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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.

15130+ 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 15 of 1009

The Last Night Of Autumn

Submitted to Contest #300

Autumn was close to its end. The air would change from cold to icily sharp, and the leaves on the ground would be replaced by white, crispy snow. The animals of the season were departing to their shelters for the weeks to come, and darkness was taking over the sky. Once she would have retreated once the Autumn was over, back to the house of burnt colours hidden away by the bramble to burrow under furs and dine at the harvest. To trek down the staircases formed by branches and bark and walk among the badgers and the squirrels like she was one...

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Ghostly Encounters of the Angry Poltergeist

Submitted to Contest #300

I, Aamon—Arch-Demon of Wrath and Grand Marquis of Hell—am quite easily frightened by the disembodied spirits of the dead. While it’s an embarrassing weakness to have in Hell, here on Earth, I can fortunately play it off as having a socially acceptable, perhaps even a healthy amount of superstition.Having been banished to Earth toward the end of my losing battle against the Heavens, I have taken on the appearance of a mundane human in order to fulfill a contractual obligation to my new human companion, Alex. And although he is concerningly su...

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The Gyre

Submitted to Contest #300

The man-made lake spread out before them, the sun glistening off its glassy surface. The day was so calm that the water didn't ripple. The trees didn't stir, and the clouds stood still in the sky above. Located just a few hundred feet off the side of the road, the reservoir was a refuge for animals and people alike in the hot summer months. Though you couldn't swim there, the shores were usually filled with people picnicking, fishing, or just taking in the cool breeze. A breeze that was strangely absent today. Lila put down her backpack and...

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Path to the Hallow

Submitted to Contest #300

I watch my mother put freshly baked bread and pastries, salted meats, and sugary nuts, packing the basket for me to take to Nanas. I try to hurry her, wanting to start my own adventure. Since this would be the first time my parents have let me walk alone to her house. "Come on! Hurry! I want to get there before I'm Nana's age." My mother only laughs, knowing how excited I've been. "I'm trying! Rushing isn't gonna make me go any faster, you know?" I don't listen and start handing her items that go into the basket, trying to make her move fast...

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Flowers for Maribel

Submitted to Contest #300

Flowers for MaribelBy J.A. RoggieContent Warning: This story touches on themes of mental health (grief, aging, and emotional struggles) and substance abuse (mention of drug addiction). It also explores the loss of loved ones and the emotional toll of memory loss. Reader discretion is advised.Delph stood at the edge of the overgrown path, staring up at the wall of trees that loomed ahead like ancient sentinels. Their trunks were thick and gnarled, bark furrowed like old skin, each one soaked in the deep browns and soft greens of a forest that...

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The Compass Rose

Submitted to Contest #300

When Lena boarded the 7:45 a.m. train from Pretoria to Durban, she carried with her a single suitcase, a folder of resignation papers, and a bitter sense of relief. After ten years in an unfulfilling marketing job, she was finally leaving it all behind for a fresh start—a six-month volunteer program building eco-homes along the Wild Coast. She’d chosen it on a whim, craving escape more than purpose.“I’m not running,” she’d told her sister the night before. “I’m walking away. There’s a difference.”The morning train hummed steadily along the t...

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The Garden of Tharasil

Submitted to Contest #300

There was once a beautiful garden filled with things that no man or woman had ever seen. It was said to have been a place where the gods go to relax and play. The leaves of the trees would shimmer like emeralds, and the fruit they bore was considered heavenly. The most beautiful flowers lay on the ground, and bushes held the juiciest berries. A crystal-clear pond was in the heart of the garden, and it was said that this pond’s waters were so pure that they could heal the sick. Creatures of all kinds were allowed to roam this garden, except f...

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The Wind Does Not Wait

Submitted to Contest #300

The Wind Does Not WaitLeo BatemanIn the far eastern valleys of Veyra, where lavender fields swayed like sighs and twilight stretched long between the mountain spires, there lived a girl called Seren.She was born with too much silence in her, her mother used to say. A quiet baby with wide, storm-colored eyes and a habit of staring just past people, as though she saw a thread unraveling that no one else could see. But when she ran, the wind followed. When she laughed, the birds answered. Her mother called her “little wind,” because she never s...

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Zephria: Beneath the Altitudes

Submitted to Contest #300

They told you not to look down. But in Zephria, the sky was down. Sky above, sky below. Between them, an impossible collection of drifting islands, each hiding something it refused to explain. The bridges connecting them—weathered rope and bonewood—twisted with mossy tendrils and strange feathers that blinked if you stared too long.Talla gripped the wind-skiff's levers, adjusting swiftly as manta-hide wings caught the relentless gale. Her instruments jittered. The altimeter spun erratically. The barometer had been stuck on Imminent Collapse ...

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Once upon a time in Barcelona

Submitted to Contest #300

Barcelona... How long have I wanted to visit the city whose founding is attributed to the mythological hero Heracles? A city of ancient history, a center of world culture, where all roads and flight paths lead the tourist, where one can admire the creations of the wizard of architectural design, the great Gaudí. The Sagrada Familia... Although not everyone likes this building, what kind of monstrosity with four bottle-like spires is sticking up here? However, there's no accounting for taste. Barcelona must be seen!.. And here I am. By my own...

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Arwen’s Anomalous Antiquities

Submitted to Contest #300

A warm breeze carried leaves past Eloise as she sipped from a mug and peered at the strip of shops across from her. On the small street bustled people enjoying the unusually warm weather, one of the last days of this kind before autumn began to turn toward winter. There was a small bookstore, a bakery, an artisanal cheese shop, and the spot of Eloise’s attention, Arwen’s Anomalous Antiquities. Painted a dark green, with mahogany detailing around the windows and doors, the gold letters labelling the shop spread large across an arched awning. ...

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The Garden of Lonely Fools

Submitted to Contest #300

A century from now, it will be burned to the ground by a horde of zealots. They will believe in modern fashion and old-fashioned ideals. I’m glad I’ll never get to meet them. My children might--if they live an abnormally long life. Their father told me when we finalized our divorce that at the very last moment of his life, he would forgive me all my sins. Yes, he had a god complex, but he was also a god, so the complex comes with the territory. His name was Shamash, and he was the Babylonian God of the Sun, who was killed by Sin, the Goddess...

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Sixes

Submitted to Contest #300

The mages—along with the history books and a dozen or so scouts—had professed their absolute certainty that the Shaddar Needles no longer held any power.Either they lied, or the maggots had figured a way to put them back in operation. Cleaved nearly in half, my flitter wrapped around the base of one pitch black, sword-like spire. Shock chased after shock. First came the shattering of the sky like a thousand shards of lightning. Struck, I hurtled earthward out of control. Glass jangled and metal shrieked. Unimaginable pressure and the sensati...

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The Living Kingdom

Submitted to Contest #300

As the shackles around her wrists were unlocked and fell to the ground, she rubbed at the sore skin, yet couldn’t help but feel that their weight still remained. “You’re free to go,” the man in front of her said. She paid him no response as he mounted his horse and disappeared down the dirt road with the three other guards. She stood there until the clacking of hooves was long gone. Only then did she look at what laid in front of her. The sparsely cloudy, pale blue sky created a backdrop for the sharp mountains, each peak higher than the ...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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Whispers of Hollow Wood

Submitted to Contest #300

NOTE: This story contains the following• Mild blood (self-harm)• Child endangerment• Psychological horror• Supernatural elements Sam heard the whispers long before he ever dared set foot in Hollow Wood.They came at night, curling in from the crack in his window, slipping beneath his covers like cold fingers. The words were too soft to catch, but the feeling they left behind wasn’t. Restless longing gnawed at his chest, the kind of ache he couldn't explain. Something inside him ached to answer the call.Adults in town acted like the woods di...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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