In a remote part of a kingdom, Jarek lived alone with his mother Elara in a small cottage, just outside a village. The whole area used to be occupied by orcs, but the armies of the kingdom had driven them out. It had been many years since an orc was sighted, and people had begun to forget about them, mentioning them only in fairy tales for their children. Elara's husband had turned into a worthless drunk shortly after the...

"You're not gonna believe what I just saw," Tim, the night shift intern at the observatory, exclaimed as he burst into the break room. His eyes were wide with excitement, and a hint of fear. Marla, the veteran astronomer who had seen it all, took a sip of her coffee before looking up from her book. "Tim, you say that every night. Did you finally spot your alien spacecraft?" "I'm not kidding," he said with a trembling voic...

"You sure you wanna do this?" The woman's voice echoed through the stark, white-walled room. Heather had taken off her blouse and bra in front of her, and was covering her breasts with her hands, with nervousness clear on her face. She was shaking and standing where the camera couldn't capture her. "Move to the center, stand firm, and smile a little," the woman ordered. "You look sad. We need to brighten up a little." Hea...