The Last One

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by Stephen Herczeg 

Dark skies greet me as I wake.

Pain strikes my flesh. ‘Tis nothing compared to that of my friends, my comrades, my enemies. Dead, littering the battlefield, unmoving.

I am the last one. The conqueror.

Gold shimmers above the corpses. Their spirits stand as one.

The great gates of Valhalla open. Silently, they march into paradise. An eternity of drinking, feasting, and fighting.

The gates shut.

Alone again, I drop to my knees screaming to be invited inside.

Alive, Valhalla will never accept me.

Gripping my axe, I set out for combat. I must fall, and others will join me.

 

Stephen Herczeg

Stephen is an IT Geek based in Canberra, Australia. He has been writing for over twenty years and has completed a couple of dodgy novels, sixteen feature length screenplays, and numerous short stories and scripts.

His horror work has been featured in numerous anthologies. He has also had numerous Sherlock Holmes stories published.

Shield-Maiden

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by Kailey Alessi

“Don’t touch me!” I back up, my knife comically small compared to the sword brandished by the invader.

“You’re brave, girl.” The invader removes her helmet and blonde braids cascade down her shoulders. She glances at the cooling body of my father and grimaces. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. He was a worthless drunk.”

She peers at me more closely and I itch to pull down my sleeve to cover the bruises.

“No one ever lays a finger on a shield-maiden,” she says, then walks away. I pause a moment. Then I sheath my knife and follow her to the ship.

 

Kailey Alessi

Kailey Alessi has lived in Michigan, Kentucky, Idaho, and Florida. An archaeologist by day, by night she writes disturbing fiction. She is the author of the Of Vampires and Men dark fantasy series, and her flash fiction can be found in numerous anthologies.