artifexus

The wake up call lead to me experiencing my first panic attack. I had been deep in a dream; atop a huge tree, surrounded by blinking lights on the ground. The aliens. They had me surrounded- some were beginning to climb up it, hands twisting from human like into deep cutting claws. Then Alfie was behind me all of a sudden. He gave me a secretive smile, placed his hands on my shoulders, and told me to jump. It was the only way to be free. I told him I did not want to jump- I’d fall. He’d just laughed, told me I just had to fly. And with that, he shoved by back- hard- and I plunged down. Falling for so long. The ground rushed to

Nora looked guiltily at the merchant who, after about a minute of hauling, had finally managed to shove the chest off the edge of the wagon, where it thumped on to the dirt track, sending up a large cloud of dust. He glared at her coldly, stretching his arms out, evidently in an attempt to soothe them after the strain of  moving the box, that now lay at her feet. “Sorry, but I ain’t carrying this any further lass, not in me job description- you’re on your own from here,” He explained, in a regretful tone, which completely belied his uncaring, flat gaze. Typical city trader. Rolling her eyes, Nora thanked him for the

The shade smirked, blatant enjoyment stamped clear on his face. The temptation to punch him was unreal, but I would opt for a more damaging blow, of the magical kind. I stepped forward to attack, with every ounce of power I could throw, only to crumple as hot pain shot through my calf. Biting my lip to hold back a shriek, I saw a dark tendril protruding from my leg, leading round my shield and back to the shade. I collapsed to one knee, frenziedly attempting to knit the flesh of my leg back together, but the wound would not heal. Black magic- poison- best I could do was numb the pain. Weak, I staggered to my feet, to find the shade laughing

Naturally, the story begins when the aliens landed on earth. In all the films, the books, the fireside stories, they arrived in huge blinking spaceships, levelling world wonders, exploding everything in sight. The real thing was different; they were here and landed before anyone could quite believe it. I’d gone to school one day, and got back to switch on the TV and find one message, repeating itself on every channel. ‘Your government has fallen. Stay in your houses. You will be removed soon.’ Not somebody reading it, just the words, floating aimlessly about the screen. I’d run up to the top floor of my house, and gaz

My feet were a blur beneath me before I ‘d even formed a plan. I launched myself off the edge of the cliff, Oak and I had stood on. No time to waste climbing down, jumping was most direct- a few quietly muttered words, and an exertion of magic was all it took to slow my fall to that of a leaf drifting in the breeze. Oak wasn’t following, I heard him yell in alarm from somewhere behind. No time to explain. The forest was on fire- so too was my arm. The previously vivid green mark, imbued into my skin, had turned a deep red, and was throbbing, like I was bleeding in impossibly intricate patterns. It hurt; I could feel the flame whe

I realised, after I had managed to rearrange myself into a comfortable position within the fancy space bin, in her cramming, Cael had pricked me with something on the arm. I felt wet on my fingers, and brought it to my nose- I was bleeding. The smell made my head sway, which was odd- blood had never bothered me. My limbs began to shake and I felt myself collapse against the walls on the containment pod. It was an intensely awkward position, but I couldn’t move my limbs, they refused to respond. It was at around this point the thought drifted into my head, that I’d been drugged, and felt annoyed in a detached sense. These feelings

The noise continued; it seemed to reverberate through my bones, shaking me to the core. The light was unrelenting, and my eyes made the stubborn decision not to adapt, and get back to work, after their redundancy in the pitch-black space bin prison. My sensory experience had been so dull in the bin, now, tossed into the outside world once more, each of my senses was utterly overloaded. The cold of the metallic surface I sprawled on was biting, its fangs sinking deep into my fingers. The scent of disinfectant burnt my nostrils- the whole place seemed thoroughly doused in it, like cheap perfume on a teenager trying to prevent their parents dis