The Cold Blue Yonder

The cold blue yonder beckons like a frozen dream. Piles of ice extend into the air like pallid skyscrapers. Where they and the above meet, no one will ever know. Birds circle in tandem, reflected in the crystal-clear ice. Is it reflected or refracted, I forget so much these days? Whales peep from below to survey the commotion then vanish back into darker depths. Theirs is an ultramarine yonder, not the cerulean of my own.

I have seen things. I have known things. Things have both seen and known me. This is my doom. I recognise most and guess at the rest. Guessing is what humanity does in place of truly understanding. Some are just better guessers than others. I, however, have not the imagination to compete.

The journey was long, too long, if truth be known. My lips are almost as blue as the wall before me. My fingers and toes are closer to black. There are many stages of blue in this reality I term me. Only one is the truth.

I climb. I strike with the pick and kick with the crampons. I build to something massive. The sky remains a mystery during this duress. The wall remains intransigent. Regardless, I grit my teeth and pursue the dream.

Night falls in shades of turquoise, then azure, then aquamarine, then black. The wall of ice takes on its hints but not its promises of a dawn. I hurry now, scared of what might happen if I linger too long.

Time passes. Dreams fade. Stars emerge and die. A moon that is not mine slides across the ice wall like a skater, and is just as quick to leave.

I breach the divide as a tungsten dawn dissolves the black and stains the blue. I could spit; it angers me so much.

Breathe, I tell myself. Breathe, with all your might. And I do. And I shall. And I will forever more.

There are leaps of faith and leaps of loss. There are tumbles and stumbles and falls. I have fallen further than most. I have tumbled and stumbled and bumbled too long. Only in the purity of this misguided endeavour can I redeem myself. It is time.

She watches me from above and below. As the light of this cloudless new day, one of such a deep blue yonder as to defy comparison takes a hold of every other colour and throttles it from sight, she is everywhere. Glass upon glass. reflection upon reflection. I am engulfed.

I always was.

Thank you for reading

Richard

https://ko-fi.com/richardmankers

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

If you enjoyed this piece, please consider a small donation
to help further my writing life.

Thank you for reading
Richard

https://ko-fi.com/richardmankers

The Cool Night Breeze

Story Sanctum – New Release!

A massive thank you to fiction editor, Krin Van Tatenhove, for publishing my latest short story, The Cool Night Breeze, in the fabulous Story Sanctum.

Story Sanctum hosts an amazing array of written work. I cannot recommend it enough. Please do take a good look around.

READ HERE: The Cool Night Breeze

A story where murder and romance collide.

If you enjoyed this piece, please consider a small donation
to help further my writing life.

Thank you for reading
Richard

https://ko-fi.com/richardmankers

Even Those Above

A big thank you to editor Manuela Timofte for publishing my latest post in Gobblers & Masticadores.

Even Those Above reimagines the troubles of the higher beings. Creation and it’s dismantling isn’t quite the wonder we might think.

Please do check out the wonderful writing and poetry on the site.

Thank you for reading

Richard

Richard M. Ankers

Spillwords Featured Post

This Endless Ocean

It’s a great privilege to be the Spillwords Press featured post for a second time with my contemplative think piece, This Endless Ocean. Somewhere up above, a Supreme Being tries to do their best, whilst doomed to forget the worst, and never quite learn from the mistakes.

A big thank you to Dagmara k and the staff at this fabulous venue for exceptional fiction, writing and poetry. Please do take a look around. They never disappoint.

To be found here: This Endless Ocean

Thank you for reading

Richard

Richard M. Ankers

Kaidankai Podcast

Late One Summer

I’m very honoured to have my story ‘Late One Summer‘ featured on the Kaidankai podcast of ghost and supernatural stories

A big thank you to editor Linda Gould for the wonderful reading and encouragement.

I hope you have time to listen to my story and some of the other fantastic themed work that is available in this ongoing series.

Click HERE to listen to ‘Late One Summer‘.

Also on Twitter Here

Thank you for reading

Richard

Richard M. Ankers

Author: The Eternals Series and Britannia Unleashed

Where Vultures Gather

Gobblers & Masticadores Monthly Post

Now Available to Read

A big thanks to editor Manuela Timofte for publishing my April Gobblers & Masticadores post.

Where Vultures Gather, a short literary fiction, is now available to read on this wonderful site. I hope you enjoy it.

Please set aside a few minutes to look around and read some of the other fantastic poems, stories, and reviews.

Read Here: Where Vultures Gather

Thank you for reading

Richard

Richard M. Ankers

Author: The Eternals Series and Britannia Unleashed.

Kissing Eternity

We flourished beside the pool like two happy frogs waiting to take a joyous dip. Lotus flowers floated there atop the becalmed water, like the reflections of perfectly captured stars. A dragonfly, apparently unaware of the twilight, zipped about like an army helicopter, downing as many enemies as his mandibles-for-bullets could bite. A breaching moon threatened one horizon as a submerging sun teased the other. A swan’s neck rose from the reeds like an elegant white snake and then dipped away. The universe hung on her next breath, as did I.

“I love this pool. Don’t you?” she breathed. But my mouth did that thing where some old hag had stitched up my lips, so I just nodded. “There’s something about how it captures everything, from those tiny, stray dandelion seeds to entire eternities. That’s what I think, anyway.” Again, I nodded. “You don’t say much for a man so keen for a date.” I smiled and shrugged. “Meh! Probably for the best. You wouldn’t want to spoil the moment.” As if on queue, she leaned in. I didn’t have to move anything but my lips.

Years later, and the television presenter claimed the police to have found them. All of them. Those dive-bombing children, so obese as to flatten the bullrushes, who had disturbed the pond one last time. They’d stamped on the frogs and stolen the swan’s eggs before they’d even hatched. The presenter looked disgusted, but he was smiling on the inside at the dramatic news story now attached to his name. They were to close the whole area off to ‘re-establish the ecosystem.’ I wanted to cry. It wasn’t that I was an eco-warrior or anything, just that I’d kissed eternity there once, and now I’d never see those stars again.

The End

Thank you for reading

Richard

Richard M. Ankers. Author: The Eternals Series and Britannia Unleashed

The Last

Spillwords Publication

Today, I’m pleased to announce my third short story for Spillwords.com goes live.

The Last is a short commentary on what might happen if the entity known as Death departs our shores. I hope you enjoy this short read.

Spillwords hosts an incredible array of top quality work, both poetry and prose. There is never a chance of being disappointed if taking the time to peruse their site.

As always, a big thank you to Spillwords for hosting my words and to you all for reading them. I hope you enjoy The Last.

Thank you for reading

Richard

Richard M. Ankers

Author of The Eternals Series

and Britannia Unleashed

The Lost and the Dreamers

Published Today!

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And what better way to start the new year than with a newly published piece. A great big thank you to Kelly Easton at Compass Rose Literary Journal for making The Lost and the Dreamers their first story of 2023.

Please do take the opportunity to have a look around at the beautifully presented Compass Rose site. There is a wealth of good quality material to peruse.

Thank you for reading

Richard

Once again, a very Happy New Year to you all. And I hope you enjoy The Lost and the Dreamers.

Richard M. Ankers