The Eternal's Last Request

by Joshua Babcock

Issue 0 :: Spring 2007 (stories)

My name is Sofi. I did not always wish my father dead. For most of my young life, I served him faithfully, dutifully, as his chronicler. My father’s name is Kratos. Throughout the width and breadth of Bahkshir, he was known as the Eternal.

I have been privy to many of Kratos’ famous stories, either seeing them unfold myself or having them told to me from a firsthand perspective. My father never told me the tale of his genesis.

For generations, Kratos protected the countryside of Bahkshir from the Bahkshirin Sea to the mountains we call the Cradle of Antreous. He conquered the undead armies of the Beshevite necromancers, sealed away the malicious Archduke of Vengeance, and defeated the reptile goddess Severina. He was responsible for dispatching Orgus, the master of the onyx golem, and the demon steeds of Celops. There are thousands of other tales as well, and they have all been writ elsewhere, some even by my own hand.

Much of the courage and unquenchable altruism that my father had personified was dashed when the armies of the western Kingdom of Naskil arrived. They were headed by the great magus Malnorant, Tome of the Time-Siege gripped tight in his withered hand.

Kratos the Ageless had met with nothing but victory in his previous adventures. Yet, against the powers of the Tome, he found himself as weak and defenseless as we mortals.

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"The Eternal's Last Request" is roughly 5000 words.

Joshua Babcock's story "Compromise" appeared in Kenoma Magazine and his "Tome of the Time-Siege" won second place in Gom Publishing's The Best New Sci-Fi & Fantasy for 2004 contest. His story "Angst and the Armageddon" is upcoming in Forgotten Worlds. Babcock is a graduate of Vassar College and teaches at a school for students with dyslexia. He lives in upstate New York with his wife and six cats. He can be reached at babcats@optonline.net.

Table of contents

stories poetry reports art comics

Sundown
by Debbie Moorhouse

Painsharing
by John Walters

A Yellow Sun with a Purple Crayon
by Michelle Garren Flye

A Problem With The Law
by Neil Davies

Songs Of The Dead
by Sarah Singleton and Chris Butler

One in Ten Thousand
by Athena Workman

4 Short Parables Revolving Around the Theme of Travel
by A.B. Goelman

The Doctrine of the Arbitrariness of the Sign
by Shweta Narayan

The Infinite Monkeys Protocol
by Lavie Tidhar

Moments Of Brilliance
by Jason Stoddard

Cutting A Figure
by Charlie Anders

The Eternal's Last Request
by Joshua Babcock

Where Water Fails
by Rusty Barnes

Longs to Run
by David Bulley

Pepé In Critical Condition
by Tomi Shaw

Sown Seeds
by Errid Farland

She Dreams in Colors, She Dreams in Hope
by F. John Sharp

Chicken
by John Mantooth

The Tale that Launched a Thousand Ships
by Janrae Frank

Trying to Make Coffee
by William Doreski

Fade In Fade Out
by Beverly A. Jackson

As a Child
by Kristine Ong Muslim

No Motor Home
by Kenneth Ryan

Past Due: Final Notice
by Kenneth Ryan

Fortune
by Kenneth Ryan

Dialogue with the Hollows of Your Body
by Benjamin William Buchholz

Ah Those Letters in the Attics or Modern Lit
by Lida Broadhurst

The first day of the last day my face fell off
by Rohith Sundararaman

Invitation To Kaohsiung
by Allen McGill

Poetry Code
by Robert Peake

Gutmouth
by Konrad Kruszewski

Kmantis Hunch5
by Konrad Kruszewski

Cosmonaut's Last Day
by Jamie Dee Galey

Changing Destiny
by Fefa

Bird and Ghost
by Sarah Coyne

Media Hype
by Jamie Dee Galey

The Kiss
by Konrad Kruszewski

Having Fun at the Party
by Fran Giordano

Jack Rabbit
by Jamie Dee Galey

Belly Busters
by Bruce Boston and Larry Dickison


Contributors:

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