I sw...

68 - Invaluable Data

The warm light of magical fire lit the way as Ellis strode with purpose down the church’s hallway.

His attention had been divided over the past couple of days, but now that the trade route was set into motion and Roger had ascended, there was only one more task to take care of before he could devote himself entirely to processing the spiritual beast. He took a deep breath, enjoying the smell that wafted up from the tray in his hands.

“Everything okay, Ellis?” Keith asked fro...

67 - Psychological Warfare

A few hours earlier, we sat before a campfire. The smell of deep-fried fish was in the air, and Maria’s giggles joined the faint sound of waves lapping the shoreline. Her joy was a soothing balm to the uncertainty of the day gone, and I watched the lines of her face intently, drinking them in.

Barry shook his head, more than a little amusement on his visage.

“This is why I said you are diabolical, Fischer. What is wrong with your brain that you can think of a name like that?�...

66 - Birds of a Feather

As the sun rose ever higher in the sky, its light stole through gaps in the canopy above. When I’d first come across this patch of grass, it had been a clearing; the space around the blue-trunked tree was free of flora other than grass. Now, four lemon trees stood, all growing bigger by the day. Their branches were filled with glossy leaves, bright-yellow lemons, and countless bees that flew between small white flowers. A soft wind gusted above us, shaking the leaves and making a pleasant s...

65 - Could Have Gone Worse

As I lay in the shade with a sausage dog on his back between my arm and body, I drifted in and out of sleep. Each time my awareness returned to the waking world, I smiled and rubbed Borks’s belly. The filtered sunlight peeking through Lieutenant Colonel Lemony Thicket’s canopy was just right, providing the perfect amount of warmth to counteract the chilly forest air. All things considered, it was a wonderful day to be ambushed.

I cracked an eye as I felt Barry coming.

64 - Determination

The room I woke up in was so cold that I couldn’t feel my face. I shimmied further under the covers, and when I felt Maria’s warmth at my side, a wave of endorphins coursed through me. With my stomach fluttering, I rolled to my side and put an arm around her, running my hands through her long fur.

... Long fur?

I opened my eyes to see a Golden Retriever grinning at me with complete contentedness, his eyes half-lidded with sleep.

“Good morning, Borks,” I said...

63 - Expansion

Barry watched over Ellis’s shoulder as the door opened, revealing the room beyond.

Various tubs lined the space. There was an odd contraption on the wall, but as Ellis walked over and pulled it down, Barry understood what it was—a drying rack. On the side of the room, a series of faucets sprouted from the wall. Ellis picked up a tub and turned one of the taps on. A clear, viscous liquid poured out.

“Remarkable...” Ellis reached for the pencil in his pocket, but when he did...

62 - Renovations

Warmth flowed through me as I slowly returned to the waking world.

A comfortable weight rested on my arm. When I opened my eyes, a small smile came to my face. Maria was still asleep, on her side and curled into my chest. We’d held each other in the early afternoon hours, both content to simply exist with each other. She’d fallen asleep before me, and it must have claimed me soon after.

Careful not to wake her, I rested a hand atop her head, caressing her mess of sandy-blond h...

61 - When Stars Collide

It was, by all measurable metrics, a wonderful morning in Tropica. The sun was bright and warm, banishing the night’s chill. A soft breeze blew, giving the air a fresh quality. I just had some sort of awakening, and as a result, I was more aware than ever of the world around me. I had just told the most beautiful woman I’d ever known that I loved her. She had said it back.

That said woman’s father was currently bobbing and weaving toward me—hands raised and ready to hit me with ...

60 - Cultivator

I spun for what felt like an eternity in the whitewash. There was neither up nor down, and I fought against the disorientation, my limbs extending in an attempt to find purchase. The ocean water was freezing, but I barely felt it—I had to get out, had to get a breath, and with each passing second, the anxiety at my loss of control increased. I lashed out with my legs and swept my hands through the water.

Finally, I made contact. When my fingers finally brushed solid sand, I spun and k...

59 - Breakthrough

With the sun guiding our way, Barry, Theo, and I walked toward the ocean. The soft breeze blowing toward us was cool against my skin, the cold of night not yet banished by the day’s warmth. The air went still, letting the sound of softly crashing waves reach us. I focused on the sand beneath my feet and the whitewash calling out to us as I thought of how to start.

Before I knew it, we were at the water. We sat down just above the lapping tide, close enough that it would reach our feet...

58 - A Friendly Chat

As we strode beneath the crescent moon, I frowned at the load of iron ore now covering the tabletop.

“These rocks are way uglier than the lizard, Fergus.”

He grinned at me.

“True, but you can’t turn a lizard into cages, can you?”

“Certainly not with that attitude,” Maria replied, trying to give a snooty look but falling short.

Duncan pouted with just as much theatric failure as Maria, his smile peaking through. He turned to Fergus.

“No one a...

57 - Sticky Fingers

A soft drizzle was all that remained of the storm as we dashed over the sands. The sun peered out from between clouds, glinting off the water droplets and casting a vast rainbow in the distance. I smiled at it, wondering if everyone else felt the same level of peace. When I glanced at Ellis, that disillusion was swiftly dispelled. He ran with his knees high, his entire body holding a hint of manic energy.

I raised my eyebrows at Peter and Fergus, who had arrived at my home just after th...

56 - Natural Resource

The stale air assaulted my senses, made even more noticeable by the fresh smell of rain I’d been running through for the past half hour. The storm raged outside, filling the cavern with its roar.

I’d accidentally obliterated a stack of boulders in my misadventures, and I reached a hand out, running a finger along the vein of metal sitting inside one of them. The metal was smooth and cold to the touch. Maria knelt down beside me, also running a hand down it.

“Silver...?” sh...

55 - Cannonball

As a bejeweled hand sailed toward my head—extremely slowly, might I add—I marveled at the rings adorning it. Four bands of precious metal and one of—was that iron?—adorned his fingers and thumb. Each of the gold and silver rings held a single pearl, the sun reflecting from their smooth faces. Set in the band of iron on his ring finger, three of the biggest pearls I’d ever seen stared at me as they crawled through space toward my noggin. If he was going to give me a good sma...

54 - Dichotomy

My skin prickled with nervous sweat as Maria and I jogged across the sand, traveling as fast as we could without revealing that we were cultivators. Brigadier Borks loped beside us, his eyes and ears alert. As the fields surrounding us turned to stone-craft buildings and cobbled streets, something about the village seemed... odd. The sun was just breaching the horizon, casting an orange glow across all we saw. The town was usually bustling by this point, farmers off to tend their fields and c...

53 - Man's Best Friend

Like a bat out of hell, Warrant Officer Williams flew flipper-first into the nightmare doggo.

I had but a moment to fear for the new arrival’s wellbeing, but then Bill made contact. He pinwheeled away from the hound’s lithe form like a pigeon flung from a windshield. The dog yelped in panic and his hindquarters lowered as he spun. Bill, still spinning like a feathered beyblade and honking in panic, slammed back-first into the sand ten meters away. He scrambled to his webbed feet, pu...

Dog name? Dog name!

Alright, gang. You know the drill. Let's say - purely hypothetically, of course - that there were a hellhound that needed a new name.
I have a name picked out that sparks joy, but I'd be remiss if I didn't let you have a crack.
Any and all comments will be considered and may be put to a poll before the name is published.

52 - An Evil Form

Inky tendrils spread from the paw that stepped through, so dark that they stood out against the black of night.

A lithe form poured after it. The dog-shaped creature hunched, gathering power in its limbs and revealing a serpent where its tail should be. Two onyx eyes roamed around the gathering, stopping only when they fixed on me. Its gaze narrowed with recognition, and it hunched further, dipping its shoulders as it prepared to strike.

Before it could attack, all hell broke loos...

51 - An Unexpected Guest

The following month was perhaps the most restful period since my arrival in Tropica, despite the growth of Barry’s congregation and their escalating shenanigans.

We’d run out of metal to make more oyster cages after only a day, and it took us a mere few hours the following morning to secure the seventeen cages in the shallows of the bay. Maria had unlocked the blacksmithing skill, and as with woodworking, she found it a relaxing hobby. We added it to the roster of activities, findin...

50 - Calculated Loss

With the morning sun filtering down from above—and giggles flowing freely from my mouth—I ran for my life.

“I’m sorry! I was only joking!”

“Get him, Claws!” Maria yelled, her arms pumping as she sprinted after me.

Lightning sprouted from Claws’s body. She kicked off the tree’s trunk, extended her arms, soared toward me—and flopped onto her belly a mere meter from her launchpad. Lieutenant Colonel Lemony Thicket had absorbed the energy when Claws tried to ...