Cajek Veilwinter

“Squirrel Blood” by Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #154

It has been forty years since our cult has met. I am still here in the woods: carving the visage of our God - missing my friends but missing my God even more. The pine trees outside swayed as the lightning and thunder remarked on the wind. I refresh and refresh on my rectangle... and the trees outside sway. My eyes. I could feel my eyes burn as the blue light filled me with things that I had not felt since the Visiting. I could hear screams deep in the forest. I could see the rectangle’s feed and I feel the harbinger of my god feeding...

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“The Heist of Tarot Bell” by Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #152

Skilled mages know the difference between seeing the future and divination: Divination - using cards or bones or the stars or such - gives a vague answer for a question asked about some distant future. Actually seeing the future can only happen if the future is definite... which lets one see about ten or so seconds into the future: longer if one limits one’s view to the immediate region. My grandmother was a ninja - able to see her opponent’s moves a full fifteen seconds into the future if she focused. I tried my hand behind the tarot desk...

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“Horror to Hope” by Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #151

After fifteen brutal years of adventure, love, and loss, I had finally found the doorway on the wooded island again.  Had it really been that long? Had I really been merely a child since I had stepped through it? A lot had happened. So much so that I was overwhelmed and merely laughed when I saw it again - like seeing an old, sardonic friend at an obscure cafe. I placed myself at the bottom of a tree and just looked at it. It looked pretty much the same as it did when I was little. I wondered if I could destroy it, but I had lost ...

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“The History of the Future” by Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #150

Mr. Forma’s eyes pointed in opposite directions behind his huge glasses. He was covered in a blanket and shivered as he spoke, a sickly smile on his face revealing his weird teeth. Other than being strangely unsettling, he was polite: he had apologized for the warmth of the room already.“In the future, people will worship the algorithm like they used to worship God.”I wiped the sweat off my brow. The heater was going full blast in the little apartment. I took a seat and drank another glass of lemonade.“You big on computers, Mr. Forma?”He smi...

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“The Shrouded Widow” by Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #149

The Shrouded Widow lit one last candle in her office when she heard a knock. Her black shroud covering every last inch of her face and form. “Who is it, Albert?” She asked softly, turning - the breeze from her shroud causing the candle to flicker. “A petitioner, my lady. A young man who wishes to join the syndicate.” She walked to the tall wooden door and opened it, revealing her old and trusted manservant and a young man in clothes just as old, bearing an eyepatch. He bowed with a flourish of his tall hat. “My lady,” he said. “My na...

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“The Crimson Diary” by Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #148

Lady Brackvark had sent her manservant to the constables to complain about her neighbor, Lady Razia, and her raucous party. This was nothing new: Lady Razia was always throwing parties of some kind in her salon, and Lady Brackvark was a jealous, acrimonious old badger who longed for the days when she would be invited to such parties.This party was unusual, though, as it had been snowing heavily: Enough to deaden most noise. The constables - mostly collies and a few bloodhounds - assumed that Lady Brackvark was simply complaining again and ga...

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“The Vicar's Banquet” by Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #145

Roger groaned as he woke up in a barn after a long day of what his paystub referred to as ‘groundskeeping.’ He blinked and saw a raven nearby, simply watching him. As soon as he stretched, the bird cawed and flew off through the large opening where the barn doors used to be and into the morning sky. His head had been laid on a rough bale of hay so he had to rub his neck to - in a bit of futility - soothe some of his new neck pain.Feeling an alien bit of soft cloth, he could tell something was different: his shirt and overalls had been replac...

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“Last Known Photo” by Cajek Veilwinter

“Here you go, sir,” the teenager said, handing Danny his envelope of developed film. Danny walked home as the store closed behind him. The next morning, Danny was standing in his dusty office. He took Wednesdays to relax. The dust motes floated to the ground as the sun took its time to light up the city. Danny had moved to a small town to avoid the gaze of his enemy, and had been monitoring the sleepy streets below to ensure that he was safe. He had not been idle, though. He opened the kodak envelope and looked at his old photographs fro...

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“Cup of Tea” by Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #143

Selthia set the little potted plant on the counter and looked up into the eyes of the bear in an apron. Behind the giant carnivore were a myriad of plants on dusty shelves, their leaves and vines covering the old wooden walls and obscuring the dirty windows. “Is that all, Razia?” The bear asked, her voice low but not threatening. It took Selthia a moment to realize she was being spoken to. “O-Oh, yes, that’s all Honeytree,” she said courteously. “That’ll be one copper.” “I believe I can afford that,” the little dusk-colored vixen sai...

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