Hugh J. O'Donnell

The crew looked down at the Devil’s Road and considered their odds. The road was prime salvage if you could make it.
A line of pre-collapse automobiles that stretched for miles meant more steel and rubber than most salvagers saw in their lifetimes if you could avoid the devil.
Flanked by the skeletons of old towers, it loomed over the dead highway. Black clouds roiled with electricity, casting lightning bolts down on anyone foolish enough to get close.
They looked at each other and nodded. They just had to be fast. They revved the engines and started down the bluff.

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In ancient times, we believed that the gods played games with the lives of mortals, pitting them against one another in wars for their amusement. They granted boons and bestowed curses.
These days, we say that ‘God does not play dice with the universe.’ We take those stories to just be artistic license, or an attempt by primitive people to explain natural phenomena.
So the giant cubes we found beneath the ruins were something of a mystery. They were too heavy to move, their markings couldn’t be deciphered, and their composition defied analysis. But somehow, I wanted to roll them.

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“Don’t worry, it’ll be an easy job,” the rogue said as we poured over the map of the abandoned temple.
“If it’s so easy, what makes you think any treasure’s left?” I asked.
“Well, there is a guardian. A giant serpent.” I pushed away from the table. He grabbed my arm. “No, wait. I scouted out the site. The guardian’s gotten too big. It can’t navigate the temple corridors. If we go in and out the back, it won’t be able to reach us.”
It was a great plan, right up until the monster burst through the crumbling stone walls.

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After the prince died, his betrothed took over the care and management of his prized pack of hunting hounds. Hunting was not a ladylike sport, but it was allowed, considering their mutual grief.
They took to her immediately, and she led them on long walks alone through the woods and fields of the kingdom. She was fond of saying that they carried her beloved’s spirit and that he still looked after her through them.
In truth, she found that dogs, like princes, could be easily managed with the right persuasion, even when a mad one needed to be put down.

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