Only Fools Prevail
Storyfeather
In a realm where the learned are held at the highest esteem, a fool is called upon to challenge a trickster. Genre: Fairy Tale Excerpt:“I visit you because I am curious.” “I think it’s because you want to be the first trickster who understands a fool.” The trickster laughed. “My dear Sovereign, no one amuses me as you do. But I must tell you. To a trickster, everyone is a fool.” The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen spokes. Eight are the themes from previous...
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A Realm Without Rain
Storyfeather
A visitor from another realm encounters an overwhelming and mysterious phenomenon that bears further investigation, rain. Genre: Fairy Tale Excerpt:“When I was young, my mother told me a story about the rain. I was afraid of it, you see. And what she told me didn’t help much with that.” He winked an eye at me. “My mother was quick to embrace and kiss her children, but she wasn’t one to coddle or lie to us.” I found myself leaning forward. “What did she say?” “There are great beings who live in the sky. When enough of these beings weep, their tears fall to the earth as...
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Forge of the Forsaker
Storyfeather
Even before the mountain began to rumble, one mortal had begun to doubt his decadent gods. Genre: Mythology Excerpt:We are descended from a powerful people. So it is said. The most powerful our world has ever known. Their might unmatched. Their domain unending. Their eyes all-seeing. I am nothing next to them. I am a blade of grass underfoot. A mayfly blinking in and out of existence. A mortal. But today I will discover if there are forces in the world mightier than the gods. For today is the day I bring them down. The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each...
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Queen Niyami
Storyfeather
Troubled by the tragic tale of a queen, who suffered because of a quarrel between two gods, three children question and alter the story. Genre: Mythology Excerpt:For the thing that lurched from shadow to shadow had been summoned by godly powers and imbued with godly powers. As it passed, it left behind a trail of slime that smelled of sulfur and rot. So the guards had no trouble in finding it. What they could not do was stop it. The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen spokes. Eight are...
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The Last Night of Grief
Storyfeather
A philosopher, a mage, and a swordsman are sent on an impossible quest from which they know they will not return alive. Genre: Mythology Excerpt:The philosopher felt her heart go still. She felt the cold steel of the swordsman’s sword quivering by her right side. She felt the warm spark of the mage’s magic prickling by her left side. In that moment, and none other since, she had wished her friends would unleash their might and fury… The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen...
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Nine Gods in Masquerade
Storyfeather
The story is told of how nine little gods came to be honored at a feast where they dared not show their faces. Genre: Mythology Excerpt:The new mortal-made masks were so fantastical and magical that they could not easily be distinguished from the masks of the gods. A few called it blasphemy. (For we humans can be fools this way, don’t you agree? Seeking and seeking for wonder, and fearing it when we find it.) The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen spokes. Eight are the themes from...
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Through a Sky Gray
Storyfeather
In a realm cursed to lie under a gray veil, one man accepts a job patrolling a neighborhood to watch for unauthorized breaches. Genre: Fantasy Excerpt:He had given up on his childhood fantasy when he realized that people had already found ways to break the curse, and had tried those ways and failed. He had given up when he learned that some of the ways had never been tried and never would be, because the cost was too high. And over the generations, more and more people believed that the gray veil was a blessing, not a curse. A protection, not an oppression. The Wheel of Fiction...
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Kairos and the Phantom
Storyfeather
The terrifying night phantoms that haunt a once-forbidden wood are never seen by day, until one morning when an ordinary man encounters a phantom trapped in the sunlight. Genre: Fantasy, Mythology Excerpt:Something terrible had come into the world. Something evil. Invisible, intangible. Some corruption that could not be perceived. And therefore could not be fought. By the time it had a grip on someone, it was too late. The corruption seeped into every part of that person, defiling their heart, twisting their thoughts, draining the very life out of their body. No land was spared....
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Garden of the Peculiar
Storyfeather
A person struggling with heartbreak is drawn into the history of a garden filled with morbid beauty. Genre: Fantasy Excerpt:Branches terminating in skulls. Transparent petals whose vessels glow white as bleached bone in the dark. Bright yellow leaves whose soft serrated edges exude a dark red liquid that drips and pools and stains the ground like the signs of a crime scene. Such sights could I have seen in the greenhouse of gruesome growths. The courtyard of the maverick alchemist. The garden of the peculiar. The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season...
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Outer City Magician
Storyfeather
An uncertified magician, who’s not allowed to cast enchantments in the city proper, finds odd jobs to do in the outer city. Genre: Fantasy Excerpt:I got into this business at the wrong time. Now that huge factories could crank out standardized magic components that anyone could use, without even a basic understanding of the primary forces and how to shape them, not too many people were interested in “hand-crafted artisan” magic. That’s what the kids called it now. In my grandpa’s day, it was just called…magic. The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this...
info_outlineA philosopher, a mage, and a swordsman are sent on an impossible quest from which they know they will not return alive.
Genre: Mythology
Excerpt:
The philosopher felt her heart go still. She felt the cold steel of the swordsman’s sword quivering by her right side. She felt the warm spark of the mage’s magic prickling by her left side.
In that moment, and none other since, she had wished her friends would unleash their might and fury…
The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?
Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen spokes. Eight are the themes from previous seasons. One is “Turn Again.” One is a wild card. And three are covered in question marks and will be revealed when the wheel lands on them.
See a story trailer and a (satisfying) video of the wheel turning here: The Last Night of Grief
This episode landed on CREATURES.
Find more stories and episodes about creatures here: Year of Creatures.
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Ever wonder how I’ve gotten all these hundreds of stories written? I have a method. You can learn it in my book called Fictioneer’s Field Guide: A Game Plan for Writing Short Stories.
It’s now available from Amazon as an eBook, paperback, and hardcover.
You can also get there from my Store page: STORYFEATHER STORE
CREDITS
Story: “The Last Night of Grief” Copyright © 2022 by Nila L. Patel
Narration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production: Nila L. Patel
Music:
“Flames on ice” by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Intro)
“Haven” by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Outro)
“Abstract Vision #5” by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro)
Music by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Dark Fantasy Studio)
“Whispers"
“Scroll of the wind walker”
“Wide place”
“Fallen leaves (seamless)”
“To Falgalown”
“Signs of desolation”
“The last stand”
“Adventure”
“Haven”
“Runes”
“Compass”
“In the shadows”
“Flames on ice”
Music by Nicholas Jeudy and Andrew Sitkov is licensed from GameDev Market
Sound effects from AudioJungle, GameDevMarket, and Soundly (through Hindenburg)
Vocal effects created with Audacity
Changes made to the musical tracks? Just cropping of some to align with my narration.
Find more music by Nicholas Jeudy and Andrew Sitkov at gamedevmarket.net
Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com
Episode Art Description:
Digital drawing. Facing forward stands a creature with three dog-like heads with different fur colors. The heads emerge from serpent-like necks attached to a central body from which the top heads of three legs are visible. All eyes are glowing. All the snouts are contracted as if growling, mouths parted, revealing fangs. All ears are perked up. A forked tongue emerges from the head at right. Snake-like fangs drip a drop of venom from the head at left. Behind and above the heads, an armored segmented body is visible extending up out of frame. Extending down from top left of frame is a segmented spiked tail curling upward. Behind the creature is the opening of a cave. Rectangular image is made square with top and bottom borders that reflect blurred versions of the faces in the main image. Watermark of “Storyfeather” on cave wall, along right side of torso.