Poguri’s Awakening

She looked past the turtle and the bear to the shore of the dreamspring, where a dark blue overcoat lay in tatters – frayed edges and full of holes. A dark boot sat nearby, the other several yards away. A pair of long fuzzy brown ears, not attached to a head or anything else, lie in a loose bundle near the shore. The rest was little more than tubes and fluff, not so much a nouminal as the assorted pieces of one – either incompletely formed or completely torn apart…

Maddie’s Nightmare

“By the way Maddie,” he said, leaving no doubt as to who he was speaking to, “Have you ever heard of the zero hour?”

Before Maddie could even attempt to make sense of the question, or the fact that a fictional character was talking to her, the front door exploded from its hinges. Or more like the whole front wall of the house collapsed. She barely saw the three dark things as they entered the house and fanned out across the living room. Within seconds they converged on her with blades, claws, and sharp teeth…

Pacha’s Escape

The village was dark. Uninviting. Silent. It looked abandoned. Pacha kneeled on the central road, examining the signs in hopes of learning what had happened. There had been a lot of traffic recently; he could see the footprints of many different people. But instead of the usual linear patterns of daily routine, these were erratic. There was an anxiety in them, a fear. And mixed up with the familiar prints of the villagers were those of the foreigners – hard-edged and deep, as if they walked with stone feet.