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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.

150+ 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 7 of 10

The Ethics Exam

Submitted to Contest #307

Dr. Helena Voss had administered the Medical Ethics final exam seventeen times in her career, but she'd never seen a question like number fifteen before.She stood at the front of the lecture hall, watching her students hunched over their blue books, pens scratching against paper with the desperate intensity of people whose futures hung in the balance. The familiar sounds of academic stress filled the room—suppressed coughs, shifting chairs, the occasional frustrated sigh.Helena walked slowly between the rows, her heels clicking against the l...

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The Orc Who Feared Thursdays

Submitted to Contest #307

Three centuries old and mossier than a wizard’s forgotten shower loofah, Mossbottom Avenue still managed to judge Skarnel harder than his last three therapists combined. Not that that said much about the road—rather more about Skarnel himself, who was afraid of just about anything that moved, twitched, or dared something so horrifyingly presumptuous as breathing.Skarnel readjusted his N95 Hex-Filter facemask for the umptillionth time. This was a rather challenging endeavour for two primary reasons. The first was that his face shield made eve...

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Something Strange Beneath the Floorboards

Submitted to Contest #307

Oliver Barrett considered himself painfully ordinary. At thirty-four, he lived alone in a small apartment above the hardware store he managed in a sleepy, gray town called Merton’s Hollow. His days were predictable, marked by the creak of the shop’s old doorbell and the hum of the fluorescent lights. He liked it that way—nothing strange, nothing unexpected. He had never broken a bone, never traveled farther than a few towns over, and had never loved anyone the way novels insisted he should. He kept his hair neat, his receipts organized in sh...

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“Wands and Egos: A Field Guide to the Continuum” By Someone Who Definitely Shouldn’t Be Telling You This

Submitted to Contest #307

Ever watch a group of self-righteous, egotistical grown man-babies argue over moon phases and quantum ether like it’s fantasy football season? No? Then let me introduce you to The Continuum—sorry, The Continuum of Wizards, if you ask them directly. They get twitchy about the full name. Branding, I suppose. I stumbled across them—if one can stumble across a hidden society everyone knows about that wears robes and mutters Latin like they’re auditioning for a Hogwarts prequel—about six months ago. Not that I wasn’t warned. The Circle told me an...

4 likes 5 comments 5
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The Girl Who Outgrew the Room

Submitted to Contest #307

The room was shrinking again.Not literally—not in the way wallpaper peels or ceilings crack. No, this was Wonderland logic. Emotional architecture. One of those days where the walls echoed back every version of “too much” she'd ever been handed.Luna sat cross-legged on the floor, chin in hand, heart doing its usual gymnastics.She used to be able to breathe in here.But now the air stuck to her ribs.The carpet muttered things like “calm down” and “why can’t you just be normal?” The window refused to open unless she asked nicely, and even then,...

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Ulf and the Valravn

Submitted to Contest #307

Trigger warning: disturbing war imagery, child deaths, gore, and corpse mutilation.Studying is never easy, especially when stretched thin between final projects and tests before the college year is over. Having finals for computer science, statistics, and abnormal psychology is hard enough. However, with doing a big project on one of the religions covered in world religion class, Blake Jensen decided to go to the undergraduate library. He thought that would help him get the hardest part taken care of before cramming for the tests on loads ...

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Possession

Submitted to Contest #307

The crimson glow of the neon sign painted the dive bar in hues of danger and desire. Hazel, a creature woven from shadows and centuries, watched from her shadowed booth. Her eyes, the color of ancient sapphires, fixated on a woman perched at the bar, nursing a cheap beer. The woman, plump and unsuspecting, exuded an aura of naïve sweetness. Hazel craved her, deeply. Not just her blood, though that was a given, but her very essence. To claim her as her own- body, blood, and soul was a hunger Hazel hadn’t felt in decades.As Hazel moved, a pred...

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The Ruby

Submitted to Contest #307

They say time is linear, a straight path, but grief twists and turns, refusing to follow a straight path. I lost my grandmother three months ago. She was the only parent I knew. She was a ballerina who travelled the world performing Swan Lake to princes and kings and children who had parents with fat wallets. The ballet gene did not run through me. I wasn’t as graceful and disciplined as her. I took after my father’s side of the family with my short stature and white blonde hair. When I look in the mirror, I don’t see my grandmother’s eyes ...

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The Epiphany Provoker

Submitted to Contest #307

“I want you to do this for me, Little Plump Jo. I want you to set me free from the Fog Lake, as you did for Elaine of Astolat!”Sir Lancelot du Lac’s dark eyes were filled with hope and misplaced confidence.Little Plump Jo had not actually done anything to free Elaine of Astolat from the Fog Lake. In fact, Elaine had not even vacated the Fog Lake. However, Elaine was now free from the eternal re-enactment of the tragic role of Elaine the Fair, Elaine the Lovely, The Lily Maid of Astolat. But unless you were to include ‘masterly inactivity’ as...

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Scriptum Obscura

Submitted to Contest #307

1894The candle gutters low as Isolda Ferin moved through the lower stacks of the Sorrellian Library. Her boots clicked softly on the stone, yet the sound didn’t echo. The air has thickened, as if listening. She paused before the last shelf. Her hands, ink stained and trembling, clutched a glass jar. Inside: darkness, not pigment, not oil, but something alive. Words congealed. A thousand unwritten things. She kneeled. The ground accepts her with a sigh. Whispers spiral upwards as she pries open the jar’s seal. “To forget a thing is to feed it...

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The Old Saucepan

Submitted to Contest #307

The Old SaucepanAfter nearly fifty years in the same home, my wife and I were looking for someplace new to live. A bold move, sure—but when the house has held your entire life, you don’t leave it lightly. We did. Over those years and in that house, we raised two children, greeted three grandchildren, and loved eight dogs. We made a mistake when we sold the house during a crappy housing market to buy a fancy motorhome that cost ten times what the house had cost fifty years before. We planned to spend the rest of our lives traveling the countr...

3 likes 1 comment 1
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The little boy at the pond

Submitted to Contest #307

Newspapers have been slowly diminishing the last twenty years. So on the one hand Sally & Josh felt pretty good to be working. On the other hand they weren’t to thrilled to be working for a sensationalist tabloid. Replying to Josh, Sally said. “The whole thing is crazy but they’re paying us to write the story so who cares. We’ll just go and write a story.”That’s when Josh noticed the guy in the back of the gas station. “Excuse me, excuse me. … Can you tell me where the Rosehill Land of peaceful Rest is?”The old attendant was bored. In sp...

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Dark As Ink

Submitted to Contest #307

Tick, tick, tick …the relentless clicking of the second hand needled my brain as I tried again to focus on the paper in front of me.I watched as the tip of my pen dipped, its point pressing into a circle on the answer sheet. I slid my eyes to my right, then left, but everyone was intent on their own test. Mr. Stein sat at his desk in the front of the class, the very embodiment of the numerous childhood nightmares he was responsible for, as his gaze roamed the room. I felt a prickle on the back of my neck as he zeroed in on me, lingering for ...

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Haunting Lessons

Submitted to Contest #307

“Where am I?” I asked as the door closed, and I stood in complete darkness.Silence.“Is anybody here?” I could feel the panic surge through me like an electrical current. My eyes might as well be closed as the absence of light made me feel totally blinded.What was I doing before I came here? How did I get here? Why am I here?“Welcome.” A voice sounded from the darkness.“Who are you?” I panted, “Show yourself.” “We have a few questions for you.” The voice sounded demanding.“Not until I know where I am.” I definitely snapped. Laughter, deep a...

9 likes 5 comments 5
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Homage to thee, Osiris

Submitted to Contest #307

I sprint down the dirt road, each stride a desperate attempt to stay ahead, feeling the sun's golden rays warming my back. The road is hot and dusty beneath my bare feet, each step kicking up tiny clouds of dust that swirl in the air behind me. My heart pounds fiercely, a wild tempo echoing the fierce beat of drums, yet I push forward, unwilling to pause. Behind me, the roar of chariots and the rhythmic pounding of footsteps reverberate, their intent and purpose a mystery that fuels my fear. Panic seizes my chest as if roots have wrapped tig...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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