Wet

Wet

by Richard M. Ankers

Only ever alone with the rain and the sea.

I watched her emerge from the nocturnal river like a perfect pearl. Naked, she was, confused and unchaperoned. A first new life form in aeons. She shimmered for all to see. A miracle. My last hope.

Her beauty outshone the eternal darkness, like the world’s most perfect black rose giving birth to a solitary milk-white petal. She glistened brighter than any star. She dazzled. I was dazzled.

I approached with trepidation, a gliding shadow, and spoke as a mistral wind. “You… Are… Everything…”

“I am nothing.”

The starkness and speed of her response stalled me.

“I have done nothing.”

This time, I was prepared. I decided a direct approach was best.

I closed about the world, about her. “For the first time in eternity, I wished to be seen.”

Her hands fell from her modesty to reveal herself completely. Her eyes appeared to lose their glaze. She smiled. My heart melted.

“I am betrothed.”

I fled.

No star could find me. The spotlight moon illuminated without reason or rhyme. The sun did its best to fill the void. An armada of rainbows searched for my dark gold. Only the rivers had an inkling, as they swept into the deepest sea. Those in the abyss felt the loss, but had never truly experienced my all to begin with.

None would find me, for I was hardest to find by light.

I travelled the earth, and then the starways, and then more. I was everywhere and nowhere, but I never once dared her beauty again: she would have torn my obsidian soul apart. Until…

“Hello.” A soothing soprano.

“I thought my time had passed.”

“It is just beginning.”

I opened one eye to the opaque twin wonders of her own. “You see me?”

“I felt you first.”

“You found me. Me! The unseen!” I sounded like a revealed small child having hidden in a cupboard from a strict parent. “You are the first.”

“I have. I am.”

“How? It is my destiny to go unnoticed. To allow others to shine.”

“My need is greater than theirs.”

“What need?”

“To fulfil yours.”

“You rebuked me?”

“I knew not who you were.”

“But you do now.”

“Everyone does, now.”

I grimaced. “That bad, eh?”

She nodded. A tendril-like strand of hair wiped a tear from her cheek. My breath caught.

“They half need you, whereas I want you fully.”

“You need the lake, the river, the sea. You are born of water and must ever there remain.”

“Sometimes, but not always. I must slip beneath the starshine surface and embrace my creator. I am lost without him. Lost without you. This world is too bright. Too loud. I need the quiet of the…

“Don’t say my name,” I interjected.

“…Night.”

The cape of nothingness slipped from my shoulders, and I stood revealed before her. She smiled anew.

“Now there is only us,” she said, as we slipped beneath the surface into the cool, dark, wet.

The End

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Thank you for reading
Richard

https://ko-fi.com/richardmankers

The Gemini Crystals

New Release

I’m delighted to have had my latest children’s fantasy, The Gemini Crystals, published by the amazing people at Starspun Lit. Below is a small sample of their mission statement and my reason for such delight.

Our mission is to provide fantastical stories to the youth of today and improve children’s literacy and comprehension of the larger world through our digital platform.

Our stories are also designed as a therapeutic tool for children with medical needs, including those with neurodevelopmental disorders so they may soar beyond reality. We are partnering with various hospitals and clinics to organize read-alouds so we may brighten their days with the magic of your storytelling.

As a strong believer in that every child should have access to good reading, I jumped at the chance to be a part of this wonderful narrative. My hope would be for many more such schemes to come.

Particular thanks go to Editor-In-Chief, Ramya Suresh, for her invaluable help and input with both the writing and artwork.

I hope you get a chance to recommend my story and all the other fabulous offerings at Starspun Lit to any child who might enjoy and benefit from them.

Available here: THE GEMINI CRYSTALS

Thank you for reading

Richard

Author: Richard M. Ankers

The Butterfly Moon

The Butterfly Moon

The butterfly moon is not a moon per se, rather, a moment in time. A release of magic upon the sky. Those few minutes where a bejewelled night begs for more and those who watch her weep.

It begins with the moon.

She rises high, like a breaching whale who forgot to turn back at the waves. The gentle, titanium giantess flies, flies, sweeps into the sky to float as effortlessly as a child’s forgotten balloon. There she hangs. There she gathers the energies of the universe, brightens, lightens, burns milk-white. This is seen. She is always seen.

They appear as coloured raindrops falling up, not down. A few at first, the shoal gather pace. Vermillion and emerald, sapphire and citrine, wings flap and feelers feel. The moon gleams all the whiter.

They swim rather than fly. The moths and butterflies, for the two are inseparable on nights such as these, flitter and flap their way towards an obsidian sky the stars have vacated. They have bowed down to their celestial mistress, as have the spinning galaxies themselves. This night is aflame in the vivid colours of nature. Oh, what a joy for the milk-white queen.

The little ones circle her as a tide of fairy lights. They bob up and down as if blown by some unfelt solar wind around their cosmic Christmas tree. So pretty. So exquisite. The moon is, of course, the crowning jewel upon its topmost heights. This is what it has waited for, our moon. One moment in forever to truly enjoy the view.

She weeps silver tears at their passing. She fills the oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, and the liquid souls of those who watch in awe through open curtains. Alas, it does not last, but the best things never do.

They do not fly down, but take one last farewell lap and head off into eternity. The moon waves each one goodbye.

As do we.

Never forget the little ones, they’re just as important as you or I.

Thank you for reading

Richard

Free Sample!

Britannia Unleashed the Audiobook – The YouTube Trailer

Dear all!

I hope you have time to check out a free sample of Britannia Unleashed – The Audiobook, as seen on my publisher, Next Chapter’s, YouTube channel. A Steampunk extravaganza, Britannia Unleashed tells the story of how a group of unusual personalities battle a twisted Victorian history and a very many evil doers.

Author’s Note: I think it’s very exciting to see/hear your work transformed into a new medium, and the narrator has done a great job. I hope you enjoy.

Britannia Unleashed

Thank you for reading

Richard

Richard M. Ankers

Author: The Eternals Series, Britannia Unleashed, and co-author of The Poetry of Pronouns: She. He. They. with the wonderful Gina Maria Manchego.

Livina Press: Issue 4

New Release!

I’m very proud to announce the release of Through Rain and Storm and Sea, co-written with the wonderful Gina Maria Manchego. We are blessed to be among many fine writers and poets included in the latest issue from Lavina Press.

This latest issue is available in paperback from Amazon HERE

and

In hardback HERE

A big thank you to Editor-in-Chief Laci Felker for the fantastic work she’s done.

I hope you enjoy our story of timeless love: Through Rain and Storm and Sea

Thank you for reading

Richard and Gina

Author

Richard M. Ankers

The Eternals Series and Britannia Unleashed.

To Indigo Lost

Noctivagant Press: Issue 5

I am absolutely delighted to be included in my favourite magazine once again. I’m a luck boy with how many places I’ve been published, but there’s something about Noctivagant that stirs the soul. Always beautifully presented, and full of top quality work, I cannot recommend reading it enough. Now available to view on Noctivagant Press’ website and soon to be released as a book, I hope you can take some time out of your busy schedules to enjoy some good old fantastical reads.

This season’s topic was dark romance, and my own story, ‘To Indigo Lost‘ is about as dark as they come. Please do enjoy.

Thank you for reading

Richard

Richard M. Ankers

Author of The Eternals Series

and

Britannia Unleashed

From

Image courtesy Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash.com

From the depths of darkness springs a fountain of perfect night

bereft of stars and moon and dust,

where empty dreams pour forth in wayward moments

as shadows and onyx dusks.

This was whence she came from.

This was the once home of Death.

She wore her hair long about slim shoulders,

like raven epaulettes burnished to a glasslike night.

Porcelain skin adorned by the ultramarine

jewels that were her eyes,

she brought with her only the abyss,

her wants and her fears,

as she hauled herself from the Beneath

and tiptoed away into a world of frosting breaths.

She’d never seen anything sparkle.

How Death wept at the beauty of it all.

to be continued. . .

Thank you for reading
Richard

Richard M. Ankers
Author of the brand new steampunk extravaganza Britannia Unleashed.
Also Available:
The Eternals Series: The Eternals / Hunter Hunted / Into Eternity

Elsewhere

Dispersing in increments
An atom at a time
I dislocate, relocate, allocate
Myself elsewhere

Thank you for reading
Richard

Richard M. Ankers
Author of the brand new steampunk extravaganza Britannia Unleashed.
Also Available:
The Eternals Series: The Eternals / Hunter Hunted / Into Eternity

The Winter Lily – Published Today!

I’m thrilled to announce that The Winter Lily, a co-written project with the wonderful Gina Maria Manchego, is published today in issue 19 of Impspired Magazine. This fantasy short story will also feature in the Impspired Volume 10 print edition scheduled for early 2023. A big thank you to the editor Steve Cawte for putting his faith in us. See Impspired.com for lots more wonderful writing

It was a real joy writing with Gina, so much so, we have a lot more co-written work on the way. I hope you get a chance to read The Winter Lily, a delightful short story, and our first co-published piece.

Thank you for reading

Richard

Richard M. Ankers

Dreamer of Ruins

I dream of a girl with raven hair and eyes suffused with sorrow. She lies on a bed draped in lace and languor, waiting for something, anything, but not me.

The nights roll past like midnight breakers, the froth of their passing coating my dreams. I watch the moon descend into this nothingness without ever the certainty it’ll rise again. At least, I know it won’t rise for me.

A pinprick sky of dazzling gems flickers. The stars take their last hurrah. An obsidian curtain shall soon drop across them like freshly dug earth upon a grave. I set my spade aside.

There’s a man in a nightmare from which he can’t wake, where a girl in her bed dreams of the ocean, and the stars die every evening. I have the power to help one of them, but which? This uncertainty shall ruin me.

The moon rises. Wrong again.

Thank you for reading
Richard

Richard M. Ankers
Author of the brand new steampunk extravaganza Britannia Unleashed.