In a realm cursed to lie under a gray veil, one man accepts a job patrolling a neighborhood to watch for unauthorized breaches.
Music: “Holy Hymn (loop)” by Albert Fernandez
[Video Description: “Through a Sky Gray” Trailer. Duration, 36 seconds. Music, “Holy Hymn (loop)” by Albert Fernandez. Digital painting. Bottom half, a variety of wildflowers and grass. Top half, a solid gray expanse is split at middle by a bright glowing light at top that streams down and expands to the sides to encompass the wildflowers below. Title card with the words “Short Story” and “Genre: Fantasy,” is displayed at top. Tagline is displayed at bottom. It reads: “In a realm cursed to lie under a gray veil, one man accepts a job patrolling a neighborhood to watch for unauthorized breaches.” Title card and tagline fade. A watermark of the word “storyfeather” appears over the image. Lines from the story appear in sequence: “‘It’s not worth dying just to see the sky.’ ‘I don’t want to see the sky. I want the sky to swallow me up.’ A shudder of fear passed through Leo. He should blow the whistle. The Veil Guard might not come in time. But it was the only way he might save the young man. ‘Please…will you let me help you?’” Site URL appears at bottom center throughout and fades at end. As the last line disappears, the image blurs, the colors fade to gray, the story title appears at center, and a text card appears at top that reads “Available to Read Now storyfeather.com.”]
Welcome to Year 9 of Storyfeather
Every year’s short stories (mostly) follow a theme. This year, I will turn the Wheel of Fiction to help me decide what to write. There are thirteen spokes on this wheel. Eight are occupied by the eight themes from the previous years of stories. One is a prompt to turn the wheel again. One is a wildcard (hmm…curious). And three are covered only in question marks. I suppose I’ll find out what’s beneath those questions as we go along.
Welcome to the WHEEL OF FICTION
The Wheel of Fiction landed on Prompts. Here’s the prompt I chose: “It’s a summer’s day. The sun is warming your skin and you can smell flowers all around you. What emotions do you feel?”
Well, well…what a lovely situation. So what if the emotions it evoked were the opposite of what might be expected? What if the emotions felt were fear, dread? But why should the sensations of a bright summer day cause such intense and alarming emotions? Do they trigger a memory? Or is such a day a portent of something terrible? Does such a day precede a day that is it’s opposite, dire storms?
Source: A Writer’s Year: 365 Creative Writing Prompts by Emma Bastow
[Video Description: Duration, 8 seconds. Choice wheel made on the Spin the Wheel application. Thirteen spokes or slices in various colors, labeled as follows, clockwise from the top: Objects of Power (the “of Power” is not visible), Prompts, Definitions, Turn Again, Elements, Creatures, S.T.E.A.M., Wildcard, Revisitation, Music, Challenge, Draw!!!, Traveler. The title at top reads “The Wheel of Fiction V4” and below that the words “Spin the wheel.” Below that is the date of the spin, 5/28/2022. At top left corner is a flag icon labeled with the letter “F.” This represents a function of the application which interferes with true randomness by reducing the probability of receiving the same choice twice in a row. The wheel turns and lands on Turn Again, turns again and lands on PROMPTS. As the wheel stops spinning, cartoon flowers bloom from the bottom of the frame.]
Genre: Fantasy
Tags: CURSE, GRAY, HARBINGER, LEO, LEODORAS, PAINT, PIERCING, SKY, VALDA, VEIL
JUMP INTO THE PORTAL BELOW TO EXPLORE MORE STORIES
