• About
  • Fictional Pairings
  • Submissions

Fictional Pairings Magazine

~ Matching Independent Fiction With Music

Fictional Pairings Magazine

Category Archives: Fantasy

(Narrative) Flames of Vengeance – (Music) Klage

20 Monday Feb 2017

Posted by FictionalPairingsMag in Fantasy

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Flash Fiction, Linda M. Crate, Nebelwanderin

By. Linda M. Crate

Beneath a sky of champagne sun and crimson, carnelian sunset with a few splashes of amethyst and rosemary sat a girl woefully ignorant of the sorrow that would await her at home.

Here, she sat in the creek. The waters were soothing and melodious and the world seemed calm and tranquil even magical in this quiet place of solitude.

 

This girl whose name was Nesimne preferred peace and silence. She was the peace keeper among her siblings, and the one that had discovered the wicked scheme of the black faerie before she was able to kill anyone. Subsequently, the fae had lost her life, and though it seemed a sad thought to have any magic destroyed—life was something to be cherished and not so easily squandered as every enemy and fiend of goodness seemed to lack knowledge of.

Life was far more precious than anyone gave it credit for.

As she looked at the roots of trees suspended in air from where the creek had eroded away the soil, she couldn’t help but smile.

It looked as if the trees were walking on air.

She sighed softly, realizing that she had to head home or else she would find it in complete darkness. She knew that her mother wouldn’t be pleased should that be the case.

Nesimne laughed as she ran through the trees in her bare feet and down the hills, as well. She only put her shoes back on once she had reached the end of the hill and walked a few feet down a dusty old road to where the cottage of her parents once had stood.

All the laughter in her eyes faded as she glanced upon the ruins of her house.

“Nesimne!”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

“At least one was spared.”

“What do you mean, at least one was spared?” Nesimne asked.

“A dragon came through our village, and your parents and siblings were lost in the fray.”

“No!” Nesimne shouted, as if her shouts could make this truth. She fell to her knees, tears pouring from her eyes. A dragon?! A dragon hadn’t attacked for a thousand years. Why now?

“The king has been pushing into the mountains of the dragon’s for some time now. They obviously feel threatened, and this was their way of telling him to stop.”

“Then why didn’t they attack the king’s family?” Nesimne demanded angrily. She didn’t like how matter-of-fact her neighbors sounded as if her family were asking to be murdered. It infuriated her.

She looked down as she felt a weight upon her legs and noticed her family’s cat sitting on her lap. Sylvanius was always there to drink away her tears of pain, rage, and happiness; it seemed.

Nesimne laughed sadly at the black cat. “Sylvanius!”

He purred, rubbing against her, almost in a way as if to say everything would be okay. Maybe that was the case, but everything would also be different.

“I’m sorry, love, I agree it’s not right that your family had to pay the price for our greedy king’s actions.”

Nesimne nodded. “Thank you, but my rage and pain won’t bring them back. I guess I’ll just have to find a way to deal with it somehow.”

“Nesimne, I’m so sorry.”

“You are wiser than your years,” another of her neighbors murmured.

“What will you do?”

“I will become stronger. I will slay the dragon that took my family. I am not afraid of dragons. I am not afraid of monsters. I am afraid of seeing evil, looking it dead in the eye, and doing nothing; at all. Avenging my family won’t bring them back, but it’s something I must do.”

They looked at her, stunned.

Here, the peace keeper was insistent upon being a warrior. Her long dark hair seemed to burn red like flames in the dying embers of sunlight that were slowly disappearing to the oncoming darkness.

Nesimne wouldn’t let her family’s memories fall into ruin. They would always live within her heart, and she would allow them to guide her in every path of righteousness and goodness.

Still, she knew that she had to take down this beast to show the dragons that they were messing with the wrong villagers. Because she knew that their cowardly king could not be trusted to take care of it. So she would.

Linda M. Crate‘s works have appeared in many anthologies and magazines both online and in print. Her fantasy novel “Phoenix Tears” is forthcoming through Dream Big Publishing.

Nebelwanderin is a German folk artist. 

Welcome to Fictional Pairings!

16 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by FictionalPairingsMag in Fantasy, Flash Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Flash Fiction, introductions

The world feels rather cold and dreary as of late. With dark, nefarious forces seeming to occupy ever crevice of the internet, self-imposed exile from the real world to a digital sanctuary is increasingly difficult.

We hope to remedy that in a small way.

I have been employed in many jobs I hated with a passion. The drudgery of each hour wore down my body and soul; punching that time card at the end of a shift was the only satisfying sound in a day populated by mechanical noise and boredom.

When I finally shuffled home, I grabbed a drink, opened a good book and dropped the needle on my record player. Orwell, Tolkien, Aldiss and Moorcock transported me to new worlds; my dinner and alcoholic spirits helped compliment their words and give me the energy to face another day.

We want Fictional Pairings to act as a similar escape.

This online magazine will pair together music bubbling in the underground with fresh new flash fiction. These pairings are meant to be enjoyed like a morning cup of coffee and pastry: little bits of joy and pleasure in an otherwise formidable environment.

Fictional Pairings doesn’t make any money and isn’t intended to. We hope to share fiction and music we love with a wider audience. While we have little in the way of cash, we do plan to pay writers for their work. The pittance won’t be putting anyone through college, but we hope it endears amateur writers to our project.

We would love to hear from you and read your work. Science fiction, mystery and fantasy works is our true love, but we plan to publish many forms of fiction. See our Submissions page for more details on what we share and how to get your work into our hands.

Fictional Pairings looks forward to helping bring a little more light into this world.

 

Newer posts →

Fiction Topics

  • Art (7)
  • Complete Issue (1)
  • Fantasy (12)
  • Flash Fiction (16)
  • Mystery (9)
  • Poetry (20)
  • Science Fiction (12)
  • Uncategorized (5)

Follow us on Twitter

My Tweets

Translate

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Blog at WordPress.com.