Tiny Light Novels & Stories

~AT A SECRET LAIR~ The room was small and it smelled of wood and concrete mixed together. There was a narrow bed pushed against one side of the wall, a wooden table in the center, and a single window so high up near the ceiling that even a grown man standing on his toes could barely reach the ledge. The light that came through it was pale and dim, the kind that would give no real information about what time of day it was or where in the world you might be.

"You okay?" Lucas asked gravelly, slightly narrowing his eyes as it adjusted to the darkness. The right part of the room is dark. Only the faint light of the machine kept the door visible. On my left, the window made it well lit. Lucas' face was brightly illuminated with the light coming from his laptop screen. Suddenly his bone structure was improved, highlighted by the glow of his computer.

As the first light of dawn peeked through, I saw Samuel. He was gone, turned into a ghost. His stubborn spirit had somehow tied me down too, like invisible chains I could not break. I wanted to get away, never to see him again, but I was stuck. He noticed me as well. His face, which had been ashen, suddenly lit up with an incredible glow. He blinked, tears streaming down his face. "Yocelyn!" He was so overwhelmed, moving to grab my hand.

That's how high-tech my house is. Aside from the gate, the door scanner, my eighty inches LED TV, my lights, computer, and some of my equipment as an assassin are all high-tech. My tv and lights are sensors. With just one applause, my tv will turn on and off and with a flick of my fingers the lights will automatically turn on and off too. While my computer is like a person talking to me and answering all of my questions as if I am talking to a real person.

- commanded. The light went out, the room plunged into twilight, illuminated by a beam of light penetrating the doorway from the hall. Standing up on her toes, holding her tummy with one hand, Lily pressed a tiny white button. And across the living room, from the center of the room where the spruce stood, colorful lights fled, twining around the coniferous tree and spreading from the top to the walls along the garlands hanging under the ceiling. “Like in a fairy tale,” whispered Lily, looking at the unobtrusive flicker.

The light it made. Not the sun. Not the moon. Just the lamp. Small. Real. Enough. The record growing. The formation traveling. The garden complete. The roots deepening. The water still. Rising still. Always.

The Lantern of Beginnings pulsed. Once. Immediately— one tower answered. A single golden light appeared near its highest window. Tiny. Faint. But unmistakable. A lantern. The light flickered uncertainly. As though asking a question. Hope instinctively lifted the Lantern of Beginnings. Its warm glow spread gently across the silent sea. The lonely lantern brightened. Then— another tower answered. Then another. One by one, faint lights appeared throughout the crystal forest. Not many. Just enough to prove one thing.

​And now, I was going to burn his legacy to the ground. ​LATER THAT NIGHT ​The lights in the pod were dimmed. The guards were on shift change—the sloppy fifteen minutes between 2:00 AM and 2:15 AM where eyes were off the monitors. ​I felt a nudge on my shoulder. ​Tiny handed me a small object wrapped in toilet paper. ​It was a phone. A tiny, plastic rectangle, barely bigger than a lighter. ​“Five minutes,” Tiny whispered. “Then you flush the SIM.” ​I nodded. I pulled the blanket over my head, creating a tent of darkness.

“You’re here.” I look up. My sight is hesitant, like one stepping into daylight after a long night. And then I see him—the little one. The tiny face peeking from the scarf, mouth barely open, on his forehead—or in my eyes—a faint crescent-like curve, his skin holding that warm, soft light which does not come from the moonstone; his chest rising in slow rhythm. His whole body is no larger than my palm, yet more worlds fit inside him than I have ever seen.

Not a single day in my life. I hug my arms to my chest as I pick across the beach. The mist begins to part, and through the starlight reflecting on the gems, I think I see the glow of a… a lantern. Yes, that flickering, soft amber light is stationary compared to the rippling glow of the stars shining against the gems. The mist parts further, revealing a small, stone building with a single sconce lit on its side, right beside a door.