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A forest fire was making its way along the tinderbox ridges above them, flaring and shimmering against the overcast like the northern lights. Cold as ...more

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He watched him stoke the flames, God's own firedrake. The sparks rushed upward and died in the starless dark. Not all dying words are true and this bl...more

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It was a lone tree burning on the desert. A heraldic tree that the passing storm had left afire. The solitary pilgrim drawn up before it had traveled ...more

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The judge like a great ponderous djinn stepped through the fire and the flames delivered him up as if he were in some way native to their element.

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I jumped for it and lit in a snowbank and what I'm goin to tell you you'll think peculiar but it's the god's truth. That was in nineteen and thirty on...more

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Used to be a hobo right smart. back in the thirties. They wasnt no work I dont care what you could do. I was ridin through the mountains one night, st...more

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He rose and stood tottering in that cold dark with his arms held out for balance while the vestibular calculations in his skull cranked out their reck...more

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Where all was burnt to ash before them no fires were to be had and the nights were long and dark and cold beyond anything they'd yet encountered. Cold...more

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Keep a little fire burning; however small, however hidden.

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He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate...more

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Suppose you were the last one left? Suppose you did that to yourself?

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His mind was betraying him. Phantoms not heard from in a thousand years rousing slowly from their sleep.