The People had achieved a utopia of sorts. They were not aware of what grew under their feet. Join Jyor as he attempts to learn what threatens his home, and what might be gained from it. ------ This is a short story I wrote for a contest. The only rules (besides the obvious: no AI, no fanfic, etc.) was that the theme was "dragons in space". I definitely sort of skirted around that rule, but I'm pretty happy with it. Just a short (11.6k words) story, presented here in full. Fun to write, and I think it turned out well for my first attempt at a short story. There were 365 competitors, and I might have finished 365 for all I know!

Em Aethelgard, a cidade onde arranha-céus tocam as nuvens e segredos profundos repousam sob o oceano, a era dos heróis lendários está chegando ao fim. Enquanto os Sentinelas do Amanhã se perde em burocracias e política, uma nova ameaça surge das sombras: a Sombra Escarlate, uma organização que busca remodelar a humanidade através da violência e da tecnologia proibida. ​No centro da tempestade está Grant Calloway, o herdeiro tático do maior herói da cidade. Escondidos no Santuário de Vidro, uma base tecnológica submersa, Grant e uma equipe de jovens prodígios percebem que esperar pelas ordens dos veteranos é o mesmo que aceitar a derrota. ​Quando a Torre Thornfield é atacada pelo implacável Sanguinário, um vampiro de 300 anos, Grant toma a decisão que mudará sua vida para sempre: ele ignora o alto comando e ativa o Protocolo Ômega. Agora, eles não são mais apenas "ajudantes" ou aprendizes. Eles são a última linha de defesa de uma metrópole à beira do colapso. ​A nova geração acordou. E eles não pediram permissão.

In a world ruled by machines, contracts matter more than people. Kira survives by never asking questions. She takes the job, completes the mission, disappears. That's how you stay alive. Until one assignment changes everything. Lila was supposed to be delivered. Instead, she was released. Now Kira is on the run, from the system she worked for, from the consequences of her choice, and from a girl who refuses to be left behind. This is not a story about saving the world. It's about two people learning how to survive each other, in a place where attachment is the most dangerous thing of all.

In the deep crushing depths of the Midnight Zone, humanity's curiosity can be deadly — Mission 6548 was supposed to be a routine deep-sea exploration. But when the crew sees an uncatalogued specimen, the line between science and life blurs. As the submarine plunges deeper into the abyss, a silent, translucent predator watches their every move. In these depths, no one can hear you scream… But something always listens. And it's there with you. Can you see it? It has already seen you, down here. You can't run. Only pray. Does God exist? I am unsure... But I hope so. Pray... Before you fall deeper into the dark abyss. Forever.

London, 2050s. Len makes a living betting on war, guided by a faulty AI that always seems to know what comes next. When a woman he cares about vanishes, the voice urges him to follow. His search pulls him into a conflict no one fully understands. And the closer he gets, the clearer it becomes that the war isn't what it seems

Over a century after the failed colonization, the backing government finally agreed to launch another expedition. This time instead of trying to spread to a new world, the expedition's primary goal will be to discover what happened to the original craft and its crew. Will the new journey answer the numerous questions of the homeworld? Or will they share the same fate as their lost kindred...

Anomalous people and objects are imprisoned in a false paradise for the betterment of humanity. One such anomaly is our main character, Lucas. Follow along with his adventures Throughout E.D.E.N with the villages inside Current Cover artist: me

මරණය හමුවේ අසරණ වූ දිසේන්ගේ ජීවිතය, එක් නිමේෂයකින් උඩුයටිකුරු වන්නේ කිසිවෙකුත් නොසිතූ අයුරිනි. ලේ විල් මැදින් යළි නැගිටින ඔහුට උරුම වන්නේ ලෝකයේ පවතින අමුතුම පද්ධතියයි - "The Bragging System". ​මෙහි නීතිය සරලයි: සතුරන් ඔහුට කරන සෑම අපහාසයක්ම, ඔවුන් පවසන සෑම අහංකාර බොරුවක්ම, දිසේන්ගේ සැබෑ යථාර්ථය බවට පත් වෙයි! ​සතිෂ් ඇතුළු පිරිස දිසේන්ව පහත් කිරීමට පවසන වචන, නොදැනුවත්වම ඔහුව ලොව බලවත්ම මිනිසා බවට පත් කරනු ඇත. උඩඟුකම හමුවේ නිහඬව සිටි කාලය අවසානය. දැන්, දිසේන්ගේ වාරයයි! ​"නුඹ මට සිනාසෙන්න... නුඹේ අහංකාර වචන මගේ ලෝකය මවනු ඇත!"

When a government experiment that was once deemed a miracle goes rogue, a former participant must find the one person who can help him shut it down - the only problem, she's killed him four times.

This world is not what we think it is. I'm here to tell you what it truly is. Maybe.