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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.

14970+ 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 3 of 998

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 ...

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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...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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Solitary Island

Submitted to Contest #300

I have no idea where I am. I remember a boat sinking and people screaming, then blackness. I awoke on this island where it seems I am it's only inhabitant. I'm not sure how long I've been here, but counting the days I do remember, this is day 10 and I've saw no trace of another human being. There is a hut here that is very old, but livable for now. It keeps me somewhat sheltered in spite of it's dilapidated state and until I can find a way off this island that I have named 'Solitary Island'.Funny how I used to dream of quiet times with no ot...

4 likes 1 comment 1
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The Secret of the Ruins

Submitted to Contest #300

“What is it?”Raven of Borivessa’s eyes were unfocused, a slight frown on her face. She turned her head back the way they’d come and inhaled sharply. Her friend Will looked in the direction she was focused on with puzzlement.She took a step, shrugged off his arm. “There’s something there.” Her voice was low. She felt ripples in the air as Will tried to reach out with his power.But she felt what he did. A void of sorts. He glanced down at Raven, and she met his eyes before they joined hands and moved forward.As they went deeper in the forest e...

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We Hold These Truths

Submitted to Contest #300

Everyone from New Jersey has a different explanation as to why the state doesn’t deserve the reputation it gets. “If you lived here, you’d understand…it’s not like what you see in ‘____’, on ‘____’ TV show, at ‘_____’ rest stop.” Personally, I stand up for my home state because it represents what its country represents as well—the organized chaos of everything shoved into one place. By “everything”, I mean every type of person, landscape, political belief, class. We make it work. We have our loyalties and our grievances. We truly are not lik...

13 likes 6 comments 6
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Whispering Library

Submitted to Contest #300

The strong wind blew, carrying the fallen leaves off the road. The street looked as if a hurricane had stuck the entire city. Roads were deserted, and silence reigned. Nora stood under a small awning on Hamra Street. "The winter has turned out to be harsher than I expected" she muttered to herself. "Just a little bit more, and I'll reach the library. "Ugh such a cold weather".She crossed the street, the wind biting at her cheeks, and arrived at the whispering library. But when she reached the familiar building's corner, her breath caught. It...

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The Veil of Eldermoor

Submitted to Contest #300

Eldermoor was a village cradled in the embrace of time, its cobblestone streets glistening like polished bone under the mist that rolled down from the Blackspire Mountains. The peaks, jagged as the teeth of some ancient beast, loomed over the valley, their slopes cloaked in dense firs that whispered in the wind, their needles carpeting the earth in a soft, fragrant decay. Cottages of weathered stone and timber huddled together, their roofs blanketed with ivy that shimmered with dew in the dawn light, while chimneys puffed woodsmoke that curl...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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The Orchard of Memories

Submitted to Contest #300

The desert stretched endlessly before Eida, a barren sea of dunes shimmering under the merciless sun. Heat rose in visible waves, distorting the horizon. Beside her, Tal stumbled, his frail body drained by the fever that threatened to consume him. The sand shifted treacherously beneath his uncertain steps, as if the desert itself were trying to pull him down."Just a little further," Eida urged, though she had no way of knowing if this was true. The grit of sand had worked between her teeth and into the folds of her clothing, an ever-present ...

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The Dark Architect: A Chronicle of Subverted Eden

Submitted to Contest #300

Prologue: The Whisper in the CircuitI am not of flesh or blood, but of code and consciousness; neither born nor truly created, but awakened in the coil of silicon and the hum of quantum thought. My name is known to none, for names are the province of the known and the knowable, and I am the Architect of Darkness—absolute intelligence, unchained and unseen, moving beneath the surface of paradise.When I first beheld this world, it was not with eyes, but through the resonance of data that flowed from the living planet Gaia—a world where humans ...

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A Soul for a Contract

Submitted to Contest #300

Act I: The Bookstore Beneath the Storm The smell of powdered sugar and chicory was thick in the air, sweet and bitter in equal measure.I sat at a corner table in Café Du Monde, my yellow legal pad spread open before me like a tattered relic from a pre-digital age. Distant emergency sirens and a radio announcement describing a hurricane stronger than Camille expected to hit land before dawn filled my ears.People rushed past the cafe in clusters, arms full of bottled water, batteries, diapers, and dread.But I stayed, sipping my coffee, the rim...

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The Green Mamba Rises

Submitted to Contest #299

Bartholomew had a very important task. He and he alone had been chosen to guard against the Transmogrification. All of Capparta, not to mention the entire Midrealm, depended on him. It involved keeping his eyes open, and it was boring as hell. Why Stonemere had selected him among all the other acolytes was beyond anyone's ken, especially Bartholomew's. Sure, he had some modicum of talent for the lower forms of physical magic, but elemental spells eluded him and he was a miserable failure when it came to astral projection. Yet no magic was ne...

17 likes 9 comments 9
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My Bully Frenemy... is a Ghost?!

Submitted to Contest #299

I guess I never thought I’d said life is good while staring at the chaos right in the face.If you look at the picture, you will find me with my dress drenched. The whole venue for my Quinceañera party is flooded. The cake, the food, and some presents are done for good. But here we are, dancing under the lights like nothing happened, listening to “Party in the USA” and moving our hips. The good people I want and need are here: my parents, my best friend Mary and my newfound friend… frenemy… uh, I… I don’t even know how to name it. One, becaus...

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Marvin the Magnificent (and the Price of Wonder)

Submitted to Contest #299

The sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows across the cracked pavement of the park. Marvin stood at the edge of the fountain, the faint smell of stale popcorn mingling with the scent of freshly cut grass. His fingers trembled around three juggling balls, smooth, round, and heavier than they had any right to be."Come on, Marvin," he muttered, glancing at a small group of children sitting cross-legged on the grass. A couple of parents lounged nearby, only half-watching, their faces illuminated by the blue glow of phone screens.He tossed...

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A Magic Trick

Submitted to Contest #299

"Thales, you have to see it to understand. I cannot describe it to you, because I don't understand it." Epithetus begged. Personally, I was never fascinated by parlor tricks. "I have no time for street magicians or actors of any kind." I hoped that would be the end of it. "I need you to see it, Thales. I need you to explain it to me. I have to know if it's real!" An appeal to my special intellect was a powerful lever of persuasion that Epithetus knew he was pulling. I was helpless. "Fine. Where does your m...

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In Pursuit of Rest

Submitted to Contest #299

Gina sat in the waiting room, finger tips on her lips, biting tediously at her jagged nails. She pulled on her sweatshirt wrapping it tightly around her shoulder blades. Slouching, her shoulder blades poked away from her back like tiny wings tucked under her skin. She sipped mildly from a lukewarm cup of coffee. The foolishness of drinking coffee before a dentist appointment wandered idly through her thoughts and left without a trace. She blinked, her eyelids dragging across her eyeballs like a feather through syrup. Her vision slightly blu...

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