Sorilai had spent years coming to this point. Looking back, she could hardly remember a time she wasn’t working towards getting where she was now: preparing to enter the country’s grand colosseum and take part in the Games.




The young woman had sacrificed much to make it to this point. She stood before the great arches of the mighty stone structure, looking small, decked in her homemade armor and weapons. Born int

He
was a walking idol. A demi-god from the ancient past. The moment she
saw him, Velren was stricken with a desire to be near him. The Hero
of Hyrule, lost for 100 years, a story from myth. Now living.
Velren
was a merchant in the town of Hateno. She’d lived there all her
life, first helping on the farm, then trying her luck in the shops.
She’d grown up listening to the stories of long lost Hyrule from
the travelling Rito bards, the only source of hope and magic in an
otherwise dreary world.

Fermata had always wanted to work for Bowser. The Shygal had grown up hearing stories of the Koopa king in his castle, plotting schemes against the Mushroom Kingdom, leading armies, controlling powerful magic and artifacts from who knows where. When she became an adult, she wasted no time leaving her dreamy, dull hometown behind and travelling across the land to the Koopa castle. She expected to be part of an army of invading koopas, or a spy force of nefarious Boos, or maybe, if she was lucky,

It started on a trip she and her friends took to celebrate the last of summer. Doria, Cassidy, and Noelle had driven down to the coast for the weekend, to an out of the way, nowhere spot that only Cassidy knew about. Doria had wanted one last rain of sun on her skin before things turned cool.


When they arrived, the sun was shining hot and heavy on the secluded beach. The waves that came were shallow and gentle. The water clear like a blue magnifying glass. T

An autumnal hush lay over the small city of Ondurville. A chill breeze blew the dead leaves down the rough cobblestones, their crisp edges skating loudly against the ground. There was a silence here not from the wind, but from fear.


Melrue rode into the village atop her horse. The short deacon looked humorously out of place, even on an equally small steed. Like a child playing pretend on a farm animal. But Melrue was no child. Her face was stern under her me

... took a step back. He felt strange. A peculiar feeling ran all over his body. Not like when he transformed into a frog. Something different. A deeper, weirder sort of strange. He grew scared of what was happening. He knew he shouldn’t have trusted that witch again!
“I-I think I’ll take a rain check,” said the prince. “Besides, we’re both busy! We have a whole kingdom to help. Let’s-let’s not waste time here. Fighting. Right?”
However, Rich

...felt his belly rumble like a small lightning storm. He recognized the feeling stealing over him now. HUNGER. Intense, abiding, deep hunger. Hunger unlike any he’d ever felt before. And as impossible as it seemed, the thing he was hungry for… was Richard.
Hearing that low growl, Richard laughed. “What, didn’t get a snack before your hike?” He waved his hand, dismissively. “Tell you what. You go back home to Sable. Buy a royal feast or two. Just leave all th