Laser Beam Ice Cream
Storyfeather
A kitchen mishap leads to the accidental invention of the most powerful ice cream in the world. Genre: Science Fiction Excerpt: His portable, miniature laser beam healing aid flew out of his hand and landed in the still-open container of vanilla ice cream. Arthur pushed down the momentary surge of panic about the electronics in the laser. He reached out to pick the device out of the ice cream. Luminescent sparks made him recoil. What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode? Each Season 8 episode is a standalone story, but it’s connected to or inspired by...
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Matchstick and Mischief
Storyfeather
Two adventurous friends offer to help a scientist whose revolutionary invention for all mousekind isn’t exactly authorized. Genre: Science Fiction, Fable Excerpt: “What happened to gravity?” Matchstick asked, as he pushed his legs against a stone. The stone moved away from him, and he, moved away from it, and toward the other two mice. Mischief reached into her satchel for her pencil and pad. “Fab, we fell into the isolated chronon field. Can you confirm?” “I…” Doctor Fabaceous clutched the control slab against his chest. His eyes faced forward, but he...
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Oddnever
Storyfeather
A studious, non-mischievous fairy fulfills her forbidden dream of traveling to the human realm...straight into a convenience store. Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantasy Excerpt: She passed her least favorite quill partly through the mirror and pulled it back to test. The quill appeared undamaged. So she next passed her least favorite finger through the mirror, gasping at the watery chill that passed through it as it passed through the mirror’s surface. Her finger too seemed unharmed. And so, in the most reckless act that she had ever committed in her life thus far, Oddnever stepped...
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Cliff's Rad Blazer
Storyfeather
Weatherman Cliff Blazer is always receiving blazers from his fans. But the latest one he receives really takes the cake. Genre: Fantasy Excerpt: “So far, five people have come in complaining of difficulty breathing, and producing a strange croaking sound. Now, they’re still being treated, and the hospital staff is hesitant to speculate on what could be causing this, but the reason we’re reporting on this is that one of the patients has been discharged and we spoke to them earlier. They didn’t want to be on camera, but…” Of course they didn’t want to be on...
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The Once-God Rampion
Storyfeather
A god loses half her powers and is cast out of the heavens for the crime of sharing those power with mortals. Genre: Mythology Excerpt: She was far too kindly, and therefore looked upon with disdain by her fellow gods. The other gods feared that the balance of power was being tipped too much toward mortal creatures, to whom the kindly god had given many gifts… To teach her a lesson, the other gods diminished the kindly god by half. They took half her powers, half her wisdom, half her stature. They even took her name, which alone bore a good portion of her power. They...
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Noctemfaere
Storyfeather
Mythical flying horses couldn't possibly be real; but there is one that we all may meet in our most vulnerable hours. Genre: Mythology, Fantasy, Fairy Tale Excerpt: They emerge from the shadow-light of the moon mist. I resist the urge to reach out. I gasp and shiver. The room has grown cold. Not the crisp cold of winter. Not the numbing cold of ice. Not even the cold of night. It is a bracing but fortifying cold. A vast cold. What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode? Each Season 8 episode is a standalone story, but...
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The Union of the Spyglass
Storyfeather
A group of curious and ingenious humans build a spyglass to peer into the realm of the gods, to find out why the gods are not governing the world as they were expected to. Genre: Mythology Excerpt: Not in the beginning, but early in the history of the world, many mortals suspected that the ones who called themselves gods were shirking their duty of properly governing the world. Some responded by entreating the gods. Others by railing against them. But a few decided to try answering the question of what it was that the gods spent their time doing if they were not doing what was...
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The Caligo Palm
Storyfeather
In an age long past, death was not a mystery, for a palm tree once grew upon the earth that served as a path between life and afterlife. Genre: Mythology Excerpt: He came by sea in ships laden with his forces… By day he attacked, and by night he attacked. They knew that they must destroy him. And they knew that they could not destroy him, for he was now too powerful. What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode?Each Season 8 episode is a standalone story, but it’s connected to or inspired by a previous story through a character, a place, an object, a concept, a...
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The Sandalwood God
Storyfeather
Three children are determined to find out if the tales they’ve heard are true…that there is a god living in the middle of the forest outside their village. Genre: Mythology Excerpt: For a moment, there hung an expectant silence. The man was watching the bard on the closest stage, but he still caught the glances between the young folk at his table. And he still noted that there was one whose gaze never left his face. “The grown folk won’t tell us,” this one said, a little girl. “Are you the one who lives in the wooden house in the middle of the forest? ...
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Didymedicus
Storyfeather
A charlatan pretending to be a healer wins the king’s favor, but seems mostly harmless, until the day the king collapses and cannot be roused. Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery, Mythology Excerpt: The royal physician, Galena by name, examined the festering bruise just below the king’s ribcage. The king lay in a sleeping stupor. A state he had been in for three days, and yet it was only now, and only by order of the queen that the royal physician was allowed to examine her king. Galena peered down at the bruise, around the margins of which there appeared an oozing of bright purple...
info_outlineSpark has been wandering all her life. But her wandering had no purpose, until she began searching for a home.
Genre: Mythology, Fable, Fantasy
Excerpt:
Spark had been traveling all her life. She’d never once landed in one place. But now she had. Now, she could be still. And she’d found this one place, this one twirling world.
Exploring was exciting. But Spark was not quite exploring. She was searching for something. A place. One place. To settle.
A home of her own.
What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode?
Each Season 8 episode is a standalone story, but it’s connected to or inspired by a previous story through a character, a place, an object, a concept, a continuation of events (ahem, sequel), and so on.
The inspiration for this story is the Season 5 episode, “The Flight of Flea.” The story is about a bird that grew so small that no one could see him. Everyone called him “Flea.” But he knew that he had another name, a name he’d forgotten. If he could find out what his true name was, Flea believed he could grow big enough to be seen.
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CREDITS
Story: “Castle, Cave, or Cloud” Copyright © 2021 by Nila L. Patel
Narration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production: Nila L. Patel
Music:
“Wide place” by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Intro and Outro)
“Abstract Vision #5” by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro)
Music by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Dark Fantasy Studio)*
“Scroll of the wind walker”
“Haven”
“In the shadows”
“Wide place”
“Shadows and flames”
Music by ANDREW SITKOV (MuzStation Game Music)*
“Medieval Theme 5”
Music by JONATHAN SHAW*
“A Tale of Peace”
*These tracks were part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market.
Music by Jonathan Shaw, Nicholas Jeudy, Andrew Sitkov is licensed from GameDev Market
Sound effects from AudioJungle, GameDevMarket, and Soundly (through Hindenburg)
Changes made to the musical tracks? Just cropping of some to align with my narration.
Find more music by Andrew Sitkov, Jonathan Shaw, and Nicholas Jeudy at gamedevmarket.net
Find more music by Jonathan Shaw at jshaw.co.uk
Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com
Episode Art Description:
Digital drawing. A castle at center with three main spires flying pennants, battlements, and flanking symmetrical towers. The castle stands in front of a cave opening through which light pours. Moss grows along the cave walls. In front of the castle in the foreground is a bank of clouds. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along cave wall at right.