Havok Publishing

Tag - telepathy

A Mind-reading Mixup

Shut up, he told himself, albeit to no avail.
Zaivar slouched into his favorite diner booth, trying to keep his thoughts muted. This was an unwelcome challenge for someone used to reading other people’s minds. The waitress approached, and before he even registered it was happening, he thought, Her perfume is like being punched

Read it now

Cogs and Courtship

The Ghost, an infamous young thief recently turned pirate, walked through the bustling cacophony of Cog’s Meridian on market day.
Polite society knew her by a different name, but she was far from polite society today. Far from expectations and inopportune fiancés.
Beside her, Captain Gearlock kept watch on their surroundings with his clockwork

Read it now

The Bloodvoicer

Zai looked at crowds below his dingy second-story window, factory workers heading home after timebells sounded the day’s closing. Though his window faced west, the tall buildings across the road rarely let a ray of sun into the small living space.
He sighed and turned from the window. Work had been slow over the

Read it now

The Nymph and I

A luminous nymph dashes from the darkening woods, leaping barefoot from log to rock. Her silver hair glows, reflecting the light of the two bright moons above. Her pale, web-like dress snags on a branch as she streaks by. A path of blood follows her as she bolts through the brush.
She is no spirit.

Read it now

The Huntsman’s Quarry

When I took this bounty, I didn’t think it would be this boring.
During the last five parties hosted by high-ranking officials in this region, rare items had disappeared. As if fading into thin air.
Zaivar stifled another yawn behind his hand.
The hypnotic dancing had almost lulled him to sleep more than once.

Read it now

Perdita Danville, Gorgon Slayer

Miss Perdita Danville crept along the moonlit heath, trailing the large, fluffy cow that guided her, its rope clenched in her fist. A bag of dead mice dangled from her belt. With a sword buckled at her waist and her pocket mirror safe in her travelling coat pocket, she was more than suitably armed

Read it now

A Fluke at Work

Another boring Saturday.
I yawned, the report blurring before me. The faint buzz of life trickled up from the streets far below.
I continued scrolling. Just a few more before I could clock out and head home. Home, where my videogames patiently waited.
But nothing else did.
With a start, I realized

Read it now
S7 FF daily banner

What a Marriage Needs

In the plains below us, tall grasses part as the rest of our hunting party appears near the edge of the grazing herd. The older olagonas close rank around the yearlings, still wobbling across the ground on spindly legs.
“Do you feel it, Tauv?” asks Leal.
I close my eyes and reach out

Read it now

The Rejected

Every spring, the past called Cheroth back to a land that did not want her, compelling her against reason or need. She swept low over the tree line and into full view of the village, beating her wings in the slow rhythm of one trying to suppress hope. A woman caught her shadow and looked up.

Read it now
S2 Thriller Thursday featured image (season 2)

Dark Winter Sight

Yousef’s vision went black as he returned to the delivery skimmer.
“What the frag?” This wasn’t like his prior blackouts. He was fully conscious, but blind. His grasping fingers found the cold mesh shrouding the skimmer’s rear thrust fan. From there, he followed the vehicle’s smooth side forward to the lockpad.

Read it now
S2 Techno Tuesday featured image (season 2)

Mari’s Gift

Mari watched the descent to Vorin IV through the viewport, stomach churning like the purple clouds frothing in their ship’s wake. Despite being Earthborn, she had quickly learned to love space-cruising. It was the closest to freedom, peace, and a few other unalienable rights she’d ever get again.

Read it now

Shadow and Shifter

Tad’s gut knotted. He’s all I have …Images of his brother’s ashen face flooded his mind. If this doesn’t work, he’ll die by the end of the week. “Dust and specter, shadow and …” Blast it if I get killed from reciting this password wrong to the witch. He sidestepped oily puddles along Gidras’s docks. “Shadow and …shifter?” How did Gratia say it again?

Read it now