Night Swim

“Pescaria no Parque das Timbaúbas” Juazeiro do Norte, Brazil. CC3.0 photo by MacioFeitosa

Written for Fire&Ice 4/19. Prompt was “a mischief maker” along with the image above.

In daylight the children come round the lake to play and fish. Sometimes they dare each other to jump in — but none ever do. Not that they believe the legends. Ghost stories, told by their grandparents. They scoff, for what pathetic creature would protect this worthless old lake?

Sometimes the more mischievous imps among them will creep through the bushes, rustle leaves, bang a stick against the branches, and shout, «A Caipora vem! Corre! Corre!» Then laugh as os pequenos run screaming from the demon Caipora.

But when the sun sets, and even the teenagers have left, the world turns upside-down in reflection. The waters are encircled by land, yet infinitely deep. And the lake’s surface — strewn with stars like diamonds — ripples.

Yanahah

A second entry for Flash! Friday. As before, the prompt is downtown, along with the public domain photo.

Long ago, when the blue moon eclipsed the white moon at the edge of the blood-red Colorado Nebula, the evil god escaped and scourged the cities of the planet. With our technology destroyed, our people fled to the mountains.

There, Yanahah came to us. By day she carved arrows from spruce branches. Under the light of the two moons, she hammered stone arrowheads. When she left to battle the evil god, her family lit candles on the boughs of a blue spruce, and wept.

The evil god raged against Yanahah, scouring her with a blizzard of ice shards. But Yanahah lured him onward, away from his halls of power. Just when it seemed the fearsome enemy would crush Yanahah beneath an avalanche, she shot her last arrow between his eyes. His death roar rattled the mountain valley.

Yanahah lopped off his head, raising it high for everyone to see. They cremated the evil god upon a communal bonfire; a divine wind scattered his ashes to the four corners of the world. In celebration, our people vowed to rebuild a great new city on that very spot.

Even today, a millennium later, in the heart of the downtown skyscrapers, the monument of the heroine Yanahah proudly stands.

Iron Cross

Prompt: The story starts during a war. The story must have a demon in it. During the story, a character is robbed.

As the Allies storm the beaches at Normandy, unholy forces plot against them. The fate of the war in Europe may rest far from the frontlines, in a powerful MacGuffin artifact carried by an uncertain low-ranking demon.