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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.

15120+ 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 994 of 1009

Two Green Eyes Staring at Me

Submitted to Contest #24

Two Green Eyes Staring at Me                                                                            Suzanne Marsh           ...

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A Moment in Time

Submitted to Contest #24

Charlie bounced the ball against the side of the log cabin. Thump, thump. Thump, thump.“Charlie will you quit bouncing that ball! It is making such a racket and has woke Clara up from her nap!” Charlie’s mom yelled out the door of the cabin.Charlie sighed. Ever since his sister had been born, he had to tiptoe around everywhere. He couldn’t run through the house anymore. Clara would wake up and cry. He couldn’t pretend he was Sherriff anymore and play shoot 'em up. Clara would wake up and cry. Now he couldn’t bounce his ball against the house...

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Miles Apart, but so close

Submitted to Contest #24

It started on that very day. The day the world was starting to change and everything around me seemed to go full throttle without any remorse for what was happening. It couldn't have been something so simple like horses going extinct or new ways of transport being found. No.It started with a headache that came to me out of no where. People around me whispering. It was shortly after that I realized that things around me were floating around the ground was shaking. The wood buildings around were starting to shift and fall apart. I didn't know ...

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Trading Five Bullets

Submitted to Contest #24

Like wolves howling, the chorused voices of oo-way oh-way oo-way oh-way floated into the sky. The notes were partners with the dancers as they stomped left and right, left, left and right. The drumbeats matched the dancers and rumbled the dust with a bada-bada-bum bada- bum bada-bum. Both feet and drumsticks kicked up the dry dust with every vibration, adding to their call for rain.               “Come dance, Black Cloud,” coaxed the elders. “Call to Mother Nature. Ad...

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The Mercantile Shop

Submitted to Contest #24

She looked up at the empty sky, lifted her hand to shield her eyes, and decided she would stop once she reached Salt River. She calculated she was a half day or more north of Goldfield, a major gold mining town. She could almost hear the river over the noise of her horse’s hooves hitting the rocky path, and she looked around to enjoy the last moments of solitude that the road provided.She clicked at Tumbleweed, and tapped her heels into his belly, “Only a little further Tum.” Tumbleweed’s ears folded backwards to acknowledge he heard he...

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The Hunter

Submitted to Contest #24

The Hunter Dawn 7 AM two armed men stand outside an old abandoned town on top of a plateau. One Sherriff and one Bounty hunter. They have tracked a particularly dangerous criminal to this area. The town Is surrounded on all sides by a large sand stone wall with a large gate in the center. Its half destroyed as if one side of it has been ripped off.Sherriff maloy and the Hunter approach the gate slowly in anticipation of an attack. The Bounty that they are chasing is a Man known as “Calamity Sam” the gunslinging Warlock. He’s been a...

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Artisan

Submitted to Contest #24

Artisan We all saw him come in to town. All dressed in a long black coat, crisp white shirt and a tall top hat. I marveled at how white his shirt was, leading his cart around the dusty street. As he walked into town, he didn’t say much, just inquired about empty space among and by the storefronts, finally finding a spot he liked. The only person he talked to much was the sawmill man, Oscar. Oscar told us the man walked to his place and asked for just so many and so long of plain boards: didn’t tell Oscar what he wanted them for, and was...

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The Girl who Defied Dotty Moon

Submitted to Contest #24

Nobody knew quite how or when it had started, apart from Dorothy herself, and sometimes even she wasn’t quite sure, but scores of people claimed they did. Doc Moon’s daughter Dorothy was a miracle worker, said the folk in Gifford’s Creek. Doc Moon’s daughter can make the blind see and can quite probably make the deaf hear and the lame run, and the mute talk the hind leg off a mule, and make the mayor have some common sense – no, that was probably expecting too much. Even of Dotty Moon.     Sh...

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Wyatt Earp and the Medicine Man

Submitted to Contest #24

An armadillo curls into a ball and rolls away. Tumbleweeds sweep across the landscape. The sun is burning, nestled above the western horizon. The plains are barren, more likely to be called a desert. Dust is swept up in the wind and brought over the terrain before settling a few miles away. A Medicine Man makes his way through the unrelenting conditions. His skin ablaze after enduring the heat of the sun for many days, and sleeping on the sand for many nights. He is old, born with the earth, grown with the trees, and he will die with the uni...

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Bank Job

Submitted to Contest #24

Wood splinters pepper my face as another chunk of the door frame is blown off by gunfire. We barely managed to drag Chubbs in when the shooting started. “Spider,” I shout over the storm of bullets “get him in the corner and put some pressure on that wound!” She hefts him into a nearby corner and begins inspecting the wound as I throw a table against the deteriorating bank door and take position at the nearest window. Glancing out, I see that Chubbs had dropped the money on the porch after he took that shot in the gut. Just in front of our ho...

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Hope Yet

Submitted to Contest #24

“Welp, we’re officially broke.”Kitt climbed into the van’s front seat as he spoke, clearly anxious but doing his damnedest to hide it. Spade lifted the sleep mask off of his eyes and propped himself up on his elbows. They shook slightly with the effort, but he didn’t seem to care.“We’re not broke yet, Kittycat. We got a show tonight. Oughta rack up a least a few bucks there.”“Oh, yeah, ‘cause that’s gonna pay for gas, food, and your meds. We’re fucked, Spade, just admit it.”“Nah. We got hope yet, trust me.”Spade reached for his guitar and be...

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The Interdim Bureau

Submitted to Contest #24

I wake up in a strange bed, next to a woman who isn’t my wife.Diffuse light penetrates through the curtains. The only sound in the room is the soft ticking of a clock. I’m looking right into the half open mouth of my supposed one-night stand. What have I done? How did I end up here? What happened? I blink my eyes and then I recognize the woman; it’s Linda from accounting. Suddenly I realize she isn’t breathing anymore.My throat feels dry. I try to rub the sleep from my face and discover that I have a mustache and a beard. Not the usual stubb...

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Lily's Travellers Inn

Submitted to Contest #24

Lily poured four beers and set them on the wooden tray. She made her way over to the table where the men sat. They were strangers in town and for some reason she felt a suspicion creep over her.''Nella, can you watch the guests for a bit? I'm just going upstairs.''She nodded at her boss with a knowing smile.In the bedroom, Lily stood before an ornate full length mirror.Suddenly, the reflection of this beautiful young woman morphed into a young boy. He was dressed like any other boy in town. He adjusted his soft cap and returned downstairs.As...

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The Masked Bandit

Submitted to Contest #24

A man can only mourn so much.The sheriff had given me the week off after my partner’s funeral, but I reported back for duty three days later. Crime doesn’t rest; neither should I.My partner Ken and I had been chasing the masked bandit for many months. Last week, we almost had him. I could have sworn we hit him with at least one of our bullets, but the villain shot back. It was my partner who bit the dust. “I’ve found you a new partner,” the sheriff says when I show up at the office, “He’s from out of town. I’ll introduce him to you, but...

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Salem

Submitted to Contest #24

Salem He sprints away, not daring to look back, his footsteps echoing down the hallway like distant gunshots. He just had to get to the back stairway and up to his office on the second floor, where his EpiPen was stashed. It was the only solution at this point. He should have injected himself hours ago when he felt the sensation crawling up his back. Stop it, he hisses in his mind, It’s too late now. Stop thinking about what you should have done and just go. Get. That. EpiPen! He continues to sprint down the hallway, listening for the franti...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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