If you listen closely you can hear the sounds of every season. Winter brings the eerie cracking of branches that have been overcome by frost. Spring brings birds chirping as new life emerges. Summer is laughter. Fall, most of all, is the sound of leaves beneath your feet. Konrad and Nell descended into a sweeping valley. With each step, more leaves crunched beneath them. The world was turning toward fall. As they strode Nell noticed a chirping sound. It sounded like some sort of beetle except the chirps were new and distinct to Nell’s ears. He followed the sound over to a mound of dirt and charred wood. Nell lifted…

A secret is best kept, only kept, if no one knows about it. It stood to reason that bringing Corban to the secret arctic lab would forever demote it to a simple known arctic lab, but Corban was good with secrets. Today, they were formulating the idea for a hybrid beast. What he wanted was a vicious penguin, but cuddly too. As they walked through the lab they passed by the empty nest of a failed creation: Henry. He was supposed to be cuddly, warm, loving. Instead, he was rough and excitable. He had teeth too sharp to cuddle. They had found an oasis for him — a jungle that…

They arrived at the corner of Glise and Alden. A big brown sign framed the shop that’s corner was cut off to make a more artistic angle with a view of the north, west, and south. Across the top was a large guitar with neon quarter notes hung like they were dancing above the strings. “Shall we?” Nell said. Niels nodded and pulled open the large door. From inside, a must radiated. Niels coughed, while Nell swallowed the pungent fumes of old wood and dust and, somewhere beneath a firm chaise, a dead mouse left by the brilliant orange cat now perched on the counter, licking his paws. “We’re not…

There was nothing but the endless sheer face of a mountain. Nell clung to ancient crusted vines and placed his foot in ledges to secure himself. Though he had wings, he loved the climb. Ahead of him, his love crawled up the face if the cliff, winged, faster with the aid of his wings. Nell took his time, his mind following each bug and animal as he approached them. At last, his hand slipped into a crevice where a centipede lived. It scurried onto Nell’s hand, up his arm to his shoulder. “Hello there,” Nell greeted. He ran his hand down the ribbons of grey, black, and lime. Where he…

It was a bright and sunny day. The sky stretched endlessly as Nell tucked his body into a ball. He rolled through a barrage of paintballs, the splattered ink catching him as it ricocheted off a wall. Nell turned, gun in arm. He searched for his target: Rhyss, over six feet tall, hard to miss. He was gone. Nell turned again, just in time to see Rhyss at his seven as he skirted behind a barrel. Mmm. Nell stalked him. He came to the barrel and stood: paintballs loaded, gun ready, finger on the trigger. Nell’s spine arched as paintballs splattered against his own back. He tried to get away…