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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of fantasy short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

15100+ 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?

Fantasy Short Stories – Page 1 of 1007

The Vampire and The Mocha

Submitted to Contest #304

Gwydden stood outside the cafe, casting a long shadow onto the London pavement. Everything was still wet from rain. Drops streamed down the cafe window, catching light from street lamps and cars as they passed. Gwydden squinted, peering inside. It was busy. There was a line. Reaching into his coat, he checked his pocket watch. 11 o'clock. He sighed. The sign on the door read, Moonbeam Coffee House Hours: 6:00 am - 11:30 pm A ring-ring sounded as people in rain coats stepped inside. Great, more people, thought Gwydden. Maybe I should skip ton...

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The Unfinished Sonnet - Charles Baudelaire - August 31st, 1867

Submitted to Contest #304

Many years have passed since I have read the works of de Nerval or even thought of him. Today though, I walked home from an early breakfast at the café that’s run by an old Roma couple on the corner of my street. It was at a time when our labors had surpassed the successful career of Romanticism’s founding father to be deemed by academic institutions, literary reviews, and, most importantly, the informal conversations of the fine art’s aficionados as “all the rage of Paris.” Delacroix, where were you when he needed you? De Nerval had hair th...

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The Somnambulists Cute Meet.

Submitted to Contest #304

This story contains mention of sexual violence.It all started when I was about thirteen, rising to some kind of peak on that silent, moony night when she and I finally bumped into each other, after years of living in the same neighbourhood, and sharing a penchant for wandering the empty streets during the bewitching hours. We both suffered from somnambulism, commonly known as sleepwalking. Despite undertaking a gaggle of therapies, my night terrors and nocturnal walkies continued for most of my childhood, dragging into my teens and beyond. N...

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The Show Must Go On : The Halfway House for Disgruntled Characters Pt 2

Submitted to Contest #304

“Contractual obligations, Merlin!”“Loopholes, Malory! In your material it says Cloudbank Cabin will provide Arthurian epic re-enactments, in chronological order, in the Fog Lake and Cloudbank, within clear view of the porch of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, at all times when hosting an Artisan in Residence , except in extraordinary circumstances.And Sir Lancelot du Lac disappearing completely is definitely an extraordinary circumstance!”“If you know where he is, Merlin, I insist that you magic him back to the Fog La...

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Cael and the Symphony of Truth

Submitted to Contest #304

Silence.For the people of Lurea, sound was a distant memory now. The new generation had never known the delight of singing, playing an instrument, or the echoes of giggles. Silence had consumed the village like a heavy fog, seeping into every crevice, muffling footsteps, and swallowing even the wind's whisper. It hadn’t always been this way. There was a time before silence fell, the happiest of times.Music danced through every corner of Lurea as villagers sang and rejoiced. Every person carried a delightful tune in their heart from the momen...

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Friend

Submitted to Contest #304

Ashwater was what the troll called the place beneath the glacier, where the snowmelt turned gray with soot, where the birds never flew, where the rocks wept black tears no one could explain. He said it was older than language, deeper than death, and that only children could find it.Brynja was nine the first time she heard the name.She had wandered past the schoolhouse fence on a Wednesday afternoon, chasing a dog that wasn’t really there. Past the sulfur springs, past the collapsed turf church where moss grew over gravestones and the wind ma...

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Inkbound Chains

Submitted to Contest #304

Inkbound ChainsArise in the Temple of InkI awoke in darkness to the relentless scratch of an unseen quill—a sound that seemed to echo from a forgotten age and both caress and condemn my every thought. In the fragile space between sleep and full consciousness, I found myself standing in a corridor constructed not of brick or stone but of trembling, paper-thin walls upon which living words danced and shifted. The very air reeked of aged paper and spilled secrets, and every syllable etched into those surfaces murmured of destinies lost to time....

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The Ghost Writer

Submitted to Contest #304

Jocelyn hoped she remembered all her lies for the impending Zoom call. She’d studied the newspaper accounts and video clips of her interviews from ten years ago to prepare. The time for the call arrived, but she was still applying her makeup and styling her hair. The interviewer could wait, she decided, as she grabbed a glass of water and settled with her laptop on the sofa of her apartment family room. Jocelyn clicked the link in the email from her publisher. Zoom activated, and she saw her image on half of the screen. She adjusted her bang...

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The Lady of the Night

Submitted to Contest #304

The Lady of the Night I am the lady of the nightThere are times I am niceThere are times I am notThere are even times I may give you a frightBut I am here to sayI'm more inspirational than my husband dayI have no influence on anyone's opinionHowever I do believe that I will win you overThere’s just no intrigue in the hours of daylightDays are all so monotonously mundanePeople working hard, attending their appointments Possibly fitting in school runs Or doing some kind of chore Be that at home or outdoorsAlarms disturbing sleep patternsDictat...

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The Scribe’s Judgment

Submitted to Contest #304

The clock on my desk began ticking backward the moment I agreed to write the king's eulogy. Its brass hands moved with unnatural precision, counting down the hours until midnight when my words would seal a tyrant's fate. I stared at the parchment before me, pristine and hungry, waiting to be filled with judgments that would become truth. As Royal Scribe of Karvenfall, I'd written thousands of documents—birth certificates that blessed newborns with talents, marriage contracts that physically bound souls together, death notices that determined...

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The Living Manuscript

Submitted to Contest #304

The first time it happened, Elias Graye woke to the clatter of keys.This was not a dream but a real, rhythmic stuttering tap-tap-tap, then a steady roll, like rain on an old tin roof. He lay frozen in the dark, breath caught in his throat, barely daring to move. Moonlight slanted through the blinds in narrow stripes, striping his cluttered study with pale ribbons. The sound was unmistakable, the steady clatter of his old typewriter echoing softly in the quiet room.He hadn't touched it in years, since the girl died and long before The Hollow...

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The Halfway House for Disgruntled Characters

Submitted to Contest #304

“Consider the rear suite of rooms in Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies occupied until further notice,” announced Imaginational Dabrowski, one of the five overexcitable Dabrowski Dogs, who were Little Plump Jo’s writing companions. “But you must not breathe a word to anyone!”“I did not even know that there was a rear suite of rooms!” Jo replied.“Every problem has a solution, if you apply some imagination to it!” Imaginational declared. “I think you will find this is a most satisfactory solution.”“I do not know what the problem is.”“Proble...

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Soulless

Submitted to Contest #303

Warning: content includes sexual misconduct, violence, and gore.I lost my soul today.It was a gloomy morning. The clouds lingered low, obscuring the tall concrete building ahead. Stale air blasted from the AC above the office front door. My boots tracked dirt across the pristine floor, squishing with every step in an obnoxious squeal. I replaced them with uncomfortable pink high heels, stuffing the boots into the supply closet.No one else was in yet, which wasn’t unusual. Inadvertently I had become the designated employee to open and close t...

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The Last Ride Of Xim And Zen

Submitted to Contest #303

Zeno walked around the black and gold custom chopper. Heat from the sun crushed from above. More rose from the cracked blacktop of the road, suffocating. He wiped road dust from it though more surrounded them for miles in every direction, looking everywhere but behind him. Where she was doubled over. “Fuck em,” Ximena hissed, then vomited into the ratty bushes. He squinted at the buttes and mesas of the desert. “You need anything?” “Just have the water ready,” she growled Grinning, Zeno unlatched the canteen from the saddlebag. A red banda...

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The Oracle & The Knight

Submitted to Contest #303

Seeing the future was not the gift that people thought it was. In fact, oftentimes, people would straight up reject the fortunes that they were told - even when that was forced. My name is Cassandra, and I am an initiate at the Delphi Temple. I am considered “touched by the sun god Apollo” and potentially sacred. Potentially being the key word.Cassandra looked back at what she wrote in the intricate leather journal that she was meant to write her everyday musing within. She pushed back the very strong urge to go back and remove the saucy quo...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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