The Omniscrolls

As a princess and the only heir to the throne, I always lived a sheltered life, and the constraints around me only grew when my mother passed away during an epidemic when I was just twelve. I could barely walk the castle grounds without having guards following me every step of the way. He blamed it on my abilities, but it was too easy of an excuse. Once I was old enough, my father then began to look for suitors for me. I rejected his plans, but he wouldn’t listen. He said I should marry soon and make sure there is another heir, for his witch consultant, Ariska, said the disease that took my mother would surely return before five years pass. I told him there was no ensuring that any of us would be safe from it, but his mind was made. The evening we had that discussion, I sat on one of the benches on the castle grounds, watching the sunset, when I caught a shadow swiftly receding between two trees. It was no natural phenomenon. The guards around me approached the trees as I did, but it s...

I was on my usual evening beach walk after closing my veterinary clinic when I heard the whimpers of a creature by a corner. I went to inspect what it was and found a seal washed ashore; he was caught in a tattered net, and the wires had sunk into his skin, causing him to lose a lot of blood. I lived on the outskirts of the nearest town, so rather than go on a long trip, I decided to take him to my clinic and nurse him back to health. I named the seal Poseidon. He was patient with me and was back at full strength in a couple of weeks. When the time came to return him to the sea, though, I felt like I was losing a part of myself. I had grown too attached to Poseidon. Seals were always my favourite animal; my late grandma who was a marine biologist spoke a lot about them. She also told me fairy tales about them that always enthralled me—stories of unseen realms in the deep that only very few humans ever received the blessing to witness. All those memories flooded my mind as I watched Pos...

All witches and wizards in our community were able to summon a familiar of their choosing when they reached the age of fifteen, but that was not the case for my family. My maternal grandmother married a man born with no magical abilities, and it was said that her decision to do so was the cause of our misfortune. The majority of witches and wizards married only those bearing similar abilities because they believed that the mixing of the magical and non-magical genetics would create unpredictable mutations that could last for generations. A few even believed that it could bring about unspeakable chaos. In my family’s case, we were all stuck with weaker familiars that could barely help us with our work. While my father had a jaguar, my mother had a mouse and my elder sister was stuck with a gecko. I had yet to summon mine since my fifteenth birthday was months away. I dreaded what it could be. As the date drew nearer, the other children in my school of magic started to tease me, saying I...

I was woken up in the middle of the night to the shattering of a vase downstairs. I grabbed my bat and got behind the bedroom entrance, listening for movement. A minute passed. No other noise arose from outside the bedroom. I wish I hadn’t put my phone to charge overnight in my office; my husband, Matt, always said it was a dangerous habit. I had no other option but to move to the hallway. I opened the door and checked the corners before heading towards the staircase. As I reached it, however, I was hit in the back of my head with a club . I lost the grip of my bat and fell to the floor, gasping as my vision began to blur. “I told you your habit was a dangerous one, Bella.” The voice was fuzzy, but I recognised it—it was Matt. I couldn’t believe what was happening; he had lied about his business trip to hurt me. “Wh...” I struggled to muster any energy. “It’s because you listened to your father and signed that damn prenup!” His words were seething. “Now you’ll die like one of your char...