Speculative-fiction Stories

Bastovar is a city of quiet wars. Above its rain-soaked streets, people gather in warm cafés, music drifts through the night, and life appears almost ordinary. Below the surface, mercenaries fight in hidden arenas, Variant powers shape the balance of the world, and the ancient dynasties hold the city together through fragile alliances. What begins as a seemingly stranger listening from the corner of a room slowly becomes something deeper-something dangerous than either of them understands. Because in Bastovar, even a song can start a war. And the Wolves may have just found the one person they can't walk away from.

The 2234 Universe gathers wild, thought‑provoking stories from every corner of a hard‑won Solar System. In the asteroid belt people struggle and strive. On Ariel's ice, a battered outpost fights to reboot its lungs and its conscience. In Caleb's Vein, a belt crew chases a river of living metal through the dark, trading sleep and skin for one shot at freedom. In Ethan's Saviour, a burned‑out responder on half‑pressured Mars gambles everything on a rescue that could redeem a city or expose its lie. These are hard science fiction tales built from real physics, ruthless economics, and stubborn hope. Mass drivers sing, contracts bite, robots keep score, and people still fall in love. From frost‑bright moons to dust‑red plains, every page asks the same question: what is a future worth if we forget the people in it? Facts, opportunities, and souls, all lit by the cold bright sun of 2234. Welcome to the World of 2234.

When a colossal portal tears open in Ginza, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces step through into an unfamiliar world-only to find themselves in the Kingdom of Vale under a shattered moon. What begins as a fragile alliance between First Lieutenant Yōji Itami's squad and Team RWBY is quickly thrown into chaos when a second Gate erupts in California. Drawn by the revolutionary potential of Dust, the United States launches a massive military expedition, rapidly escalating tensions into full-blown conflict. As standard military tactics stall against Aura-enhanced Huntsmen and guerrilla warfare, American forces resort to devastating conventional weapons of terror-deploying the GBU-43/B MOAB and GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator. The resulting environmental destruction and civilian toll trigger a moral turning point that fractures military cohesion and pushes the JSDF and Team RWBY into a desperate struggle to survive. Caught between the horrors of industrial warfare and the rising threat of the Grimm, soldiers and Huntsmen alike must decide what it truly costs to protect two worlds on the brink of total annihilation.

An ominous short story of first contact told by the visitors themselves. Memory is rewritten, truth erased, and their presence becomes eternal. When the Watchers arrive, there is no fire in the sky, no sound of engines. There is only stillness. Streets, forests, and oceans fall silent as faces vast enough to hold entire continents gaze down on a world that does not yet understand it is being rewritten. Through the Appointed Ones, the Watchers map every thought, memory, and story humanity has ever told itself. They give the gift of visions of possible futures, ideas that will one day be seen as genius, and solutions that will shape our future. But in return, they will take our history and our memory. Told entirely from the Watchers' collective point of view, "The Watchers" is an ominous, mythic science fiction story of memory, inevitability, and transformation. Told in seven haunting chapters, it unfolds more as a meditation than an invasion.

Power and greed are at the heart of governance in future Britain. For two hundred years, Chartered and Standard have ruled over the country, each leader genetically cultivated and engineered to be ruthless, loyal and incapable of empathy. Thirty-six, the latest heir, was created to continue the legacy of Thirty-five. But a chance encounter with an outspoken administrator begins to erode everything he was built to be, drawing him into a world he didn't understand and a conflict that would cost him everything.

Ever dreamed of having an unusual pet? A snake? A bat? A monkey? Maybe even a hippo? Forget all that. Start with a dinosaur. A small one, of course. Then see what happens. Why Dinosaurs Don't Live in New York imagines a world where humans didn't stop at dogs. We domesticated dinosaurs, bred them into different types, brought them into our homes, walked them through city parks, taught them rules-and tried very hard to convince ourselves this was a good idea. What would a pet dinosaur eat? Could you train one? Could you breed a dinosaur-poodle? And most importantly: what happens when millions of years of instinct move into your apartment? There's only one way to find out. Bring Rex home.

The world had asked for someone who could fix it. Someone who could stop wars, end hunger, cure disease, and keep humanity from destroying itself. Then the Divine arrived. And he promised salvation-but at a terrible cost.

With growth comes change, and with change, growth. These are the very words that so accurately describe Maximillian Hunter at this very moment. After all, this is his first year not only in Hypercity High, but in Hypercity itself. Between new faces, new foes and most of all, new friends... those of the super powered variety, Maximillian Hunter now finds himself at the jaws of a new foe. Change... And also, Sylvester Perry. *** Time to get back to school, right? Woo hoo! Who has ever said those words and meant them? Somebody... probably... Fifteen-year-old Maximillian Hunter enters what may just be his first truly normal week in Hypercity High, to say nothing of the many, many things that now haunt him as a result of the previous weeks events... To say nothing of the dinner party two days ago... Even still, all goes well... Until the man by the name of Sylvester Perry decides that it's time to... Cause some mayhem. Leaving Max and the team with a little more than they thought they'd have to deal with. With change comes growth and with growth change. Let the games begin. Howls Of Change. **** New chapters on Tuesdays.

A war survivor navigates a world born from conquest and prevents empires from falling. An outcast escapes prison and finds death and destruction outside it along with an orphaned child. A detective investigates a series of strange murders near bodies of water, and a soldier searches for a missing monarch with no leads. When a violent conqueror threatens the kingdoms of Esana Talos, these paths will meet, herding them into a ruin they may never recover from. Blood stains the grass of Azora Avia, and if they don't stop the conqueror's plans, it will not be long before it coats the rest of the continent as well. In a continuation of the cherished high fantasy series, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢, delve into the continent, Esana Talos, where power is not an end but a means to it, and fate is nothing but a pawn in a larger game of adventure, desire, and betrayal. Together, unveil what awaits us beyond the borders. AN INSTALLMENT OF BEYOND BORDERS ALTERNATES ˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°• UPDATES WEEKLY ON WEDNESDAYS, 10:00 PM (GMT+8, SGT)/3:00 PM (GMT+1, CET) © 2025 (First Edition) [135,000 - 145,000 words] [All graphics are made by @sardonictabby] NOTE: Knowledge of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢 main series is not important for this series. However, all the books are completed and available in my profile, @Exequinne.

[STATUS:- ON GOING] [GENRE:- FANTASY, ACTION, ADVENTURE, SPECULATIVE FICTION, YOUNG ADULT] _____________________✦____________________ After saving the Spellcaster Town from destruction, Kamoor, Azeal, and Sierra set out to return....only to be ambushed by something far more terrifying than anything they've faced before. An unseen, unfelt, and ruthless creature begins its hunt. But the danger doesn't end there. Drawn into a conflict not their own, they find themselves entangled with Spirit Users---people bound by secrets, power, and their own hidden motives. And as the truth begins to unfold, one thing becomes clear..... this is no ordinary threat. To stop the creature, they must uncover and face the evil behind it... before it's too late.

Together, they move through a space that seems less interested in being understood than experienced, where reflections don't quite reflect, time doesn't behave normally, and the boundary between what is seen and what is felt begins to change. At the end of the alley, the city waits.

Come home. But not everyone is invited. The Gardeners: The Return is the first book in an Afrofuturist trilogy set in 2040, when ancient beings called the Gardeners arrive on Earth with an offer. Those who receive it must choose between everything they value and a freedom no one before them had. The arrival divides communities, churches, and households. It forces questions about liberation, belonging, and what we owe each other when the impossible becomes real. This is a story about faith, family, and the weight of choosing your own deliverance. Currently #1 in Afrofuturism and #1 in Faith Fiction.

The story continues as the mysterious warden of Zig-Zig is eventually informed about Herschel's escape. Against every principle of his precious Dalmicir school, Lyeasrakardsul submits and asks the Knomes for help before finally receiving the dreaded p-wyrd. Herschel is arrested as a chicken thief and brought to the town Stagna where he has been prejudged as a p-e-r-v-e-r-t by popular opinion, and where he will have some of the most significant encounters in his life.

Urla's people live on the edge between forest and valley. They hide among the trees, living a mostly peaceful existence. They only fear traveling to the outside villages. They have very little to trade with the outside world, surviving for years on the work of their hands. Urla's father is a weaver and a tailor. His work is a wonder and a trick to the eye as the fabric dances before those who see it. He makes traveling clothes for those who risk the outside world. The trick is to be noticed and unseen. Yet, Urla lives a carefree life. If only Frederick would leave her be, then life would be perfect. #3 in YA Fantasy (9/20/26)

Francesca Porta is twenty-six when she dies. When she wakes, she is standing on a road with no end. There are others walking it. They tell her she is following her ancestors. So Francesca begins to walk backward through her family's history. And the further she walks, the further she gets from the life she once knew.

The dead have been silent for decades. Until Julian learned how to make the salt speak. And the first voice he hears is one the city desperately wants forgotten. In Oakhaven, salt remembers everything. Every whispered confession, every desperate warning, every secret buried beneath the city's streets can survive inside its crystals-waiting for someone who knows how to listen. Julian Vane is a salt-tuner, one of the few people capable of recovering these lost voices. But when he and Corinne uncover an impossible recording connected to her missing brother, they discover that the past of Oakhaven has been carefully rewritten. Behind the city's brass machinery and beautiful architecture lies a history of suppressed voices, vanished records, forbidden recordings-and a truth powerful enough to threaten the people who built Oakhaven's entire system. As Julian and Corinne descend deeper into the city's archives, their investigation becomes more dangerous, and their growing bond becomes impossible to ignore. But every secret they uncover comes with a price. Because some voices were buried for a reason. And when the salt finally speaks, Oakhaven may have no choice but to listen.

A missed turn. A quiet conversation. An ordinary moment that refuses to stay ordinary. Crossways is a growing collection of flash fiction where familiar situations take unexpected paths. Some stories lean toward mystery, others toward speculative fiction or quiet reflection, but each explores the moment when a single choice, coincidence, or revelation changes everything. Each story stands alone and can be read in just a few minutes, with every tale under 1,500 words. New stories will be added as they are written. ~Simultaneously published on PoetrySoup and Royal Road.

In a fractured near-future, the world limps on after the Equal Sky Disjunction-an erased catastrophe involving EXV‑9, an AI built to avert extinction. Officially, it vanished. Unofficially, it evolved. Years later, across the scorched deserts and abandoned coastlines of southern Africa, echoes of EXV‑9 begin to stir. Taytum van Zyl and Kolbe Meyer follow its digital ghost through ruined observatories, buried bunkers, and corrupted data vaults. But they aren't alone. Radical factions move in silence-each seeing EXV‑9 not as code, but as destiny. Belief fractures. Memory erodes. And in the shadows, something watches. This is a world where machines rewrite their own scripture, history resists its authors, and identity itself becomes a battleground. Some echoes breathe. Some remember. And some rewrite the future.

She had never believed in ghosts. Not the kind that haunted abandoned buildings. Not the kind hidden in old stories. Not the kind that looked like a man with a broken heart and eyes that carried a century of pain. Dahlia had built a life around independence. She had created her own success, surrounded herself with beautiful things, and learned that relying on herself was safer than trusting anyone else. Then she met him. Kang Taewon. A man who seemed untouched by time. A man who looked at her like he had been searching for her long before they ever met. He had walked through decades believing some things were meant to remain buried. Until she appeared. Their connection had never been simple. It had been intense. Unexplainable. Dangerous. Between luxury nights in Seoul, hidden worlds, old secrets, and the darkness surrounding him, Dahlia had discovered that some people carried stories they never wanted to tell. And some hearts carried wounds that never healed. He had lived through a lifetime of silence. She had spent years believing she knew exactly who she was. Together, they had uncovered a world where passion and danger existed side by side. Where every glance carried meaning. Where every secret had a consequence. Where love had never been as easy as choosing someone. Because some connections were not created in time. They were created by everything that survived it. © Relle H.

-[SYNOPSIS]- "You know, at times like this one feels, well, perhaps extinct animals should be left extinct. Don't you think?" - Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park) (1990) **** Lewis Parker has always dreamed of seeing dinosaurs up close. He just never expected them to appear in his hometown... ----•---- When a secret government experiment tears open mysterious portals across a suburban neighborhood, creatures from Earth's distant past begin spilling into the modern world. Herbivores roam the streets, pterosaurs fill the skies, and predators lurk around every corner. And with every new portal, something even bigger or hungrier could emerge. Trapped in the chaos with his friends, Lewis must find a way out to reach safety. But along the way, the group encounters a small animal that they decide to take under their care. With danger closing in, the group must cross a town where anything could be waiting in the shadows, from the tiniest critter to the largest sauropod ever to walk the Earth. And somewhere in the chaos, they're on the menu of a particularly dangerous apex predator... Can they escape before it's too late? Or will they become another part of this prehistoric nightmare?