survival of the fittest

Sons of a Soul Split: Chapter Seven

As the infernal core of a world pulses against the bedrock and warms the sea above it, Kimio felt heated from his heels to his scalp. His empty stomach churned from hunger and wrath, like ocean waves that beat against the hulls of sailing ships. Kimio was angry to be alive and yet deprived. Some time ago, Glaiven revived Kimio with a serum containing powdered unicorn horn, and then left him to rot under the tyranny of his cellmate. Each time the prisoners were fed, the siren snatched Kimio’s portion. Her fattening fishtail had started to look as delectable as it was shiny…

Ember the Feral

Ember was a flame-tipped, white-coated Turkish Angora. Her fierce, green eyes stalked a brown rat. The rat slid out from the drainpipe of one of the oldest houses in the city. Ember watched as the rat shook itself, and as it scurried up the side of a metal wastebin, which the residents of the house left one drawstring bag too full. The lid of the wastebin sat atop the extra bag. The residents of the house hoped the presence of the lid would appease the sanitation services provider and prevent an additional bag fee from appearing on their monthly bill. Regardless, the loose lid failed to dissuade pests from raiding the wastebin. Ember eyed the brown rat hungrily, as she watched it settle its nerves, and chew a thimble-sized hole in the extra bag. Once the rat settled on a prize, it no longer twitched its head from one interrupting sound to the next. Ember curled her lips and narrowed her eyes…