Tag Archives: fantasy

The Temple of Heaven

temple

PHOTO PROMPT © David Stewart

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Haoyu Yue Zhan, entering the courtyard of the Temple of Heaven, took a deep breath. Western tourists visited a pale replica of it in Beijing. He had traveled thousands of miles to visit the actual temple hidden in the Kunlun mountains in Xinjiang.

The descendent of famed Yue Fei was not here to study Tai Chi. Here was the center of Earth and Heaven and the gods awaited above. He did not seek paradise, but rather a way to prevent the Earth from becoming a wasteland. Nuclear war was only days away and he needed the power to stop it.

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Frank and the Plot of the Hypnotizing Slime, Chapter 8

chapter 8

© James Pyles

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In the evil headquarters, Kayden was pacing back and forth near the entrance while Hazel was looking through Leah’s telescope.

“I still can’t see anything. Oh wait.” Hazel focused the lens. “I think I can see them at the edge of town. Why aren’t they going in.”

She waited a few more minutes. “I can’t see Leah anymore but what is that?”

Kayden heard the worry in Hazel’s voice and walked over to her. “What is it?”

“A human girl with a net. She’s got Frank and the others.”

“All of them?”

“I still can’t see Leah.”

“That’s because Leah isn’t there.”

Both Seth and Hazel turned to the entrance and saw Leah crawling in and she really looked mad.

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Strings

amanda

PHOTO PROMPT © Amanda Forestwood

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14-year-old Stace McPherson was drawn to the musician’s unusual stringed instrument. The backyard wedding reception was over. He was supposed to be helping clean but he wanted to touch it. The musician, no one called him anything else, had played the most amazing tunes, like from another world. He looked around. Just the last few guests. The musician was saying good-bye to the bride and groom. He had to do it. Stace let his fingers glide across the strings. As he did, something creative entered him. Ten years later with his own guitar, he accepted the best new artist Grammy.

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Frank and the Plot of the Hypnotizing Slime, Chapter 7

chapter 7

© James Pyles

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The next morning, the hypnotizing slime was ready and Frank ordered it loaded into the slime cannon. He had made more of it than the previous day and concentrated the formula so it wouldn’t come off easily and would have more control over anyone it hit. He also made sure it would turn into a mist to float into every hidden space in the town so no one would be able to escape its influence.

“Fire!” Frank gave the command and the rest of his spiders obeyed, although he could tell Leah complied reluctantly.

Slime flew high into the air forming a large, pink cloud. Then it fell as rain, and when it hit, it became a mist.

“I can’t see what’s happening, Frank.” Leah was looking through her spider telescope. “All I see is a big pink cloud surrounding the town. You shouldn’t have changed the formula to make it mistier. Yesterday, we could see it hit everyone. Today, I can’t tell.”

“Kayden, hand me the microphone,” Frank said.

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Hell’s Harlequin

joker

PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox

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“There must be some kind of way out of here, said the joker to the thief.”

Jester pretended to play a game on her cell’s frayed bedsheets with a worn deck of cards. The old Dylan tune running through her head seemed too cliché, even for her. She didn’t know how to play solitaire, but it mollified the guards while she planned her escape.

The thief was out there, the one who sent her to Hell. But Persephone hadn’t helped Jester escape Hades’ clutches just to be jailed for shoplifting food she again needed to eat. She would find him.

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Doorways Fluttering in the Breeze

blankets

© Sarah Whiley

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They reminded him of his childhood when Mom used to hang the wet laundry on the backyard clothes line to dry. Except these were supposed to be art at a small, outdoor fair at a local park.

In his peculiar line of work, Demetrius Lauer traveled all over the world and visited communities from the largest megacities to the smallest rural hamlets. Today, it was Winchester Park in the small but growing commuter city of Kuna, Idaho. Fortunately, bringing his M1911 Colt semi-automatic wasn’t a problem in this part of the U.S. He was probably going to need it, but he had to find his prey first.

Dem was an unusual type of bounty hunter. Yes, he tracked down some of the most dangerous men and women on the planet, but many were just as dangerous on other planets, or in this case alternate realities.

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Frank and the Plot of the Hypnotizing Slime, Chapter 6

Chapter 6

© James Pyles

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In the other world, Danaerys had turned Frank into a part of her end table for most of a day. She was really upset that he had used her magic book against her. Since she was only seven, she wasn’t mature enough to see how she was being unfair to Frank or that Frank might have been even slightly right in doing the same to her as she had been doing to him.

Finally, the spell wore off and he spontaneously turned back into a spider. The transform spells didn’t last forever. If they did, she might turn Frank into something and then get distracted and Frank might not come back for weeks or months.

When Frank became a spider again, he hurried into his hideout in her closet. Danaerys had just come back from a sleepover at Bubbe’s and Grandpa’s house. It was a Sunday afternoon and she was downstairs watching TV.

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Frank and the Plot of the Hypnotizing Slime, Chapter 5

lydia

© James Pyles

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It was a bother, but Leah had managed to blindfold all of Lydia’s eyes so she didn’t see where the evil hideout was. They webbed her to a wall, and Frank insisted that their prisoner be given some of their flies and a drop of water.

“What are you going to do with me,” Lydia wailed. She was really scared since these evil spiders were supposed to be so mean.

“Shush,” demanded Leah. Then Leah turned to Frank and asked, “What are we going to do with her, eat her?”

“You’re always talking about eating other spiders. Would you forget about eating spiders?”

“But if you eat your enemies, they stop being a problem.”

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Frank and the Plot of the Hypnotizing Slime, Chapter 2

chick

© James Pyles

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In the evil mountain hideout, Frank the spider said, “The hypnotic slime projector is now finished but the slime itself needs another day to cool in the vat. Then it will be ready.”

“What will we test it on?” Roger was another evil spider and an expert on reconnaissance, which means he could search out an area looking for the enemy.

“The nearby town of Hayfield.”

“A human city?” Even Leah was surprised.

“It’s a small town, maybe 100,000 humans total,” replied Frank. We’ll just have enough slime to control all the humans. We fire the slime cannon at dawn.”

At the good spider cave, Lilly said to her friends, “I’ve almost got the force field projector done. It needs a few hours to charge, but fortunately our hideout is wired for power.”

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Fantastic Schools, Volume Six Available on Amazon

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After a successful run as part of a story bundle and as I previously mentioned, L. Jagi Lamplighter’s “Fantastic Schools. Volume Six” is now available on Amazon in kindle format.

The anthology features my “magic middle school” story “The Price”. For this one, I developed a very specific system of magic, that performing any occult act requires blood or the life force of a person or people. The bigger the feat, the more life force. Evil sorcerers, being evil, will simply sacrifice the lives of the innocent because, after all, they’re evil.

But what of the good? What of the wizards and mages running magic schools, training the next generation of magicians. How does it work for them? My story explores the startling answer and how one thirteen-year-old boy holds the keys to saving his entire school. But as I said, all great acts require a great sacrifice.

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