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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

1480+ Urban fantasy Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From vampires at the bar to werewolves around the corner, our collection of urban fantasy stories will bring the magical into everyday life.

Urban fantasy Short Stories – Page 99 of 99

Dark Corner of Light

Margaret Gaffney

Submitted to Contest #51

Today, I saw the stars. And it wasn't even the most amazing thing that happened. I know that might not seem like that big of a deal to people, especially if they read this personal correspondence in a few hundred years. In fact, I kinda hope it doesn't. I know it wouldn't have made a difference a hundred years ago. I mean, I've read in history books that people saw the stars all the time before the Second Hundred Years war, before we went underground most of the time. I think that's why I became a criminal journalist, just so I wo...

5 likes

Ad Astra

The-Burrowing-Owl- Author

Submitted to Contest #51

The sky was a perfect shade of oblivion. Petra lay on her back inside the rowboat, using a canvas satchel as a pillow against the wooden boards. The inky cobalt waves lapped against the frame, gently rocking the vessel like a hammock. Petra only stared at the sky. It wasn’t fully dark yet, so the cloudless dome looked like a big blue sheet, tinted only with a distant pale yellow behind Petra’s head. A few pinpricks of white light dusted the sky like freckles. Petra gazed wordlessly into the blue void, daring the other stars to step fort...

22 likes

The Rookie

Veronica H.

Submitted to Contest #50

Today was the day Michelle would earn her Final Certification. The twenty-one year old college graduate was no longer a trainee. Today, she would handle her first real client on the job. After today, there would be no more run thoughts, roleplaying, shadowing others. Her training would be done if she managed to not bungle this first solo assignment. She would be official.The restaurant she sat in was busy. Dozens of late brunchers occupied the place, their mimosa-fueled conversations filling the spaces between tables and booths with the...

16 likes

Interstice

Amy Wang

Submitted to Contest #49

At first glance, the Commission’s waiting room looked similar to the lobby of every hospital that Emil had ever visited. Its design was clean and minimalist, with seats arranged around the walls and a wide reception desk opposite the front door. The only difference was that a heavy, see-through barrier completely encircled the top of the desk, with rectangular openings near the bottom that seemed secured, from the inside, by a series of complicated-looking latches. Busy with keyboards and touchpads, the people behind it barely looked up...

7 likes

Designated Archnemesis

Amy Wang

Submitted to Contest #48

On the day of the Tiamat Event, Chokepoint was having a coffee with her prospective archnemesis. It was, to be honest, a pain in the ass. She hadn’t had to do one of these for years, banking on her reputation to deter most hopefuls. Unfortunately, most did not equate to all, and the Commission was really holding this one over her head. “Shouldn’t you be looking for a snobby art-critic type or something?” she asked, flatly. “Oh, where’s the fun in that?” The person across the table flashed a smile from behind her mask. Sup...

9 likes

The Masks We Wear

The-Burrowing-Owl- Author

Submitted to Contest #48

The strongest deceptions are based on truth. Even so, it was remarkable just how flexible the human mind is. It was surprisingly easy to make someone believe in the supernatural. It wasn’t a problem for me to conjure an imaginary spider big enough to face off against a car, and it was even easier to make people scared of it. I only had to show what they were most likely to believe in, and these two men, it would seem, were slightly arachnophobic. I watched the unfolding scene from a perch on the base of a fire escape. I didn’t want to...

29 likes

Fuse

Amy Wang

Submitted to Contest #48

It was the guinea pig that gave it away.When Emil was twelve the family still lived in the dingy apartment down the street from the canning factory. They lived with his grandmother, who seemed to have stayed in her rocking chair for so long that she had fused into it. She did little but knit, the whole day through, her eyes glued to old recordings of operas and ballet performances that played about on their little TV set. (The camerawork was so shaky that he decided they must have been recorded illicitly. He imagined his grandmother as ...

8 likes

They Aren't Real

Aniruddh Pramod

Submitted to Contest #48

Every night, a solitary fear keeps me from falling asleep. I have no known phobias, and yet I will never be able to shake off the feeling that there are secret agents hiding in my walls, maybe next door, or under my bed, and once I fall asleep, they’ll catch me, and it will be game over.I’m not paranoid, you have to believe me. You and everybody else who reads this might be my only hope. You might even be the only hope for humanity.Allow me to explain.My name is Moacir. And I’m the world’s only superhero.Shocked? No, I don’t think so. You’ve...

10 likes

The Cobalt Crusader’s Turn

Elle Clark

Submitted to Contest #48

“Sweet Lady Liberty, this is a nice kitchen.” The Masked Deceiver dropped the cup of tea she was holding and phase-shifted two feet into the air, making a noise that was half way between a kitten that had been stepped on and a quickly deflating balloon. She landed inelegantly on the kitchen floor and swore as a shard of porcelain bit into her bare heel. Looking round for anything she could use for a weapon, she snatched the nearest thing to her and brandished it at her arch nemesis, the Cobalt Crusader. “How did you find me?” squaw...

50 likes

The Hands of Time

𝕔𝕛 𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕩𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣

Submitted to Contest #39

The antique store smelled of old leather, brass polish, and history. Framed maps and paintings covered the walls from floor to ceiling. Trinkets of all shapes and sizes camouflaged the stained tabletops. Natalia loved it. All the shining brass, eclectic statuettes, and mismatched frames reminded her of her childhood, surrounded by baubles of bygone times. She picked up a collapsible brass telescope; her father would have spent hours in this store, taking up the shopkeeper about its history and fantasizing being the mariner who used it in its...

21 likes

Across the Black Hole

Chiya Hoyle

Submitted to Contest #36

Nov.9th Jupiter timeDear diary,For someone who sags on the couch with snots hanging like a pocket watch during soap opera hours, I've lost count of the notebook pages blotched by black, oily tears.So, dear diary, let's rewind my life in one go for the last time, in case someone wants to put this in the museum.I'm going to spoil, dear diary, Angelica doesn't get the robot in the end. Can you believe it? Five years and six seasons, and she rejected I10-99 just because society forbids human-robot relationships. That is not my money wants to hea...

6 likes

Wood and Iron

Heera A

Submitted to Contest #31

It was one of those days where nothing was supposed to happen. Or at least, nothing out of the ordinary. The first rays of the sun were peering in from behind the greyish-white clouds. I had my morning cigarette tucked in the corner of my lips, the tobacco smoke tickling my nostrils with familiar warmth. A pair of birds flew twittering over my head. I cannot recall exactly what they were because I didn't really care much for birds, but I hoped I had looked up.At least, I would have noticed that each bird had four wings instead of two.And tha...

6 likes

COTTON CANDY

Temnit Meshesha

Submitted to Contest #30

Her one and only true friend have always been her phone. Sticks by her when everyone else leaves. It has everything she could ever need; Films, tv shows and books. She pours her whole soul into her phone. Fully reliant on it to remember when she can’t. Passwords for really important things memorized in the system. She gave her fingerprint away and now it wants to know her face. What more did it need? It even held her friends. She’d never had much luck at keeping friends. She’d ask them “remember when we did this and that” and they always rep...

8 likes

Porch Love

Christina Steele

Submitted to Contest #5

Circled. Karen circled every fourth word of his last message. A code long ago crafted by those in espionage to convey secret messages. A simple have you read Persuasion by Jane Austen would inform the other to find the book, then using a count circle the words to reveal a secret message. Tim and Karen used their code to conceal a secret love affair. In their notes to each other, they would circle every fourth word; fourth as in forever. The last seven circles she received from him read, Wait, I’ll be yours, in seven years, I promise. Silly t...

11 likes