Her eyes wandered with her fingers along the flat of crystal blade. Gripping the sword’s ornate metal hilt the girl held it aloft.
“Beautiful.”
“Sharp as glass,” said the crone. “Hard as diamond. Shardsteel.”
They both gazed through its opaline translucence.
Network
The engineer shook his phone. “There’s no signal out here… what are you doing?”
“Listening for changes,” he said, hand to a tree. “Unlike a cellular network, the fibrous one below is never down.”
The druid looked up. “They’re walking a mile west of here.”
Forever is a Long Time
He died fighting for the Confederacy. I met my end helping other slaves escape.
Oh, we were feuding ghosts for a century. But forever is a long time. We forgave. We moved on.
We kissed.
We’re an odd couple, but we flourish… haunting the plantation as lovers.
On This Bridge
“You must yearn for death to face me,” the mercenary champion said.
Spear steady, the squire spoke. “I’m not the great warrior you are. But I am here. On this bridge. Blocking your host. Now I ask you again: Face me in single combat! Or do I call you a coward?!”
Border Quarantine
A turret is leveled. “BORDER QUARANTINE! LEAVE THE RIPARIAN IMMEDIATELY!”
The infected horde chasing us turns to the droneboat. It machine-guns them as they leap and howl onto its deck.
Maria dives into the river. “Now’s our chance! Swim for it!”
Text is Copyright © 2020 by Jason H. Abbott, All Rights Reserved.
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Aethereal Engineer 
Love the quick flash.
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Thank you!
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Yes. All good and devoured in a flash!
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The artwork is quite mesmerizing! I especially like ‘shardsteel’ – the name whispers magic.
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It’s a great piece of animated pixel art, I thought it matched the collection this week well.
Shardsteel is a concept I’ve had for a while, happy that it worked out like it did. :-)
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Love the animated art!
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