(August 4, 2025)

Fallon threw the ball for the black-and-gold dog at their side.

Tongue lolling, tail wagging, Theo bolted across the open ball park.

Then disappeared.

Fallon blinked and stared at where the dog had been. That was... okay, that was weird, right?

They looked around to see if anyone else had noticed, but there was no one else. They stood alone on the edge of the park and stared at where Theo had vanished.

Then he returned, still smiling, still wagging his tail.

But in his mouth wasn’t the ball they had throne. It was...

Was that a giant wing?

No, okay. They had to be seeing things.

“Come here, boy,” Fallon said, crouching down and gesturing Theo to come closer. Which he happily did, of course, because he was the goodest boy who always did what he was told.

Except when he portalled out of the world and started hunting... fairies, apparently?

Because Fallon couldn’t deny what they were looking at. When Theo dropped his burden, they could see it was most definitely a wing. A shimmering golden-teal appendage that looked like it had been torn from whatever creature it had been attached to.

“Where the heck did you go?” they asked their dog.

Theo barked and wagged his tail, seemingly undisturbed by what he’d delivered to his person.

Fallon shook their head, rubbed Theo between his ears, and took a tentative step towards the centre of the ball park.

The smart move would be to leave and never return. Right? After all, it wasn’t like Theo had recited some magic words to transport himself wherever he had gone. All he’d done was run. Fallon didn’t want to walk somewhere they shouldn’t. They should leave. Just turn around and go home. Maybe take the wing. Better than someone else finding it.

Maybe report it to someone? Probably wise.

Instead, they started running.

(September 18, 2025)

The shift was so sudden, Fallon didn’t notice the change until everything... changed.

Gone was the world they knew, and in its place was a paradise? A wasteland? It was difficult to say for certain. Trees were everywhere, lush and verdant, spilling over every surface and wrapping around itself.

Including over the ruins that spread out before Fallon’s eyes. Hundreds of fallen buildings that might once have been homes and were now hosts to the greenery. As though an entire civilization had existed and fallen.

“What delicacy is this?” a voice hissed in their ear. “A little snack to fill my day?”

Fallon turned and came face to face with Death.

(October 6, 2025)

Fallon jumped and swallowed a scream, and the figure huffed and put their hands on their hips. “Well, that’s a little rude.”

Fallon blinked and stared. Then blinked and stared some more. The figure was terrifying, more skeleton than human, but they sounded... offended.

“I’m sorry?” they said.

“As you should be. Someone comes up and greets you and your response is to act like they’re a horrifying monster? Who taught you manners?”

“To be fair, it did sound like you intended to eat me.”

The figure stared back. Then laughed, and the sound was even more horrifying than their face.

“Oh well, that’s still on the table, my friend, but let’s not jump to the finale just yet.”

(November 6, 2025)

With an introduction like that, Fallon didn’t know what to make of this figure. But since they so far didn’t appear ready to eat them, they looked around and said, “Have you seen my dog?”

The skeleton frowned and looked over their shoulder. “Dog? Oh! You mean the furred beast? It ran that way. Don’t worry, though, the kelpie will snatch it up.”

Fallon broke into a run after Theo, but the figure kept up. “Oh, did you not want it eaten?”

“No! That’s my dog!”

“Oh. In that case, Sartoria, heel!” they shouted.

A loud whinny sang from behind the trees, and in another moment, a horse and a dog barrelled through into the open.

Fallon caught Theo as he bounded into their arms, relieved and more than ready to go home.

“Now then,” the skeleton figure said. “I saved your beast. What will you give me in return?”

(December 4, 2025)

Fallon eyed them warily. “What do you want?”

The figure tapped a bony finger to their chin. “It could be serendipitous you came to us right now. We’re in dire need, as it happens.”

“Of what?”

“Of someone to help us complete a spell.”

Fallon didn’t know much about fae, but they did know never to make deals. Probably helping to cast a spell wouldn’t be such a great idea either.

“What sort of spell?”

The figure held out their arms. “To get our souls back. We’re cursed, you see. That’s why we look like... this.”

“That seems a big exchange for saving my dog.”

The figure canted their head. “How about in exchange for your help, we’ll grant you safe passage home.”

Fallon stared at them, and their shoulders slumped. Yeah, all right. That was a good deal.

(January 6, 2026)

The figure—Tor, as he introduced himself—led Fallon through the field, out of the forest, and into the middle of what might generously have been called a hamlet. It was barely more than five shacks bunched around a well. The earth around the hamlet was brown and littered with debris of what must have once been lush gardens.

A dozen figures, all as skeletal as Tor, stood around the well, watching warily as he led Fallon and Theo towards them.

“My friends!” Tor shouted. “I have found the person who will save us!”

Fallon swallowed hard. They didn’t want that much pressure on their shoulders.

A stooped figure stepped forward. They were draped in an old cloak, but from beneath the hood, Fallon could make out a skeletal face. It squinted at them, assessing them, and Fallon stood their ground.

“No,” the figure said. “This one doesn’t have what it takes. Better if we kill them and let them fertilize our fields.”