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I decided to go for a walk alone rather than taking the dogs. My neighbor has three rottweilers and I have a good-natured mutt, Kama. I generally take mine for a walk every day and often his too, thus used to this they all behave well. The problem is, when you take that many dogs for a walk you rarely get to see wildlife - save snakes, toads, and a few chipmunks that squeak and run -- which merely teases the dogs. I also have to be alert making sure they behave. When I take mine alone I don't have to watch her as she will stay close and not wander; but I really just wanted the freedom of no responsibility in which I could sit for hours if I chose -- merely to think and not feel guilty as doleful eyes watched hoping I'd throw a ball. Tomorrow, I thought, tomorrow I would take the dogs.

And that was my mistake.More...

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The wizard and I picked through the ruins of a once-great city, fishing what we needed from the abandoned structures and rubble. He was exuberant, and it was contagious. I had been able to forget about the Jazir, about the upcoming war, and skipped from one rubble pile to another. 

"Bring me that beam over there, Ferton, and we'll see if we can get this stone moved."

He pointed at a metal bar that jutted from a pile of smooth, porous red stones. The wizard called these stones 'bricks', and said people used to build huge buildings with them. I have my doubts - they looked far too crumbly to make a decent structure. Those buildings still standing were constructed out of a far stronger and more durable material the wizard called 'plastek' or 'pollamer'. More...

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SIGNALS

      Toby's heart raced as the late afternoon sky turned completely black. The TV set that had been playing turned to static. Outside the coffee shop, Toby could hear the screams of people running around in the streets. The lights in the coffee shop flickered and then went out for longer than a moment before coming back on again.

      April ran out of the bathroom, dashing up to Toby and putting her arms around him. She asked, “What's going on? Something really weird is going on.” More...