14500+ Fantasy Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Though fantasy is well known for its epically long sagas, fantasy short stories can deliver all the genre’s best attractions with one punch — or, shall we say, in one fiery dragon breath?

🏆 Winning stories

“All I Have To Offer Is My Truth” by Dermot Lane

🏆 Winner of Contest #289

The room is unfamiliar. I don't know how I got here. But I know it to be a prison cell, cold and dank.I remember that the Praesidium of Magistrates say I am to die. They say I killed a man, that I am a murderer. Maybe these things are true, but they are only part of the truth.They say that Headsman Taliesan has been summoned from the Royal Palace, that he is to arrive on Fairday. That noon on Fairday is to be the hour of my death.They say Pastor Yakob shall tend to my spiritual needs, so that I may repent and save my immortal soul. Yet, I ha...

96 likes 103 comments 103

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“The Three Little Pigs Incident: A Building Inspector’s Report” by Troy Phillips

🏆 Winner of Contest #277

The Three Little Pigs Incident: A Building Inspector’s ReportBy B.B. Wolf, Senior Building Inspector, Woodland District Code Enforcement DivisionLet me set the record straight. After twenty-seven years with the Woodland Building Department (WBD), I’ve seen every construction shortcut and code violation imaginable. But nothing—and I mean nothing—compares to the infamous Three Pigs incident of 2023. The media had a field day with it, of course. “Big Bad Wolf Terrorizes Innocent Homeowners!” Please. I enforced the International Building Code, 2...

166 likes 124 comments 124

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“Sweetbread: An Epilogue” by M. Darrow

🏆 Winner of Contest #274

My sister has always had a soft heart. Soft as sweetbread.She cried after the old woman, despite everything. Maybe because of everything. I remember holding her as she wept, both of us covered in soot, her fingers scalded from holding shut the oven door. After the tears, she was quiet. She trailed me through the awful house with its sweetbread walls and sugared windows. I found the clothes we’d arrived in, offered up her kirtle, and she donned it without a word. She showed no whisper of response when we found the treasure in the attic, ...

153 likes 56 comments 56

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⭐️ Recommended stories

“The Fate That Feeds” by Madison Simonne

Submitted to Contest #291

Pain makes even the innocent man a liar, but I was no man, and I’d forsaken innocence in pursuit of something greater.Whatever becomes of me tonight will forever be who I am, but if it is not she who is beside me, let death be kinder than I ever was.─── ⋆⋅ ♰ ⋅⋆ ───The Tree from which wicked roots grew started as a myth among the Shadehaven’s feminal diaspora – if entered, there was no guarantee of exiting without being… changed by it in some way. It was awfully vague, and amateur in style; no more a fable to keep us dutiful first years at th...

1 like 1 comment 1

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“You Can't Read in a Dream” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #291

We only have about ten minutes to get him to Everett. Awake, the ride takes forty-five minutes, but we don’t need that long if he’s asleep. I once trained a guy who quit on the third night, because he didn’t like the pliability of it all. The way time wasn’t the only flat circle, but everything. Nothing but circles. Speech, behavior, and emotion--all could bend if you knew which way to pull and how hard. I can get anybody to Everett in twenty, but sometimes you have less than twenty, and that’s when it gets complicated. I showed up at around...

18 likes 13 comments 13

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“Once Upon a Time” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #291

Once upon a time, I saw two spooks fighting, which wasn’t scary. It was more like a video—the ones that supposedly showed frightening events, like the video of the creepy creature that swooped around the Palisades before that massive fire that upset all the celebrities.However, it seemed odd that a child would fake a video of something so far away on their cell phone, flapping around and gliding, all black, like an air-borne demon. If you were to fake a video about something this alarming, wouldn't you do a better job of it? Especially with ...

7 likes 6 comments 6

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✍️ All stories

“It's time” by Nichole Stanton

Submitted to Contest #291

Although I was covered in darkness, I could still make out swirling shapes of the making their way. Nothing certain but something glided under my head, soft…and humming. I wasn’t even using my own legs; it seemed more like a swim where I could float as the current moved me lazily along. I could have floated all night with no worry in the world, that’s how I liked it anyway. But something else had other plans, as a harsh light stabbed through, I curled covering my eyes as my darkness evaporated from me. I could feel my legs touching solid gro...

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“Uranium Demons” by Rachel Jacobs

Submitted to Contest #291

“So, you see,” the large figure quietly said, “now that you know everything, there is nothing you can do. Your fate is sealed, Morgana.” The young woman peered up at the great demon. Its deer skull head glowed in iridescent hues of uranium and the deep cracks produced hues of violet. “You are bound for Hell,” it boomed. Morgana’s eyelashes fluttered and the color of the demon’s black robe disappeared beneath her short lashes. “But–” she began to plead. “But nothing, Morgana,” the demon reached out a boney and decayed hand with...

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“Ink of Secrets” by Teacher Mom

Submitted to Contest #291

The fragment trembled between Jonas Halloway's fingers, its edges crumbling like dead leaves. In the suffocating quiet of his basement office, grudgingly granted by the university after last term's heated confrontation with the board over his "unorthodox" research methods, the parchment seemed to pulse with its own heartbeat. Generations of scholars had searched for this text, and now here it was, ink impossibly wet after centuries.Professor Chen's warning echoed, "Your obsession with these texts is becoming dangerous, Jonas. The board is co...

5 likes 0 comments 0

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“Dust and Faeries” by David J. Conaway

Submitted to Contest #291

Hank sat in his antique chair in the dark library, it smelled of oldparchment, leather bound books, and musty years gone by. While he sat at the windowsill a sliver of light gleamed through dark maroon tapestry holding back the full onslaught of day, he watched a symphonic ballet of dust particles dancing, swirling, and churning, floating up and down and around to unheard music, a sudden gust of wind disrupted the tranquil overture that had him transfixed. “Hank, Hank! You must come see what I have found.” Sarah saidrushing in the room. Hank...

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“Mind” by A Rogers

Submitted to Contest #291

They want to take me; I feel it radiating off their skin. Their grey, lifeless bodies move toward me slowly and sensually. They always want what they can’t have. They will never be able to have this. They are not capable. What I have is not easy; it’s a burden, really. It’s a burden to be deeply wanted, but never truly feel a connection. The connection has never been there. Their lips start moving in unison, I know they are trying to keep me from moving, and at this point, I can’t tell if what they are doing is working or if it’s my fea...

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“The Fate That Feeds” by Madison Simonne

Submitted to Contest #291

Pain makes even the innocent man a liar, but I was no man, and I’d forsaken innocence in pursuit of something greater.Whatever becomes of me tonight will forever be who I am, but if it is not she who is beside me, let death be kinder than I ever was.─── ⋆⋅ ♰ ⋅⋆ ───The Tree from which wicked roots grew started as a myth among the Shadehaven’s feminal diaspora – if entered, there was no guarantee of exiting without being… changed by it in some way. It was awfully vague, and amateur in style; no more a fable to keep us dutiful first years at th...

1 like 1 comment 1

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“Nature's Orphan” by Aya Mahmoud

Submitted to Contest #291

“Burn that wretched woman!” Chants, howls, screams and whistles erupted just as the pale white girl was dragged bound by her hands, with her bare legs dragged behind her, her cotton white nightgown, now painted with shades of black and brown from soot and dirt, dragged behind her. Her albino features, with white hair, purple blue eyes, and translucent milky skin, along with her nightgown made her look like tragic ghost or a lost angel that by some twisted fate, fell into the claws of monsters. However, her curse and salvation is the fact tha...

3 likes 2 comments 2

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“7 of Cups” by Laura Elena Oancea

Submitted to Contest #291

I must, but I don’t have to write prose in the style of Witold Gombrowicz at the creative writing course. I say: - Why not? It was decided that we’d come. Then he asks: - Huh? And will it be? I respond: - Yes, it will be! At the pastry shop, or Cofetterey, as we call it. He says: - Where?! I don’t change overnight. And he grumbles: - I don’t change like the wind blows. And he gets angry: - Who do you take me for? I am who I am. And continues: - The envoy, the inspiration, the guide, the daddy, little shit! I am the Representative of Prose, o...

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“Ink Against Oblivion” by Teacher Mom

Submitted to Contest #291

The journal lay open on Leah's desk, pristine pages gleaming under the lamp's harsh glow. No coffee stains. No grocery lists. No half-formed story ideas. Only emptiness stretched across page after page, as if something had devoured the words she knew should be there.Her hands trembled as she traced the leather binding, remembering how she'd written in it just yesterday–hadn't she? The memory felt soggy, dissolving at the edges like wet paper.She slammed the journal shut and reached for her coffee, fingers brushing empty air. In the kitchen, ...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“Slay the Beast” by Jennifer Abrahamsen

Submitted to Contest #291

“Slay the beast!” The call echoes through the chamber. I stand with over a hundred of my compatriots, listening to the call to arms. I hadn’t meant to find myself in the middle of a rally, but this is where Gwyneth is, so this is where I want to be. Honestly, I found it a bit hard to believe that a sweet female such as Gwyn would be interested in the rantings of a brute such as Ragnor, but she was. This meant I had an interest in Ragnar’s speech as well.               ...

2 likes 0 comments 0

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“Destiny's Label” by Christina Li

Submitted to Contest #291

Where am I? I looked around and found myself standing in a dark room. Why am I here? The truth was I didn’t know. My heart pounded at the thought of a monster looming around the corner. Slowly, I spun around, shaking with fear. I had to face my fate, sooner or later. Instead of a creepy looking monster, I saw something shiny, like a crystal. Step by step, I carefully approached it; my mind suddenly felt lifted and all I felt was happiness. "Lina?" someone calls from far away. My eyes jerked open, and two blurry faces appear. As my vision bec...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“Welcome Back to Dreamland” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #291

I woke up screaming. Again. My therapist calls them night terrors, but I call them a return trip to Dreamland. Dreamland is an atrocious place where ghastly predatory creatures roam in the deep dark woods. The dreams are so real and horrendous that words cannot grasp the true wickedness that comes while I am sound asleep. I know I am not innocent. There is a damn good reason why I’ve been remanded to Dreamland. Penance is a hard price to pay at times. “Alright Martin, have you had any night terrors this week.” My Therapist Amanda...

6 likes 2 comments 2

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“Curls, Coils, and Chaos” by Kennedy Haven

Submitted to Contest #291

Keisha had always been at war with her hair. Not in a tragic, identity-crisis kind of way—more like a sitcom battle, with her coily strands playing the mischievous villain. She loved her natural hair, truly, but every twist-out, wash-and-go, and "quick" detangling session felt like negotiating peace with a nation that had declared independence decades ago. One humid Brooklyn morning, Keisha woke up, stared at her reflection, and sighed. Her hair had formed what she called "Defcon 4 Frizz." The satin bonnet she’d worn had clearly taken the ni...

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“The Magic Circle” by Craig Savage

Submitted to Contest #291

The Magic CircleA man opens his eyes. He is sat in a standard plastic chair. The type that is found in a town hall, easily stacked away at the end of the performance or meeting.The man scans the room with a bewildered look. There are other people sat in the chairs and strangely some animals and birds, perched and lounged on others. He remembers his Wife first nagging him to attend another magic show and then bullying him into getting up on stage for part of the act. This room however was no longer the same place, and hewa...

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“Writer's Cell Block” by Kate Simkins

Submitted to Contest #291

“It’s no use. You can’t get out.”Alice sat down heavily on a small, wooden chair and folded her arms.Wednesday didn’t even look up from her book. “We’ve all tried it.” She licked her finger and turned the page.“But maybe…” Alice looked towards the great, glass window that overlooked the formal gardens longingly. She walked over and placed her hands against the pane.“Nope. Tried it.”She walked towards the great wooden door and wriggled the brass knob. “What about…?”“Tried it twice.” Wednesday turned another page.“Belle, what about you?” Alice...

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