Down the tracks

A train travels through the dusk, steam and gears working it over the rails along the forest’s edge between Mannheim and Koblenz, travelers slumbering in the sleeping wagons and on their seats. As the sun sets, the cool, fresh wind from the forest carries growing grass with it, sprouting silently, translucent, from the barren stones…

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Carcelan Serpents are born as two. Two of them in the same egg. Twins, always. The Carcelan society is built around it. Mating partners can change, but your twin? Your twin is always with you. (Centuries later you will find that the other species that inhabit the lands beyond the valleys of Carcela do not…

Spineridge Peaks

There is one mountain, the highest peak of Spineridge, which’s trees do not burn. They are black and gray and white wood, gnarled, whip-thin and bulky, reaching up into the endless blue sky and crouching along the earth along with thorny underbrush. Their sap is red and orange and yellow and white and blue and…