Better known by all who followed and desired it as a sorcerer's stone: A nervous catalyst, one capable of creating unending life, or even reigniting the vital fires of animation and sentience in the cold axons of perished flesh and bone. A gory crystal
A flint snapped in the dark. Greasy flame rippled over meagre kindling; hair and pine chippings soaked in oil. A startling blaze. A blinding point in a pitchy void. "S'bright," mumbled Dole, squinting tired eyes. He pulled his miner's cap low. His companion, a spindly ragman with a sack and a guitar on his back, shaded his red […]
A cigarette wobbled under the clerk's scrubby mustache. "Next," he said, bored. A young woman stumbled to the counter, shoved by the queue. Mousy brown bangs curtained her face, brushed in an attempt to conceal the veiny, wine-red blotch around her left eye. The clerk fixed her with a rheumy stare. "Have you worked with […]
Shawn licked a handful of gravel, spat. He held a lantern to the grit. "Marble and mold" he said, licking his palette. "We'd best watch out." He scattered the tiny stones. They clattered on the cavern floor. "Aye" replied the bearded Dole. He produced a small cage from his hide caver's jacket, handed it to […]