Red Winter

            The winter dragged on, snow was everywhere, the air was dry and icy and the wind blew so hard it could cut you to the bone. The streets were empty except for one large figure. A man built like a brick wall, covered in scars and ragged clothes marched down the street with a corpse like stiffness. The large man was carrying a bloody heart that was fresh enough to still be dripping blood. The large man lurched and jerked as he moved in a slow and rigid fashion. Large foot prints the size of a human head and drips of blood left a trail behind the walking monstrosity.

             Despite the slow aimless movements and the dumb expression on the man’s face, his eyes were sharp and had purpose, he knew where he was going and knew what unlucky soul he would visit next. the creature walked out in the open in the middle of town, but it was night and the freezing cold had kept everyone inside. The cold didn’t bother the monster but it was starting to freeze the heart that he carried.

            After almost a hour of walking the creature arrived at his destination, a small quiet house at the edge of town, it was secluded, private and no one could hear screams for miles. The creature placed his giant palm on the door and slowly pushed it open, the door creaked as it moved. The monster entered the house holding the half frozen bloody heart. There was a woman humming in the kitchen, music played from a near by radio. Each heavy step the monster took made the floor creak, but he moved slowly and with purpose. The radio drowned out whatever minimal noise the monster made as he snuck into the kitchen.

            The woman turned around and the monster lifted the heart into the air. “Happy Valentines day” The creature muttered shyly. The woman smiled and gave the large man a hug. “you are so sweet!” said the woman, who was also covered in scars and ripped clothes. She had pale green skin and glowing yellow eyes. The happy couple hugged, both closing their eyes and smiling as they enjoyed the moment. Then the woman’s eyes snapped open “wait, did you get frozen? I asked for fresh!”

Tail of two cats

In the darkness of night two life forms were created. These beasts were born from the shadows and were created through their own sheer will. They were born because they willed themselves to be so. They started very small. The Shadow beasts looked like a small adorable ball of dark fur. One of the creatures was dark black with only the slightest of white markings. The other was black with other dark colors mixed in.

Into the night the creatures walked, their slow pace and tiny frame giving the illusion of innocence. These creatures were in fact adorable, but the mischief and evil intent could be seen in clearly in their bright yellow eyes.

            The tiny beasts stalked the streets. They lived and thrived in the human world. These creatures weren’t friends nor were they enemies. They both preferred being dominate but respected the others strength enough to work together for a time. during one of their nightly walks in the town, humans came and caught the black and brown create and took her away. Being so small at the time, there was nothing either of these shadowy female creatures could do.

            A year passed and the blackest of the two continued to live on the streets. She traveled among the local street cats for company and occasionally changed her form to look like them. One day a human truck rolled up and two humans got out. They had thick leather gloves and a cage. They came to wrangle the stray cats in the area. The darkest of shadow beasts had warmed up to the cats that kept her company. So as the humans approached. The beast charged forward as the alley cats slipped out behind a house.

            A struggle ensued, but the beast still wasn’t big enough to fight. So she inevitably lost and was thrown in the cage.

            The shadow beast woke up and was in a larger cage, in a building. Dogs, cats and other animals surrounded her. She was in an animal shelter. She roared in protest, but sadly she had spent too much time with cats and was still very small, so her roar was more of an adorable “mew”. This prompted a kindly human to come by and bring food.

 It might have been confined but this wasn’t so bad having free food and a safe place to sleep.

            Then one day a family arrived to adopt a cat. The shadowy monster did her best to look like a cat. She was smart enough to know this ‘adoption’ thing was her way out. Then once she was ‘adopted’ she could escape and travel back to her street.

            From there she was ‘adopted’ and taken to the human home. She was given the name “Gali” and was treated very nicely. After some time had passed Gali had become used to the perks of being a house cat. She just had to keep her form stable and catlike. She would get massages, food, water and comfortable things to sleep on. Life was bliss.

As the years went on, she stayed in cat form for so long, she forgot how to change back to her neutral form. The only thing that changed was her eye color. Since color wasn’t a physical thing and she couldn’t reach the mirror, her eyes would change from bright yellow to bright green and anything in between. This changed happened depending on her mood. The humans never were suspicious but they were aware of it. Luckily humans are dumb and don’t believe that some cats and animals are actually shadow creatures brought into this world through sheer force of will.

            Gali had many adventures during her time with the humans, but missed her rival at times. Little did she know that soon her shadowy sister would be coming over to stay.

The Littlest Vampire

Sun burned bright, oppressive, hot and scorching. While others played in the sun and water, little Gregory stayed inside. Gregory was the littlest vampire, small and pale, with sharp fangs and a red cape that hung loosely on his back. His noble vampire parents moved to this land for opportunity and a chance to raise their child away from the stuffy old ways of the vampire clans. Because they moved so far, little Gregory was without any vampire friends.

The locals were werewolf and fish people families more than anything. Sure there was the family of zombies down the road, but they didn’t have much to say. The only thing they liked to talk about was ESPN sports center. Gregory didn’t know what that was, so often he stayed in his room and played with this skeleton dog, or go find his pet bat that lived in the attic.

It was summer and the fishhead family was enjoying the sun with the wolf people, they swam, played and ate grilled children meat. It looked like such a good time, Gregory wished he could play too. Once night came, he was allowed to leave the house, so he ran out to see if anyone was left to play with. Sadly, everyone had gone to bed, everyone except the Zombies, who were up late watching humans throw a ball through the air.

Little Gregory walked through the little town sadly, he was so excited to learn a new culture, away from other vampires, but without other vampires he didn’t have anyone to play with or talk about vampire things. The littlest vampire had just learned to turn into mist, though he could only do it for a split second, it made him proud. Though the other monsters couldn’t understand why that was so great.

As Gregory walked he saw a forest up ahead, it was a dark, spooky place and made his little vampire heart think of the old land where he was born. He ran quickly to the forest and smiled as the cool breeze howled and made the trees sway. The howling wind and the moving trees made the forest seem alive, and for a second, he didn’t feel so alone. He continued to explore the forest, but suddenly saw a light. Gregory didn’t know if he should investigate, his parents often warned him of monster hunters that prowled the forest looking for creatures to capture. Curiosity got the better of him though and he slowly crept, closer and closer to the light.

The light was from a lantern and was being carried by a mysterious figure. Gregory hid until he could see who it was. The figure got closer, but was quiet as a mouse. Gregory was nervous and wished that he could run home, but didn’t want to risk getting chased by the mysterious figure. After moments that seemed like forever, the figure came into view, it was a little floating ghost. He had a sad expression as he drifted through the forest, carrying a lantern that burned with a red spirit fire. “Hello” Gregory said meekly. The ghost moved quickly and hid behind a tree. “Who is there?” The frightened ghost asked. “my name is Gregory, I’m a vampire. My family just moved here” He replied, still very unsure. The ghost came back into view. “my name is Melvin, I’m the littlest ghost. I haunt these woods with my family” The two creatures went up to each other and smiled. Both Melvin and Gregory were so lonely but felt happy now that they found someone that had something in common.

The two littlest monsters sat in the forest and talked and laughed. Melvin didn’t have anyone to play with for such a long time because he would sleep during the day, which was just the same as Gregory. Melvin also knew how to turn invisible and was ever so proud. He was also very impressed that Gregory could turn into mist. The two friends played into the night, and when the sun began to rise they both had to hurry home.

Gregory couldn’t wait to tell his parent about the friend he made and could hardly sleep that day as he was so excited to see Melvin again. So from that day forward, Gregory and Melvin became the bestest friends and as they got bigger continued to talk and laugh in the haunted forest. So Gregory the littlest vampire would never be lonely again.

The End

Arix and the Gem

A loud roar, shaking ground and suddenly light. Arix ran for his life through a dark underground tunnel, the light from his torch pierced through the overwhelming darkness. Arix was a young man with light brown hair, blue eyes and tanned skin. He wore a tan shirt that was ripped in several places, black pants, sturdy brown boots, a pair of goggles to keep dirt and dust out of his eyes and brown work gloves. He came from a family of carpenters and masons but instead of following in his family trade he became a treasure hunter.

           

            Arix ran for his life as a creature roared after him. This monster had been guarding or at least living with a rare gem. This gem would be worth a small fortune. Which wouldn’t matter if Arix died before he could sell it. The roars grew louder as the beast gained on the unfortunate adventurer. Arix reached into his bag with his free hand and pulled out the gem to get a better look at it. It was a large red gem the size of his fist and seemed to emit its own light, not enough to light a cavern just a soft glow that soothed Arix when he looked at it. After a few seconds of admiring the gem, he realized he had almost stopped running. The gem entranced him and he almost forgot about the monster. Quickly he stuffed the gem back into his bag and continued his run. He could hear the creature’s footsteps, it was right on his tail. Arix ran through the dark tunnels, taking turns and running down various paths, hoping to find his way out. He reached back into his bag, this time to grab his weapon. He didn’t want to fight, but would if he had to. No matter how fierce the creature, he would fight. Fight to see his family, to see the light of day again and of course to be rich when he sold the gem.

            The creature approached and Arix turned to face it, the light of the torch dimly lit the surrounding area. The monster stepped into view and Arix’s blood ran cold. The creature had a large thin body held up by spider like legs. The front of the body could move upright like a humans torso. The whole body and legs were covered in short brown fur, like a dog. Attached to the top of the body was a head, no eyes, no visible ears only a mouth, large and full of razor sharp teeth. The creature had rows of teeth that could probably even bite through stone. If Arix had seen the beast before he saw the gem, he might have just left it alone and went home. Then he thought, maybe if he gave the gem back. He wanted to be rich, but not enough to risk his life fighting a monster like this. Arix reached into his bag as the tunnel monster approached. He pulled the gem from his bag and held it up, instantly the creature stopped. It moved its head and slowly reached out for the gem with its creepy clawed spider legs. The gem seemed to lull the creature into a trance, like it had done to Arix earlier.

            Arix held the gem out, but kept it out of reach as he slowly backed away. The creature slowly followed Arix, subdued and focusing on the gem. It didn’t have eyes, yet the gem’s magic still worked. Slowly Arix continued to walk through the tunnel, he was nervous and was sweating. Suddenly the tunnel started to shake, it felt like an earthquake and pieces of stone ceiling began to fall. The tremors and falling stone shook the beast and he seemed to snap out of the trance. It realized it was being led and the thief still had its gem. The creature let out another roar and Arix took off into a sprint. He put the gem away and pulled out his weapon, a modified single shot pistol. This gun could shoot bullets, but also could shoot fire. Arix had made special combustion shots that would light things on fire. As he ran he loaded his gun. Rocks continued to fall, the creature was getting struck with stones and Arix had almost been struck several times. Arix finally ran into a dead end, it was a cave in, blocking him from the outside world. He turned as the creature closed in. Arix fired a shot into the darkness, the bullet zipped through the air and it a wall causing a burst of light and a splash of fire. He missed and tried to load another shot. Then a sharp spike flew from the darkness, Arix tried to dodge it, but was struck in the leg. It was a barb and as the creature stepped into view, Arix could see that the legs of the tunnel monster were covered in sharp barbs than it would throw. The beasts front leg jerked forward and another barb shot out, flying at high speeds. Arix dropped the ground and the barb embedded itself into the stone, right where his head was moments ago.

            Arix clutched his bleeding leg. The barb was sticking right through his leg. Arix used all his strength and pulled the barb out, a flash of pain swept over his body and cried out. His wound burned and throbbed and he hoped the barbs weren’t poisonous. The beast ran up at Arix and prepared to bring his clawed leg down to crush the boy. Arix finished loading his gun and right as the monster stood over him, Arix fired. The shot hit the beast right in its torso. Flames splashed across its body and caught fire to its fur. The monster backed up and roared in pain. It scuttled back into the darkness, hitting its body against the walls to put out the remaining fire.

            Now that Arix was safe, he would be able to crawl out of the cave. He wrapped his leg in cloth from his bag, then slowly began to move rocks away. It took hours, but Arix was able to get through the cave in. He limped through the caverns until he eventually found light. Light shone into one of the tunnels, Arix followed the light and found the exit to the cave. He smiled and began to laugh to himself. He didn’t think he’d ever see daylight again. From the cave he began his journey home, stopping to rest often. Once he got home he planned to rest and let his body heal. Arix had risked his life to steal treasure from a monster, the tunnel could have been his grave and no one would have known what happened to him. A sane man would take this as a lesson and maybe settle down to become a carpenter or mason, but Arix, he just wondered where he would find his next adventure.